Marussia: Chilton and Rossi look beyond F1 for their future

The Marussia F1 team is about to disappear after not participating in the last three races of the Formula 1 season and the upcoming auction of its assets. This leaves its drivers, Max Chilton and Alexander Rossi, no choice but to look for another place to continue their careers – Jules Bianchi is still being treated following his horrific accident in Suzuka.

Chilton, who raced for Marussia in 2013, returned to the Russian team’s season for *Sky Sports F1*, explaining that financial issues were already present at the start of the season and even earlier during private tests and that the situation did not surprise him: « This year was very complicated for the team, but also for me because I knew that the team had been facing issues for a long time. So I knew in Bahrain [during the tests] that we might not go to Australia. I knew we were lucky to be in Australia, and from there, I treated each race as my last race. Even then, I didn’t think we would go to Barcelona. Then we managed to do all the European rounds, and then I thought that after Monza, it would be over. But we needed to bring the team to Russia, so we were lucky to do a few races with Russia. But I knew that after Russia, unless new investors arrived, we would shut down. It didn’t mean the end of Marussia, but I knew we wouldn’t be racing anymore until the problem was resolved. »

The Briton doesn’t know what his future holds, but he hopes to remain a Formula 1 driver even though he has been offered seats in other championships: « I have already started looking [elsewhere] and have received a few offers in DTM and LMP1. It’s nice to be offered things, but obviously, I am a Formula 1 driver and I want to make sure I can be there. So that’s plan A for the moment. Plan B, I might have to consider it quite soon because, of course, there aren’t many seats left, so I don’t want to shoot myself in both feet. I’m going to have an interesting few weeks and hopefully, we’ll achieve the result we want. »

Max Chilton is even ready to settle for a third driver role in an F1 team even though he sees himself rather racing on track than watching F1 Grand Prix as a spectator: « I will not turn down [a reserve driver offer]: if a good team offers me a reserve driver position, then I could take it. But there are drivers who are made for it, and I think I’m a competitor, and I would prefer racing in LMP1 or DTM rather than being a reserve driver. If this reserve driver role could lead to a full-time seat, then I might take it, but I think for now Marussia is my best option. If that is not the case, we will have to consider offers from LMP1 and DTM. »

Return to the homeland for Alexander Rossi

Alexander Rossi, who almost raced for Marussia in Belgium and in Austin, Interlagos, or Abu Dhabi if the team had lined up there, did not race in any Grand Prix during his European career, and the American driver decided to return to America to continue his career.

The 23-year-old driver has now decided to race in the USA and hopes to be present in IndyCar next year, as he told the site Racer.com: I left the United States when I was 16, came to Europe, and the goal was to reach Formula 1 and become a Grand Prix driver. That goal never wavered. In fact, it was a strange realization at the Circuit of the Americas last year when I did [FP1] with the Caterham F1 team for what was my first time in a single-seater in the States since I left at the end of 2008. Now, I’m back in the United States and focusing my efforts on IndyCar for next year.

Few American drivers have managed to break into Formula 1 in recent years – the last U.S.-born driver to start an F1 Grand Prix was Scott Speed, at the 2007 European Grand Prix held at the Nürburgring for Toro Rosso – and Alexander Rossi adds to this list even though all his hopes have not disappeared as he has often been mentioned as a possibility for the Haas team, which is set to join F1 in 2016.

Rossi nevertheless revealed that he had been close to racing for Marussia several times this season: « In a way, we managed our task of getting to Formula 1. No, I didn’t start a Grand Prix, but people may or may not be aware that I was called to race for Marussia five times this year, and for reasons beyond my control and financial reasons that were in the press, it didn’t work out. »

But now, he will focus on IndyCar where he hopes to be competitive, especially on street circuits, thanks to all the experience gained in Europe: All the GP2 experience, the ability to win, and all the F1 testing will help me right away for street racing here [in the USA, Editor’s note], and when it comes to ovals, I have no preconceived notions. It will clearly be a new frontier for me, but race drivers know what they need to do when something new appears in front of them. It just takes time, and it’s something I’m looking forward to doing.