The F1 newswire – Friday 27 January

Like it? Share it!

Friday, 27 January 2012 17:00

All the news the teams see fit to print, in one handy digest produced every 24 hours.

Today’s big news comes via FORCE INDIA, who have announced that Jules Bianchi will be joining the team as reserve driver for the 2012 season. In other news, MARUSSIA announced a new partnership.

“Sahara FORCE INDIA is pleased to announce that Jules Bianchi has joined the team as its reserve driver for the 2012 season,” the team announced today. “The 22-year-old Frenchman will be integrated in the team’s programme and will participate in a minimum of nine Friday practice sessions during Grand Prix weekends. In preparation for the 2012 season, Jules will get his first run in the VJM05 during pre-season testing next month. The appointment sees Sahara Force India continue its tradition of investing in young drivers and developing their skills by giving them time in the car. Jules Bianchi said: ‘I’m obviously excited to join Sahara Force India and the chance to get track time during race weekends is an important step for me. Being regularly in a current car is the best way to learn quickly and I hope it will put me in a strong position to one day move into a race seat. The next few months will be really exciting as I get to know the team, see how they work, and prepare for my time in the car. I would like to thank everyone for believing in me and especially Sahara Force India for giving me this great opportunity. Dr. Vijay Mallya, team principal and managing director said: ‘I am delighted to welcome Jules into the Sahara Force India family. We always keep an eye on young, talented drivers and his performance in GP2 certainly impressed us all. By giving Jules the opportunity to be part of our 2012 campaign, we continue to demonstrate our commitment to young drivers. We are proud of our track record in this regard and I have no doubt that Jules will quickly settle into the team and make a valuable contribution to our efforts on track this season.’”

“The MARUSSIA F1 Team is pleased to begin the new year with the announcement of a brand new partnership with Sage, a global market leader in business software,” the team announced in a press release. “Sage is the third largest Enterprise Resourcing Planning (ERP) provider to business worldwide, with some 6.2 million companies using Sage products and services across 100 countries. In the UK over 11,000 businesses use Sage’s ERP software, and the Marussia F1 Team is the latest addition following the rollout of Sage’s ERP X3 system at the team’s new Technical Centre in Banbury, UK. This system brings every part of the business together in one powerful, easy to use and quick to deploy solution. The global business is decentralised and the company’s success has been built on understanding ‘local’ markets, empowering ‘local’ leaders, developing ‘local’ products for ‘local’ customers, and supporting them ‘locally’. Marussia F1 Team has already begun the integration of an effective factory management solution that will track the team’s race car parts all the way through the entire process from their conception to the racetrack.”

Check back here tomorrow for the latest news direct from the teams. Kate Walker

Worth Checking - F1 News - Kate Walkers F1 blog