OCTOBER 25, 2012

Chilton drives Marussia in Abu Dhabi FP1

Double GP2 race winner Max Chilton, recently promoted from the Marussia Young Driver Programme to reserve driver, will join Timo Glock in the first session of free practice for next weeks's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The 21-year-old Briton is a possible Marussia race driver in 2013 and will benefit from prior GP2 circuit knowledge of Yas Marina. That, and the fact that Pic also has prior track experience from an impressive Young Driver test there last year, which helped earn him his full-time 2012 seat, and hence a missed session will impact less on his race weekend, makes it a logical venue fo the team to run Chilton.

"The 90 minutes of FP1 will fly by so quickly that it's a real bonus to be testing the car at a circuit I know well," said Chilton, who has been involved in track walks, engineering meetings and driver debriefs since Singapore.

"It means I can get up to speed straight away and focus on delivering some proper set-up and aero evaluation data. I will concentrate my efforts on keeping my excitement in check and ensuring I make the most of this fantastic opportunity."