Marussia Racing is to skip the first pre-season F1 test in
Jerez and has announced that it is to delay the debut of its new car until the second of two tests in Barcelona in March.
The team had planned to run its 2011 car at
Jerez next month before the new MR01 was given its first run on 21 February at Catalunya.
However, delays to the programme have led to the team taking the decision to revise its testing programme, which will see the team skip Jerez.
“Our programme has slipped and there seems little point in fielding the new car before we can optimise the run plan for it,” team boss John Booth was quoted on the team's
Twitter feed. “We will hopefully gain more constructive track time than we might otherwise have achieved had we rushed the new car out for the second test.”
The new car is the first to have been designed with the use of a wind tunnel, with previous cars having been designed solely using CFD.
Timo Glock will be joined by Frenchman Charles Pic in the Marussia line-up for 2012.
