Pic ’not afraid’ of becoming next Marussia refugee

Charles Pic insists he is "not afraid" about following his Marussia predecessors through F1’s exit.

Before the well-backed Frenchman made his debut this year, the team ran Jerome d’Ambrosio (2011) and Lucas di Grassi (2010, as Virgin) as the experienced German Timo Glock’s teammate.

Belgian d’Ambrosio left to become Lotus’ reserve driver after one season, while Brazilian di Grassi subsequently spent time as a Pirelli test driver but is now moving to touring cars.

"I’m not afraid about (experiencing) a scenario like that of Lucas di Grassi and Jerome d’Ambrosio," 22-year-old Pic said in an interview with the Dutch magazine Formule 1.

"All I can do is work as hard as possible and do my best. I’ll wait and see what happens at the end of the year."

According to strong paddock speculation, Pic is tipped to take the solid funding of his family’s business - leading European transport company Groupe Charles Andre - to Caterham in 2013.

He likely successor is the similarly well-funded British GP2 driver Max Chilton, whose father is the vice-chairman of the major insurance multinational Aon.

But Pic is not ruling out staying at Marussia.

"Compared to some other teams it is obviously smaller, but I’m getting to develop very well and it’s nice to work on growing up together," he said.