We thought we’d show you some of the shots of the Marussia MR01 displaying the VPS.NET logo.

The Singapore Grand Prix is always a relishing challenge for the drivers and this year was no different. What a race! Vettel inched closer to another world title and there was lots of drama including a few accidents. VPS.NET also featured at the race with some branding on the Marussia MR01 – did any of you see it?

For the Marussia F1 Team the Singapore GP proved to be the most decisive of the year. Timo Glock loves this track and it certainly showed with him coming in a 12th place which saw them close the gap on the Caterhams to take 10th spot in the F1 Constructors Championship – which is a vital spot for the 3 new teams. 

It was Charles Pic’s first race on the track and he put in another solid performance coming in P16, which also means that Marussia had another strong 2 car finish.

Timo Glock #24

“An incredible race for us. In general I knew that, with our strategy, we could really do something if we stayed close to Kovalainen in the first stint and that’s what I tried to do – to get everything out of the car. Unfortunately, the rear tyre pressures came up a bit too much and I overshot the car in turn 19 and hit the wall. In the first moment I thought the race was over and I realised that the toe was really out; I had to change my driving style and, actually, changed everything that I could do to keep the car on track. I had to get used to the behaviour of the car, so I was saving the right-rear tyre in all the left-hand corners and squeezing everything out in the right corners to get the lap time. When the safety cars came out I knew that mixing us in the pack gave us a chance to fight again. After the first safety car I could go quicker than Heikki and in the end, when he turned into the pits, I knew I needed to push everything out of the car before he came back at me with fresh tyres. In terms of the pit stops, the team made a really good job and that is getting very consistent now. We do of course need to hold on to 10^th place until the end of the season still and I hope we can. Over the last four months we have really closed that gap to Caterham and this is a very nice reward to everyone in the team because it has not been easy. We’ll enjoy the moment but keep pushing now for the next race and beyond.”

John Booth, Team Principal

“That was an extremely complicated race with many different variables, ranging from high tyre degradation to numerous safety car periods and, also in the mix, a scrape along the wall on lap 7 that could have changed everything completely. In terms of the result, we’re extremely pleased with Timo’s 12^th place, but Charles’ performance in the race, prior to the addition of his penalty, also demonstrated that even with the two drivers on different strategies today, the team had the measure of the race for 10^th place in the championship. That is an important race for the three newest teams.

“With regard to the detail, Timo’s overall race was executed perfectly. Unfortunately he hit the right rear on the wall at turn 19 very early on, which put us off-strategy as we brought him in earlier to check the right-rear suspension. All looked fine and he carried on, however we decided to revert to what would have been a three-stop race. In the end the safety cars reduced us to a two-stop race, although this required us to hold our nerve as ultimately the final stint was 34 laps long. Charles delivered another solid performance in tough conditions. His strategy, using the safety cars, was good. Overall, this has been a day where, with everything thrown at them, the engineers and mechanics executed everything perfectly. Really though, the improvement in the raw pace of the car has come from all the hard work that has been undertaken in Banbury and by our engine partner Cosworth in Northampton.”

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The UK2 Group

It was more good news in Italy this last week for the Marussia F1 Team. Further development upgrades meant another solid finish for Charles Pic and Timo Glock coming in at P16 & P17 respectively. The Monza Grand Prix turned out to be an exciting race for the neutrals too as the race for the World Championship was blown wide open as Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag. 

The Marussia F1 Team drivers have contrasting views on how the day turned out. Timo suffered a broken wing right at the start which affected the performance of his car and had to pit early which changed his strategy. Charles also had to change his strategy but put in a solid performance to keep up with their nearest rivals and enjoyed a good day on track.

Charles Pic #25
“I am very happy with today’s race performance as it represents another significant step for the team. We came here expecting it to be a tough weekend for us; our car had not performed well in Montreal, which has similar aerodynamic characteristics. We worked well through the various set-up options to arrive at a car that was actually very strong and which today put us even closer to the cars ahead when we were perhaps expecting not to be so competitive to them here. This is a good sign. In the race it was not a bad start, but not great, so there is some work we can do in the last stage of the season to improve that and our prospects for the races. We have some more upgrades for Singapore so I hope they translate into more of this great progress we have been seeing.”

Timo Glock #24
“A bitter shame on my side really. The start itself was not great although I got through Turn 1 okay, but into Turn 2 there was a bit of a queue in front of me and Petrov moved to the outside, where I was. I couldn’t avoid him and he just clipped my front wing, which was damaged as a result. From there I couldn’t really do much as we had lost a bit of performance and the car was just ‘okay’ to drive. Worse than that, as I stopped so early I was out of sequence. I had to stay out longer and had more degradation at the end as the stints were quite long for me. Then blue flags cost us at the end. Overall I think we have to be quite pleased as we weren’t really running with the traditional Monza downforce specification. I’m now looking forward to Singapore – my favourite race.”

The Marussia Team made further improvements to their MRO1 over the summer break and came back very competitive in Belgium for the Spa GP.

Timo Glock and Charles Pic finished in P15 & P16 respectively. A great result for the Marussia Team as they look to close the gap on the Caterhams to hopefully take 10th spot at the end of the season. 

John Booth, Team Principal

“We predicted we would be stronger in the race versus qualifying and that was indeed the case today. For large portions of the race, the substantial upgrade we introduced here allowed our drivers to match the pace of our immediate competitors, so we can be pleased overall that the margins are reducing and also we only saw a few blue flags and quite late on in the race. These incremental upgrades will bring the additional pace that will significantly aid our ability to race on the lead lap and minimise our blue flag time loss towards the end of the race.

“The extremely eventful opening lap made life a little difficult for us with both of our cars having to pick their way through the huge amount of debris in turn one, which had brought out the safety car. Then, the incident between Maldonado and Timo left him right at the back of the field behind the HRTs, which was less than ideal in terms of our objective of taking the fight to Caterham after the safety car restart. We opted to switch Timo to a two-stop strategy to allow him the free air he needed to achieve our pace potential in the middle stint in order to close the gap. This worked well and Timo did a great job to respond to the switch. We put Charles on a more conservative one-stop strategy and this led to the two drivers being particularly close at the end of the race. Charles was on older tyres and Timo was able to get past in the final few laps but by this stage, despite his pace, the gap created as a consequence of earlier incidents meant there was no hope of him catching up to Petrov. We have shown another legitimate step with our upgrades, thanks to the hard work by the team back in Banbury and also our partners at Cosworth. I’m sure this will give everyone a huge boost going into Monza and with a full Friday of practice running to fine-tune our package I’m sure we can continue to see more of this steady progression forward.”

We are pleased to announce that the Marussia F1 Team put in a solid performance at the Hungarian GP and finished with Charles  and Timo in positions P20 & P21 respectively.

It was a tough day for the Marussia F1 Drivers and Charles Pic was the pick of the 2 as he was able to close the gap to the Caterhams and enjoyed a real battle with Vitaly Petrov. Timo Glock struggled a bit in the beginning, spinning out on lap 3, and struggled to find the speed that was needed to claw his way back up the pack. Timo still fought back and finished the race strongly which showed great character. 

Charles Pic #25
“I am very happy to end the first half of my first season in this way and to be achieving the targets I set for myself. The race didn’t begin so well, as I had a poor start again, so we must look at that and solve it for Spa and beyond as it is another factor that can help us progress in the race. After that, the race pace was very good and I am happy that our performance relative to the Caterhams is now much clearer to see, particularly as I had a nice and close battle with Petrov. Now we go into a long break when I will have the chance to reflect on the season so far and look at what we can do for the next half of the season. I would like to thank not just my engineers and car crew but the whole team for a very happy start to my F1 debut. It has not been easy for the team but we are making real progress. I wish everyone a good rest for the holidays and look forward to coming back fighting at the Belgian Grand Prix in four weeks’ time.”

Timo Glock #24
“Another race to forget for me, a bit like Hockenheim. I had no pace and no balance in the car from the beginning on. Despite this I was still quicker in the first two laps but then experienced the rear end instability again. I lost the car suddenly under braking and couldn’t catch it. I spun and then I was behind the HRTs and struggled massively again with the balance. I don’t know what the problem is at the moment, but I think it is a good time for the break. My thanks to the team for the hard work in trying to resolve my problems with the car and I wish them a good holiday. I hope that we can all come back and enjoy a stronger second half of the season together.”

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The Marussia F1 Team head to Russia for the Moscow City Racing event.

There is no rest for the Marussia F1 Team after their busy home GP, the British F1, and they now head to Moscow, their mother country, where they will be giving the Russian motorsport enthusiast something to cheer about!

The inaugural Russian GP is only 2 years away and the Marussia F1 team are hoping to excite fans with a demonstration in front of the Kremlin. The team will also be inviting fans into the paddock area to soak up the atmosphere and experience some behind the scenes action giving them the chance to see the detail and intricacies of F1 and how design and technology meet to produce the pinnacle in motor racing.

Charles Pic will be attending the event and will be participating in a number of promotional activities including driving the MR01 and meeting the fans, signing autographs and taking part in photo opportunities.

Charles Pic, Marussia F1 Team driver #25
“I’m really excited to be heading to Russia for the first time; it should be quite an experience. The team have told me what a fantastic reception they had from the Russian fans in Sochi last year and it sounds like awesome fun to drive the car through the streets of Moscow. It is quite a busy programme of driving the car and promotional activities, but with some time to explore fascinating places like The Kremlin. As one of the drivers of the only Anglo-Russian F1 team, I can’t wait to meet the fans and give them a taste of Formula 1 before the team races at what will be its new home Grand Prix in 2014.”

If you are in Moscow then be sure to make your way down to the Moscow City Racing and you’ll get the chance to meet the Marussia F1 Team and witness a variety of motor sport activities.

You can read the Marussia F1 Team’s PR statement here.

UK2 were lucky enough to attend the British Grand Prix with the Marussia F1 Team. The Silverstone race is the Marussia F1 Team’s home race so they were looking to build on their positive start to the season with 2 strong Finishes.

Here are some of the images from the race.

The Marussia F1 Team’s home Grand Prix, The British Formula One, was extremely challenging for all F1 Teams. The weather was a talking point for everyone and created a number of issues for teams and fans alike. Luckily the teams got to complete qualifying, and the fans were able to enjoy the action on a dry and sunny race day.

Timo Glock and Charles Pic put in a solid performance and ensured a double finish in their new Upgraded MR01′s, coming in at P18 & P19 respectively. The good news is that the upgrades helped them to get further in front of the HRT’s and one step closer to the Caterham team which is currently the main goal of the Marussia F1 Team. The team also took strength from the fact that Maria’s condition appears to be getting better, and most F1 drivers showed their support by wearing Maria’s star logo on their helmets or cars.

Timo Glock #24

“In general a tough week for us. It was difficult for everyone in the team to get into the weekend, but we had to do our job here, and as professionally as possible, and that is what we have done, so I think everyone can feel very proud of that. The running started out a little chaotic with the weather conditions being so up and down and our qualifying result was disappointing because we could have been in Q2. Then, having prepared for a wet race, it ended up being a completely dry race, so it has been a very changeable and, at times, frustrating weekend. I think we can be pleased with a solid P18 and with two cars home we can learn some important things about our package. It felt good from the first lap, so as we understand it more I hope we can improve it. Next, we will see what we can do in Hockenheim where, it goes without saying, I am hoping we can have a strong race in front of my home crowd to thank them for their unrelenting support.”

Charles Pic #25

“We can be happy to have both cars finish the race and this gives us plenty of information to work with to develop our new package. We lost some time on the first set of tyres as we were faster than the HRTs, but we were stuck behind them and couldn’t get past. We pitted early for our first stop and this worked well and enabled us to show good pace after this. Thanks to the crew who did a good job with the second stop and this allowed us to jump De La Rosa. I think, all things considered, we have done a solid job here this weekend and can look forward to Germany with a little more optimism.”

Quotes taken from the Marussia F1 Team’s press release, which can be found here.