On day four of pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, the Marussia F1 Team experienced a continuation of some component reliability issues. Since the first time these were encountered earlier this week, the team back at the Marussia Technical Centre have been working on revised components in order to resolve the problems. These arrived in Bahrain this morning and instead of pursuing running with the original parts, the trackside team opted to deviate from the planned programme in order to fit and shake down the new components before the end of the day’s running.
After a huge effort to prepare the car, the Team were able to return Jules to the track for the final 10 minutes of the session, but he completed only one lap before the session was red-flagged when Raikkonen crashed. The session was not restarted. Nonetheless, the expectation is that the new components will provide a better basis for next week’s test here at the Bahrain International Circuit.