Will Stevens admits Manor is aware it may struggle to qualify for the Australian Grand Prix but says the team can’t be too concerned by its early pace.
Manor returns to the grid this weekend after the former Marussia team exited administration. It will run a modified 2014 car with last year’s Ferrari power unit, but the step forward shown by the front-runners this season leaves the team at risk of failing to qualify. With the 107% rule a threat, Stevens says the team is unsure what it can achieve but is thinking more long-term than just the opening weekend.
“To be honest it’s hard to tell,” Stevens said. “We’ve obviously not been on track yet, there are the new tyres to factor in to the pre-season pace that everyone’s shown because for sure they’re quicker from what they were last year.
“There’s a lot of people talking about it but at the end of the day we won’t know until we hit the track. There’s still a little bit of leeway from last year’s pace of the car to 107% so it’s just determined by how much the guys at the front have moved forward.
“In all honesty, we’re just going to go out and do the best job we can. If that’s within 107% or not, I don’t know, but we’re confident in the package we’ve got and we’ll do the best job we can.”
With just one F1 start behind him from last year’s final race for Caterham, Stevens says he believes Manor can enjoy a relatively smooth weekend operationally.
“Obviously it’s going to be tough. On a personal note it’s nice that I’ve done Abu Dhabi, I think it helps me understand how the weekend runs and from my side it should be much easier now I’ve done a full race meeting. So as a team we’ll take it one step at a time.
“Clearly it would have been nice to have some pre-season testing but the guys here know the car pretty well from last year so there shouldn’t be too many issues to overcome.”
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