Tim Glock feels Marussia can step up another notch or two in 2013 thanks to the McLaren windtunnel programme.
The Oxfordshire-based squad didn't have a happy start to their 2012 campaign as they were unable to test before the season opener in Australia, which resulted in a pretty shabby showing during qualifying in Melbourne.
However, once they were up and running with the MR01, they were able to draw on the expertise of McLaren as they have a technical agreement with the Woking squad, and the positive results were there for all to see.
Glock, who have spent the past three seasons with Marussia, is confident they will improve even further in 2013 due to the tie-up.
"I think the windtunnel work paid off since we went to McLaren, and that looks very positive for the future," he said.
"It was a difficult year in 2012 with a very difficult start; going to Australia with no testing.
"But I think since then we've improved the car quite a lot.
"I didn't think that we would close the gap again because we were 1.5s off Caterham [on race pace] and then closed the gap very quickly over the second half of the season, which is great."
Marussia came within a few places of picking up their first points in Formula One last season as Glock finished 12th at the Singapore Grand Prix.
The German feels there were plenty of highlights for the squad during the latter stages of the year.
"We absolutely got it right at that race [Singapore] and took some risks," he said.
"Korea was also good as I could really challenge the Caterhams, and Austin was good as well because we had a very good qualifying.
"It was a shame that in the race we dropped behind the Caterhams again because the KERS factor was just too big. But that was a very strong race for myself."
