Can Virgin Racing be the new Brawn GP?
Sir Richard Branson rode the waves of success last year in Formula One, paying very little to be partners with Brawn GP, but gaining mass exposure from the 2009 constructor and driver world champions.
But on the eve of the Bahrain Grand Prix and the debut of Virgin Racing, early signs indicate that this season will not be as plain sailing.
At the final day of testing at Jerez, Timo Glock, Virgin’s most experience driver with 36 starts, was almost four seconds a lap behind the McLaren of Jenson Button and showed no signs of being a serious contender for podium places this year.
The 27-year-old German however has had previous success in F1 with Toyota finishing second on two occasions at Hungary in 2008 and Singapore in 2009. He signed with Virgin earlier this year with the dream of standing on that rostrum once again. Will this be a reality? Only time will tell.
His team-mate will be rookie Lucas di Grassi who has been around the F1 scene for a few years now as Renault’s third driver, but has never raced in a grand prix. He finished third in the 2009 GP2 champioship which was good enough to ensure him a seat on the starting grid this weekend.
Team principal John Booth has no Formula One experience and Sunday’s race will be a baptism of fire for the Yorkshireman. On the other hand, technical chief Nick Wirth has been in F1 before, with the ill-fated Simtek team and then Renault. He designed the VR-01 solely by computational fluid dynamics and without any recourse to a wind tunnel which was a bold move, especially for a new team.
But as he was accepting praise from his peers, the front wing at the car’s first test at Jerez fell off. A similar problem also beset Wirth’s Simtek team at Imola in 1994 when Roland Ratzenberger was tragically killed. Not the best start.
Preparation for their debut season may not have been ideal, but Virgin Racing are an exciting new team with money and support behind them. They have two young drivers both eager to impress and the Bahrain Grand Prix this Sunday will be their first test in what looks set to be a long and grueling season.
Join me and Victoria on Formula1FanCast.com’s Fantasy League Formula 1 2010. Our league is called Formula1Fancast.com and the league pin is 722. Try and beat us if you can, but be warned we’re good!
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JOHN!!