As a Russian-owned Team performing on an international stage but with its operational base in the heart of the UKs motorsport valley, the Marussia F1 Team is all set to celebrate the occasion of its home race, the 2013 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix, which takes place at Silverstone next weekend (28-30 June). This season, the Team is proud to be fielding a British driver for the first time in its young history and Max Chilton, along with the three other British drivers, can look forward to racing in front of some of the worlds most passionate motorsport fans, at one of the most exhilarating circuits on the F1 calendar.
Jules Bianchi, Driver #22
Im really looking forward to the Teams home race at Silverstone. I know from Monaco what it feels like to have achieved your dream of racing in Formula One and then be able to do just that in front of your home crowd, so it will be a nice weekend for Max. It is also an important weekend for the whole Team and I too will be looking to achieve my objectives - to contribute to a good overall team result and keep up the fight with the cars around us. We will have a lot of our team members who dont usually get to a race present and that is really important and nice for them, to be able to see us racing so close to our base. As for the track, I really like it, having raced here before in different formulae. It is one of the best tracks on the calendar in my opinion - very fast, challenging and technical. Ive done some good preparation and now I cant wait to start running on Friday.
Max Chilton, Driver #23
The British Grand Prix is really special, and for so many reasons, so to be able to call it my home Grand Prix is pretty incredible and without doubt it will be the highlight of my debut season so far. It is also the Teams home race and Silverstone is just 18 miles from our base in Banbury, so were racing in our own backyard with fantastic support from our fans, our Team and our Partners right here on our doorstep. It doesnt get much better than that, apart from bringing home a great result of course, which is what well all be pushing for. I know from having raced at Silverstone previously that the atmosphere is electric, with a sea of Union Jack flags and some big noise coming from the grandstands. Im sure it will be better than ever this year with four British drivers in the mix. As for the circuit itself, it has always been a real drivers track with a character all if its own. The high-speed corners make it really exciting to drive, particularly Copse, Becketts and Stowe. We have a few small developments for this race but we are also still making progress with the updates we brought prior to that, so Im optimistic that we will be able to put a good weekend together on track. Off-track, its looking very busy but exciting, with a lot of media activity and appearances. All in all, I cant wait.
