Marussia Barcelona testing - Day 4 report

After three positive days of running at the Circuit de Catalunya this week, the tide turned for the Marussia F1 Team this morning when a problem confined the MVR-02 to the garage for the start of the session.

Charles Pic, Marussia F1 Team

Photo by: xpb.cc

The issue centred around a damaged suspension component to the right rear corner of the car. The team spent the morning inspecting the part and trying to understand how the damage had occurred. A replacement part was available but the team were not happy to send the car out whilst proof-testing was still ongoing back at the Marussia Technical Centre in the UK and conclusive results would not have been achieved in time for any significant running to take place.

Charles Pic had been due to drive the car today and the programme was for him to complete further race simulation work over long runs. Given the mileage that has been accrued during the past three days - 1577kms in total - the team has decided to abbreviate the test in order to focus on introducing the 2012 car - the MR01 - during next week’s final pre-season running here in Barcelona.

John Booth, Team Principal

“It’s a real shame that after three very positive days with the car we’ve encountered this issue on the final day. We can’t be too downhearted though, having achieved over 1500kms of near faultless running from a car that has served us so well from a reliability perspective. Aside from further mileage for Charles there was nothing more to be gained from our programme to aid our development and we now switch focus to the 2012 car, which we are all looking forward to rolling-out next week. I’d like to thank the team and our two drivers Timo and Charles for an excellent start to our pre-season preparations. We are in excellent shape in terms of our trackside operation and this will stand us in good stead for the season.”