Here’s what the Marussia F1 team have to say ahead of this weekend’s Silverstone F1 Grand Prix.

Jules Bianchi, Marussia

“I’m really looking forward to the Team’s home race at Silverstone. I know from Monaco what it feels like to have achieved your dream of racing in Formula One and then be able to do just that in front of your home crowd, so it will be a nice weekend for Max. It is also an important weekend for the whole Team and I too will be looking to achieve my objectives – to contribute to a good overall team result and keep up the  fight with the cars around us. We will have a lot of our team members who don’t usually get to a race present and that is really important and nice for them, to be able to see us racing so close to our base. As for the track, I really like it, having raced here before in different formulae. It is one of the best tracks on the calendar in my opinion – very fast, challenging and technical. I’ve done some good preparation and now I can’t wait to start running on Friday.”

Max Chilton, Marussia

“The British Grand Prix is really special, and for so many reasons, so to be able to call it my home Grand Prix is pretty incredible and without
doubt it will be the highlight of my debut season so far. It is also the Team’s home race and Silverstone is just 18 miles from our base in
Banbury, so we’re racing in our own backyard with fantastic support from our fans, our Team and our Partners right here on our doorstep. It
doesn’t get much better than that, apart from bringing home a great result of course, which is what we’ll all be pushing for. I know from
having raced at Silverstone previously that the atmosphere is electric, with a sea of Union Jack flags and some big noise coming from the
grandstands. I’m sure it will be better than ever this year with four British drivers in the mix. As for the circuit itself, it has always been a real driver’s track with a character all if its own. The high-speed corners make it really exciting to drive, particularly Copse,  Becketts and Stowe. We have a few small developments for this race but we are also still making progress with the updates we brought prior to that, so I’m optimistic that we will be able to put a good weekend together on track. Off-track, it’s looking very busy but exciting, with a lot of media activity and appearances. All in all, I can’t wait.”

Marussia F1 at Barcelona

John Booth, Marussia team principal

“The British Grand Prix is always a fantastic occasion and one of the highlights of the calendar for teams and fans alike. We are proud to be the only Anglo-Russian team on the grid and next year we will have two home races to celebrate, but for now, with our operational base in Banbury, Silverstone continues to be ‘home asphalt’ for us. We are also delighted to be fielding a British driver for the first time in our brief history. Max is, quite rightly, very excited to be racing in front of his home crowd for the first time in a Formula One car and, if the atmosphere  we have seen there in previous years is anything to go by, he’ll thoroughly enjoy the support for him and the other British drivers. The British fans are incredible; so knowledgeable and enthusiastic. They are very patriotic but equally, they’ll back whoever shines there next weekend because they just love to see a great race at the end of the day. We hope to play our part in the racing action and we’ll be aiming for the best possible finish with both our drivers to maintain our fight for position in the Constructors’ Championship and to reward the Team members and our Partners, many of whom will be sharing in the occasion with us. We look forward to a great weekend and a classic British Grand Prix.”