Lucas Di Grassi finishing in Malaysia can be seen to be Virgin’s greatest moment in Formula One so far. Now we wait and see if they can maintain this momentum and push on this week at the Chinese Grand Prix.

But this week the focus will be on his team-mate Timo Glock, who had his best qualifying session last race, but failed to take advantage of this spinning out on the second lap.

Glock, who is yet to finish a race this year, came into this season as the lead driver and from the first few races he looked like it. But now he is under fire to prove his worth and finishing this week is a must for the German and he knows it. He said:

“It goes without saying that the last race in Sepang was disappointing for me, ending almost before it began. Things were looking very good and we seemed to get most things right during the Free Practice and Qualifying days. I hope this weekend in China follows a similar pattern, but with a different result to end the weekend on race day.”

Di Grassi will be seeking to emulate his success which should give him new found confidence to once again be ahead of his team-mate and rivals. He said:

“Malaysia was a great race weekend as we finished ahead of the newcomers. Now we need more of that kind of result.”

But Di Grassi has never driven at the Shanghai International Circuit before so it could be a long weekend for him. But both him and Glock went back to England after Malaysia to have a few days in the simulators to familiarise themselves with the track.

Heading from Asia to the UK, back to Asia, might not sound like perfect preparation, but John Booth, team principal, explains why this was necessary. Booth said:

“This might seem a little odd, but we’re in a constant development cycle – not just technically, but also in terms of moulding the team, so it’s important that we get back to home base, regroup and keep ourselves focused on the job in hand.”

The last race also proved that the car has the capability to complete a race distance despite their much talked about and criticised fuel tank.

The Circuit at Shanghai is not one of the most severe on the engine, but does offer two notable straights which place a premium on outright engine power. The demand to do this could make it difficult for the team to control fuel levels.

However, only a relatively low percentage of the lap is spent at full throttle with just over half of the lap demanding maximum power output from the engine. This means that the entire circuit shouldn’t be too tough on fuel consumption and finishing once again is more than capable.

Virgin’s aims for this weekend do not change, they just want to finish the race and they should be confident that they can do it. More pressure is on Glock as he has failed to do so, but he is a good little driver and its only a matter of time before he does. Hopefully this weekend can be the weekend for him.

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