Chilton and Haryanto to test for Marussia

2012 F1 season

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Max Chilton and Rio Haryanto will drive for Marussia in the Young Drivers’ Test at Silverstone on Thursday and Friday this week.

The pair are part of Marussia’s young driver programme and drive for the Carlin team in GP2.

Marussia are one of three teams testing at Silverstone at the end of the week. Williams will be present with Valtteri Bottas and HRT will run Ma Qing Hua.

The remaining nine teams will have a separate Young Drivers’ Test later this year.

Chilton said: “I’m really excited to be taking part in the Young Driver Test for Marussia F1 Team. I have driven an F1 car once before – the Force India in 2011 – but I feel that with another year of GP2 competition under my belt to develop my driving further I feel much more prepared this time and eager to demonstrate that progression.

“The team have come up with a great programme, which has a bit of everything we need to showcase our potential. I can’t wait for the opportunity and thanks to the team, who have already been a great support to me in GP2 this season."

Haryanto previously tested for the team in 2010, when it was still called Virgin (pictured). “For this test at Silverstone I am much better prepared from a technical and fitness point of view,” he said.

“With the limited testing available in Formula 1, any time a young driver can spend in an F1 car is valuable for the future. I am looking forward to the experience and back home in Indonesia I am sure millions of fans will be happy to see me take another step towards my dream of becoming Indonesia’s first driver to enter the FIA Formula 1 World championship.”

Marussia test driver Maria de Villota is continuing to recover from the injuries she sustained when driving the MR02 at Duxford Aerodrome a week ago. On Sunday the team said her sedation had been reduced, she had regained consciousness and spoken with her family.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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29 comments on “Chilton and Haryanto to test for Marussia”

  1. Go Rio! I’d love to see someone born in the same year as me in F1, but when it happens, I’m going to feel very inadequate. Incredible to think Jaime Alguersuari made his actual race début at this age. I thought it was nothing at the time, but now I’m at that same age, it’s almost impossible for me to comprehend.

    1. I’m in the same school year as Sergio Perez…I can confirm it is really weird.

    2. Believe me, you’ll get used to it…
      (and I’m younger than Schumacher!)

    3. @damonsmedley Let’s see who is first – you with Haryanto or me with Evans :)

      1. It’s taken a few years, but Haryanto was first out of these two drivers – although Max Verstappen beat both of them last year (something that didn’t even cross our minds until Red Bull signed him in the second half of 2014 for 2015 onwards)!

    4. Semi-related question: are there any promising drivers born in 1992? I already know that Alberto Cerqui from WTCC was born that year; what about the single-seater drivers?

    5. @damonsmedley Vettel is 2 and a half months younger than me and a double world champion.

      I’m working on equaling that…

      1. Drop Valencia!
        11th July 2012, 11:24

        Andrew why not double it, Prost hadn’t started F1 at the age Vettel was WDCx2.

  2. Please, no accidents this time.

  3. @damonsmedley @electrolite @verstappen Jaime is just a year older than me….its difficult to get used to the fact that guys my age are already at the highest level of sports. Three of India’s boxers at the Olympics are younger than me….! :o

    1. What about Sachin Tendulkar, he was just 16 when entered the big stage.

  4. A bit sickening seeing a 2-day test going on with only 3 cars present. Particularly given the circumstances of Maria de Villota’s accident, while no doubt this is a full track test, in a controlled environment, with all the best safety and medical support. A sarcastic “well done” to the bickering teams and current testing rules and loopholes for that.

    I guess there won’t be much public demand now, certainly there’s nothing on the Silverstone web site, but 3 F1 cars is better than no cars – anyone know if it’s open to the public?

    And now the silly season is under way, any news on who’s driving the Caterham? Rossi or van der Garde? Or someone new?

    1. forget the Caterham bit! I thought they were there instead of HRT for some reason.

    2. @bullfrog Surely not van der Garde. He’s been treading water at feeder series level for long enough without showing anything that marks him out as an F1 driver of the future.

      Case in point: his last race He started from pole position in the GP2 Sprint race at Silverstone having finished eighth in the feature race. He gradually dropped back until by lap 15 he was out of the points. This from a driver making his 72nd GP2 start on top of two years in Formula Renault 3.5.

      I don’t think he has what it takes. But he may have the cash to make up the shortfall.

      1. I feel the same about Chilton. He can qualify well, but in races looks out of his depth and goes backwards – not as dramatically as your van der Garde example, but too many 5th and 7th places when he started higher up, and he’s not new to the GP2 game.

        Van der Garde’s had a bit of F1 time recently though, a Friday practice and some doughnuts in Rotterdam. But I’d imagine Rossi has a better chance if a Caterham drive is on offer next year, even if his Renault 3.5 season is a struggle (team rather than driver, from what I’ve read). Being American should help.

        1. I feel the same about haryanto the guy has done nothing in his career to suggest he is even close to formula 1 material, I understand he is young but so are most of the people he races against and gets beaten by. Does he have big backers from Indonesia ?

          1. He has backing from Pertamina, an Indonesian oil and gas conglomerate.

            Looking at his results, he has at least done enough to humour the idea of a Formula 1 test. He’s had some success in most of the series he has entered on a long-term basis, with wins and podiums in GP3, AutoGP and Formula BMW, so there is some talent there. He might need another season in GP2 before a Formula 1 seat is a realistic idea, but he’s caught onto Carlin in he middle of an upswing in their form (they were horrendous in 2011), so I think he could be the sort of driver who could hold his own in Formula 1, even if he doesn’t win anything.

          2. actually he is the youngest driver in GP2 and the only driver that born in 93. and he only have 2 full season in Europe under his belt. so give this guy a time, he nearly won a race in valencia 2 weeks ago, if not making a contact with calado. yeah maybe he’s not the next vettel, but we believe (as indonesian) he will doing a decent job in F1, and hopefully motivates our young drivers here.

          3. I am a fan of Rio. I saw him in Formula BMW in Singapore a few years ago and he smoked the whole grid, he was a class above the rest, he was 16 at the time. He obviously has talent, but I agree that F1 might be a little too soon for him. He is fast for sure, I hope he gets into F1 on merit.

      2. @keithcollantine, I’m probably a lone voice here, and I’m probably a bit biased too (being Dutch), but I don’t think Van der Garde is as bad as you make him sound here. In Silverstone, he struggled massively with his front tyres, and we have seen others, both in GP2 and in F1, have a bad day on Pirellis from time to time. I think over the years he’s shown some promise now and then (he did win the Renault F3.5 championship after all), though not consistently, and not enough to mark him out as an F1 race winner. Let’s not forget, though, that Caterham hasn’t exactly been setting the GP2 scene on fire over the past couple of years. Last year, it was Valsecchi and Razia – the current championship leaders – driving for Caterham, and Van der Garde has already equalled or surpassed both in terms of poles, podiums and wins.

        In hindsight, I think it was a mistake from Guido to sign with Caterham this year. He had the option of racing for HRT, but he chose the reserve driver role for Caterham instead, possibly hoping to replace Trulli after or on occasion during the season. HRT are actually doing a pretty good job this year, and if he could have outperformed De la Rosa over a year (which I think would certainly have been possible), that might have been better for his career then failing in GP2 again.

  5. No Robert Wickens? What a shame. :(

    1. @kingshark – Wickens isn’t attached to any of these teams. He used to receive backing from Marussia, but he could not secure a seat. He’s now racing in DTM as part of Mercedes’ driver development programme, so if he is going to test for anyone, it will be Mercedes, and Mercedes will not be present at this test.

    2. He’s in the DTM now. Lifted this from Wikipedia…

      “In his return to Formula Renault 3.5, where he competed in 2008, he won the 2011 season championship with Carlin Motorsport, with backing of Marussia. Wickens then left the series to race in the DTM.”

  6. hadi muchtar
    11th July 2012, 3:36

    All Indonesians support RIO HARYANTO!

    1. +1 GO RIO!

  7. Good news about Chilton. I follow GP2 as best I can and he stands out more for me than Haryanto does.

    1. Don’t forget that Chilton has been in the team longer than Haryanto. He was racing for them in 2011, alongside Mikhail Aleshin, Oliver Turvey and Alvaro Parente. And I do believe the team is part-owned by Chilton’s father.

  8. The teams will be using the shorter International Circuit:

    http://www.silverstone.co.uk/track/circuit-maps/international-circuit/

    1. It’s a shame they shut the old part of the circuit down. There’s an interesting-looking shorter circuit if the cars went from the old start line to Chapel, but then turned right at “The Link” and went against the current flow through Village and Farm to Abbey before turning right and going out to Bridge.

      Although it would be better for series like the BTCC than Formula 1, of course.

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