Jules Bianchi says he is ready for a call up to Ferrari if he's needed to deputise
Frenchman will stand in for Kimi Raikkonen at Silverstone test
By William Esler at Silverstone
Last Updated: 08/07/14 9:14pm
Jules Bianchi says he is ready for a call up to Ferrari if he was needed by the team to deputise for Kimi Raikkonen.
The Marussia driver is a member of the Scuderia’s Driver Academy and will test for the Italian team at Silverstone on Wednesday whilst Raikkonen recovers from his 47G crash at the British GP.
The Finn is expected to return to action at the German GP and whilst Bianchi says he hasn’t been placed on standby, the Frenchman says he is ready to step-up if required.
“Of course, I am in Formula 1 so I feel ready for everything,” the Frenchman said when asked by Sky Sports Online.
“At the moment I am racing for Marussia and I just want to do my job for them, I am really happy with what we are doing at the moment, I feel ready.”
The Ferrari F14 T and Marussia MR03 are worlds apart in terms of outright pace, but Bianchi doesn’t think it will be a challenge stepping between the two cars.
“I did it in 2012 when I jumped from Ferrari to Force India and I will do it again tomorrow,” he added. “It is good experience and it is what I need to grow up so I am really pleased with that.”
Bianchi had to dedicate part of his day to Pirelli tyre testing and his session was then brought to an early conclusion by an engine fire, but says the team will have plenty of new parts for Max Chilton to test on Wednesday.
“We have a lot to test,” he revealed. “It is a good opportunity to get a full day of testing, because we know we have a lot of things to do on the car to make it better. We will try to have a good day tomorrow with Max and that is why the mechanics are pretty busy now to build another car as it was pretty damaged by the fire today.”
So could those new parts help Marussia hold onto ninth in the standings and see them finish ahead of Sauber?
“It is difficult to say," Bianchi said. "At the moment they are quicker than us so we are doing our best to catch them, but it is not easy. We are still in front of them in the championship, but our target is to be in front of Caterham. If we can also be in front of Sauber for sure it would be good, but at the moment it is not our target."
