Formula One team Marussia launched their 2012 car at Silverstone on Monday, even though it still needs to past a crucial crash test to be eligible for the first race of the season in Melbourne next week.
The car lacks the stepped nose seen on all other 2012 entries except McLaren and HRT’s cars.
Marussia were banned from the final official testing session this week after failing one of 18 mandatory crash tests, but can run the car for a limited distance on demonstration tires under a rule designed for promotional events.
“We are very pleased to be running the new MR01 for the first time this morning,” team principal John Booth said on the Marussia website.
“It has been a long and frustrating wait for everyone in the team but we can now get back on track – literally – and start working towards the first race of the season in Australia next weekend.”
Running the car at Silverstone would be of limited to use to the team, he said.
“Today is the first of two promotional events, so while the drivers will be able to get a feel for the car, they won’t be able to draw any real conclusions until we start running in anger in Melbourne.”
The Russian-owned team said that it had not designed the car from scratch despite major changes to the rules.
“The car can best be described as a significant evolution of its predecessors,” Marussia said in a statement.
Marussia’s drivers for 2012 are veteran German Timo Glock and French rookie Charles Pic.
