Max Chilton has said he is happy with his F1 debut. The 21 year old British driver finished 17th at the Australian Grand Prix, a full lap behind his team-mate Jules Bianchi after a collision with the Caterham of Giedo van der Garde caused him into an early pitstop.
“It was great beforehand because all the crowd were cheering my name on the parade lap,” Chilton said. “I enjoyed that.
“Overall, I was happy with the job I did and the car, and I can now tick off the fact I have done an F1 race and brought the car home. That was the goal. It’s good to get the race under my belt, even if it was less than straightforward, and we now know where we stand relative to the competition.
“I hit the blue flag period (waved to back markers), and it was a bit of a battle to recover the ground I lost,’
“Obviously you don’t want to be messing up other people’s race, but there is a bit of an art to it and you learn when to go off line. It is one of those things you don’t know until you’ve done a race.”
Chilton has revealed that the team are confident ahead of the next race in Malaysia. Having managed to get on the podium in GP2 last season Chilton is looking forward to next weekend’s Malaysian race.
“We are confident,” Chilton continued. “Although the race had its frustrations, I feel like I’ve learned a lot I perhaps wouldn’t have learned otherwise and that will be useful experience over the next few races.
“I am looking forward to Malaysia now so I can roll all that back into my racing and be able to take the fight to the midfield pack.
“I was in Malaysia last year in GP2 and I managed to get on the podium, so I know the track in the wet and dry.”
