Marussia’s Max Chilton has hit back at comments made by former technical consultant to the team, Pat Symonds, who recently left to take up a senior position with rival Williams.
The 60-year-old partly blamed Marussia’s rookie line-up as one of the reasons why the team weren’t reaching its full potential. He said their “hands are tied” with the need to attract drivers who can bring financial backing and suggested a driver like Fernando Alonso would immediately extract another half second from the car.
Chilton, despite being overshadowed by team-mate Jules Bianchi, believes he and the Frenchman are getting the most from the car and it’s only natural that an experienced driver such as Alonso would get more from it, but not half a second.
“A Formula 1 team isn’t going to accept two drivers who aren’t capable of getting the most out of the car,” he told Ria Novosti.
“I don’t believe there’s half a second, but I agree that the more experience you’ve got – people like Alonso, like Jenson [Button], like Lewis [Hamilton] that have been here so long – they can get a little bit more out of it.
“I wouldn’t say that there’s that much left in the car though,” he added.
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