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Marussia will not replace Bianchi at Sochi
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FORMULA One team Marussia said yesterday it will only race with one driver at the Russian Grand Prix as Jules Bianchi battles for his life after a crash last weekend.
Max Chilton drove the only Marussia car during practice yesterday for the weekend race in Sochi.
“The Marussia F1 Team will run a single car for the duration of the forthcoming grand prix weekend in Sochi, out of respect for their driver Jules Bianchi, who remains in hospital in Yokkaichi, Japan, in a critical but stable condition,” the team said in a statement. Reserve driver Alexander Rossi is in Sochi but Marussia said “the team feels strongly that fielding a single car, that of driver number 4, Max Chilton, is the appropriate course of action under the difficult circumstances of the weekend.”
Bianchi’s crew have built a second car “which has been scrutineered and is ready to race, and this will remain on his side of the garage throughout the weekend.
“In support of Jules and his family, the Team and their cars will carry the familiar #JB17 graphic, to ensure that although Jules is not with them in Sochi this weekend, he is, nonetheless, racing on with the Marussia F1 Team.”
Chilton said the whole team wanted to show support for the French driver who suffered a severe brain trauma when his car hit a recovery vehicle.
“I don’t know how to put into words how truly devastated I am by what has happened to Jules,” said the young Briton. “The support from the F1 family has been incredible and all we can do is be there to support Jules’ family at this difficult time. It is going to be a very emotional weekend for the whole team, but we will try to get through it and keep praying for Jules.”
Meanwhile, championship leader Lewis Hamilton produced a dazzling lap to top the times in yesterday’s second free practice session. The 29-year-old Briton, who was second fastest behind his Mercedes teammate and title rival German Nico Rosberg in the morning’s opening session, wound up quickest in the afternoon with a dominant lap in one minute and 39.630 seconds.
This was eight-tenths of a second faster than the chasing pack led by Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen of McLaren and made Hamilton the only man to break the 1:40 barrier at the newly built track in the Olympic Park. Two-time champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso was third for Ferrari ahead of Rosberg, Finn Valtteri Bottas of Williams and Briton Jenson Button in the second McLaren.
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