Marussia delays car debut to 1 March
Marussia F1 have decided to turn around their testing plan as the team have to overcome some delays in the development of their new challenger, the MR01. The team will now skip the first test at Jerez entirely, while last year's car will be used at the second winter test.
Two weeks ago, the team's technical head Pat Symonds declared that they were all aiming at an introduction at the second test, while the MVR-02 would be used to give Charles Pic a first taste of Formula One.
The team's principal however has now declared to Autosport that they have today decided to move that schedule back one test, and therefore skipping the first test at Jerez De La Frontera entirely.
"We had been looking to take part in that test with the 2011 MVR-02 for the purpose of providing Charles with some valuable running to assist with the preparation for his debut season. This was with a view to introducing the new car, the MR01, at Barcelona two weeks later."
"As our Technical Consultant Pat Symonds has stated publicly, the MR01 will be almost entirely 'new', with very little carryover from 2011. The new car also has some interesting and complex mechanical concepts and it is taking time for us to get to grips with these."
"Unfortunately our programme has slipped and there seems little point in fielding the new car before we can optimise the run plan for it."
It therefore looks like Marussia will be the last team to introduce its car, albeit that HRT have not yet confirmed any testing programma yet.
