• Malaysian Grand Prix

Marussia 'under no illusions' over challenge with MR01

ESPNF1 Staff
March 21, 2012 « Horner focused on development race | Massa to get new chassis in Malaysia »
John Booth: "Every new car has its gremlins so we want to get to those as quickly as we can" © Sutton Images
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Marussia team principal John Booth says his team is "under no illusions" about the challenge it faces this season.

After a difficult pre-season when the team's new car failed crash tests and was unable to test, Marussia enjoyed a trouble-free weekend in Melbourne as both cars finished the race in 14th and 15th places. While Booth said that he is pleased with how the weekend in Australia went he admits there will be problems with the MR01 and says the team is fully prepared for them.

"The team and the car faced a tough test in Australia last weekend and both passed with flying colours," Booth said. "However we are under no illusions that we'll have to work very hard to ensure that things continue to go our way this season.

"Our mileage last weekend enabled us to gather plenty of data which has been carefully evaluated over the last few days back at our operational base in Banbury. This will enable us to pinpoint any underlying issues that fortunately did not surface in Melbourne. Every new car has its gremlins so we want to get to those as quickly as we can as last year one of our key strengths was our reliability."

Booth added that the team was already beginning to focus on developing the car this season, but that back-to-back races prevent it bringing updates to Malaysia.

"Once you have a good mechanical baseline - which we have - and a reliable car, that's when you can really start to turn your mind towards development - and we have plenty of that to focus on. There won't be any significant changes to the car for this weekend, given the tight turnaround, but we'll be able to look at optimising the set-up for this circuit."

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