Virgin Racing

Virgin

Full name	Marussia Virgin Racing (2011) Virgin Racing (2010) Manor Grand Prix (2009)
Base	Dinnington, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Noted staff	John Booth Richard Branson Nikolai Fomenko Graeme Lowdon Pat Symonds Alex Tai Etienne de Villiers Nick Wirth
Noted drivers	Jérôme d'Ambrosio Lucas di Grassi Timo Glock
Subsequent name	Marussia F1 Team
Formula One World Championship career
Debut	2010 Bahrain Grand Prix
Races competed	38
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
Final race	2011 Brazilian Grand Prix

Virgin was the constructor name used by Manor Grand Prix Limited, the Rotherham, UK based Formula One racing team, both in the 2011 season trading under the team name "Marussia Virgin Racing" and in the 2010 season trading as "Virgin Racing". The team was granted entry as "Manor Grand Prix" on 12 June 2009, as one of four new teams selected to race in the 2010 season. On 30 November 2009, the FIA released a revised entry list that stated the team's name as Virgin Racing. Richard Branson's Virgin Group is the title sponsor of the team, which was launched on 15 December 2009.

On 11 November 2010, it was announced that Marussia, a Russian car company, had taken a controlling stake in the team that would be called Marussia Virgin Racing from 2011 onwards. In February 2011, it was further announced that the team would compete under a Russian racing licence, becoming the second Russian team in the sport after Midland. In November 2011, the team formally applied to the Formula One Commission to change their name to Marussia for the 2012 season.

Following the final race of the 2011 season, the Virgin constructor name left the sport with the unenviable record of having the most starts — thirty-eight — without having scored a point.

History

Formation

The team was formed as Manor Grand Prix as a tie-up between Manor Motorsport and Wirth Research. Initially, Virgin's Alex Tai was the Team Principal, while Graeme Lowdon was the team's Director of Racing. Manor Motorsport boss John Booth was the Sporting Director, while former Simtek team owner Nick Wirth was the technical director. Less than one month after the Virgin partnership was officially launched, Tai left his position and Booth took over as team principal, with Lowdon becoming the CEO.

The team will use engines supplied by Cosworth. Manor Motorsport are best known as a Formula Three team but currently running only one car in the British Formula Three Championship in co-operation with CF Racing. The team helped launch the careers of World Champions Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton. Car preparation and racing operations is run from its headquarters in Dinnington, South Yorkshire, while Wirth Research designed, developed and built the VR-01 from its base in Bicester, before announcing a relocation to new, larger premises in Banbury, Oxfordshire in July 2010.

In June 2011, the team announced that they had split with Wirth Research after a lengthy internal review led by former Renault engineering director Pat Symonds found that the team's CFD-only approach had not yielded the expected results.

The team also have plans to create a driver academy, a series of racing teams starting in the new GP3 Series and advancing all the way up to Formula One.

2010

See also: 2010 Formula One season

Timo Glock testing the Virgin VR-01 during pre-season testing in Jerez, in February 2010.

Virgin's car for 2010, the VR-01, is the first F1 car designed entirely using CFD computer simulation technology. It was later discovered that the Virgin VR-01's fuel tank was too small, resulting in the team not being able to finish any races unless the cars are driven at a reduced pace to conserve fuel. The team was given the opportunity to redesign the chassis. On 17 November 2009 it was announced by the team that former Toyota driver Timo Glock would be the team's lead driver for the 2010 season. Glock was signed for two years and has a one year extension offer as well. Long-time Brazilian GP2 regular Lucas di Grassi joined him, while fellow former GP2 driver Luiz Razia fulfilled testing and reserve duties. Álvaro Parente was also signed as a test driver, but left the team prior to the launch of the VR-01. Andy Soucek was signed as his replacement, but left the team in August due to a lack of testing opportunities. The 2010 car was officially launched on their website on 3 February 2010, before running the car at a private event at Silverstone the following two days.

The team recorded its first double finish at the Spanish Grand Prix and had another double finish, best of the new teams at the Turkish Grand Prix. Despite recording four further double finishes, the team finished at the bottom of the Constructors' Championship standings on a tie-breaker, as their best result – 14th place finishes for di Grassi in Malaysia and Glock in Japan – placed them lower than Lotus Racing and Hispania Racing in the standings.

Sponsorship

Timo Glock's VR-01 on display in partner UST Global's Trivandrum office.

Virgin purchased eighty percent of the team, as part of sponsorship arrangement. The official FIA entry list for 2010 announced on 30 November 2009 showed that Manor GP had been entered as Virgin Racing. The team's partners for 2010 include tyre supplier Bridgestone, IT services company UST Global, environmental technology company Carbon Green, shampoo brand Clear, information technology firm CSC, foreign exchange traders FxPro, clothing company Kappa, the Oxigen investment group and Russian sports car manufacturer Marussia. On 13 January 2010, reports emerged revealing that Virgin had paid an extra one and a half million pounds to Cosworth to have the CA2010 unit rebranded as a Marussia, though both Virgin Racing and Cosworth have denied the story.

On 14 December 2009, Lloyds Banking Group announced that it had invested ten million pounds in the team, reversing the recent trend of financial institutions such as ING and RBS withdrawing sponsorship. However, it remains unclear as to whether or not the Lloyds logo will appear on the cars.

On 7 May 2010, Virgin Racing announced that it had reached a sponsorship deal with Full Tilt Poker. As with further part of their plans the team announced on the final race of the season that they had formed a partnership with QNet. At the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, QNet logos were displayed on the cars and on the racesuit of each driver.

Partnership with Marussia

Timo Glock at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix.

Since the team was formed, it had been in a partnership with Russian car manufacturer Marussia. On 11 November 2010, Marussia acquired a controlling stake in the team and guaranteed the team's future until 2014. Marussia engineering director Nikolai Fomenko has stated that the team would race with a Russian licence in 2011. Director Nick Wirth announced that it was a major financial boost for the team and that it will allow it to promote Formula One in Russia. The team also announced that their computational fluid dynamics (CFD) facility would be upgraded, to become the third largest such facility in the world.

Having previously driven for the team during Friday practice sessions at selected events in 2010, Jérôme d'Ambrosio replaced Lucas di Grassi in the team's second seat alongside Timo Glock for the 2011 season. Following a disappointing start to the season, the team ended its partnership with Wirth Research. Pat Symonds has been retained as a technical consultant, as he cannot be employed directly until his "Crashgate" ban expires ahead of the 2012 season. The team has abandoned using CFD as its sole R&D tool and signed an agreement with McLaren to use their technical facilities, simulators and wind tunnel.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Points	WCC
2010	Virgin VR-01	Cosworth CA2010 V8	B		BHR	AUS	MAL	CHN	ESP	MON	TUR	CAN	EUR	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	KOR	BRA	ABU	0	12th
				Timo Glock	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNS	18	Ret	18	Ret	19	18	18	16	18	17	Ret	14	Ret	20	Ret
				Lucas di Grassi	Ret	Ret	14	Ret	19	Ret	19	19	17	Ret	Ret	18	17	20	15	DNS	Ret	NC	18
2011	Virgin MVR-02	Cosworth CA2011 V8	P		AUS	MAL	CHN	TUR	ESP	MON	CAN	EUR	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	KOR	IND	ABU	BRA	0	12th
				Timo Glock	NC	16	21	DNS	19	Ret	15	21	16	17	17	18	15	Ret	20	18	Ret	19	Ret
				Jérôme d'Ambrosio	14	Ret	20	20	20	15	14	22	17	18	19	17	Ret	18	21	20	16	Ret	19

External links

• Official Marussia F1 Team website
• Marussia F1 Team on Twitter
• Marussia F1 Team on Facebook