The Marussia F1 Team are in China for Round 3

For Formula 1 standards it has been a nice long break from racing for the Marussia F1 Team. But while there has been no racing, there has certainly been a lot of work happening behind the scenes to get the Marussia MR01 ready for action this weekend for the 3rd race of the season – the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.

The Marussia F1 Team had plenty of important data to go through from the first 3 races and have used that information to make small tweaks to the cars performance. The all-important race data needed to be analysed, discussed and then fed back to the engineers so they could pick up where they left off and ensure the Marussia F1 Team build on their success from the previous GP’s.

While all systems are go, one thing that can’t be predicted or controlled is the weather in Shanghai. Warm one minute, torrential downpour the next, which makes for interesting racing as timing will be crucial if the heavens did decide to open. The locals have told the team to bring their t-shirts and rain jackets, so it’s safe to say the Wet Pirelli tyre is also ready to roll.

100TB are also making their debut on the car and their logo will be displayed on the car for the entire race weekend. Tell us where it is and you could win an Nintendo 3DS! Click here for more details.

Here are some exciting facts about the Chinese Grand Prix and the Shanghai circuit – this info was kindly supplied by the Marussia F1 Team.

•  The circuit layout is reflective of the Chinese character Shang, meaning ‘high’ or ‘above’.
• Speaking of ‘high’, the track cost $US 450 million to build when it was converted from disused swampland to ‘the circuit for the millennium’ in the space of just 18 months ready for its 2004 debut. Eight years on it continues to set the standard.
• Cars are at full throttle for 59% of the lap distance and 46% of the lap time.
• The longest period at full throttle is 15 seconds.
• The average number of gear changes per race lap is 46 that’s 2576 per race.