F1 News
Date: 3/March/2013
The fallout from Force India’s
decision to hand Adrian Sutil the final vacant seat on the 2013 F1 grid has
seen Jules Bianchi switch to the Marussia team in place of fellow rookie Luiz
Razia.
Bianchi, 23, Force India’s reserve
driver and a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, had been Sutil’s main rival
for the Force India race seat - but lost out to the experienced German.
However with Razia unable to meet
his Marussia contractual obligations, Bianchi has been parachuted into the team
alongside another rookie, Max Chilton.
Frenchman Bianchi, a frontrunner
in the support GP2 class last season, said: “I am thrilled to have secured a
race seat with the Marussia F1 Team.
“Racing in Formula One this season
has been my goal over the winter and after evaluating a number of options I am
very excited to have this opportunity to demonstrate that I am ready for this
next step in my racing career
“I am also very grateful to the
Ferrari Driver Academy that has always supported me and has given me the
possibility to mature as a racing driver enabling me to be fully prepared for
this new exciting challenge.”
It is believed that Marussia, which
finished above only the defunct HRT outfit last season and has been open about
the need for its drivers to provide financial support, were forced to drop
Razia after the Brazilian’s backers failed to deliver the promised funding.
“We have found ourselves in a
situation where we have had to terminate our contract with Luiz Razia,” Team
Principal John Booth explained. “Having made clear the basis on which we must
operate in 2013… we had no alternative but to remain true to the principles we
had identified as key to securing our long-term future.”
The new F1 season begins in
Melbourne, Australia on 17 March.
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