Virgin Racing – Round 1 – Bahrain Grand Prix – The Race

After a positive result in qualifying yesterday, Virgin Racing’s Grand Prix debut ended in disappointment in Bahrain after both cars were forced to retire in the early part of the race.

Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi both got off to a great start, Timo gaining a place and Lucas making up three positions on the opening lap of his own F1 racing debut. Just three laps into the race Lucas pulled over into turn 9 after losing hydraulic pressure. All hopes rested on Timo Glock. After spending a lot of time behind Kovalainen, Timo finally made his move in a deft overtaking manoeuvre and was going great guns. In the space of just a few laps he went on to lose 3rd gear then 5th gear. He pitted in the hope that the problem could be diagnosed and fixed so that he could return to the racetrack and clock up crucial mileage. Sadly it was not to be and the team reluctantly retired Timo’s car from the race.

Timo Glock #24

“The race was going quite well for me after I managed to overtake Heikki. We were having quite a good battle for where we were and it was nice to have that racing feeling again. But first I lost 3rd gear and I was having to drive around it. Then 5th followed and it was impossible to continue. We tried to find a fix but there was no way of getting back in the race, not even to get some important development mileage. It’s disappointing but we have to take the rough with the smooth at this stage. We just need to focus now on doing whatever we need to do to come back stronger in Melbourne. My personal thanks to everyone in the team here in Bahrain and back in England. It has been an epic battle for us to reach this point and the single biggest thing we can take as a reward was our qualifying result yesterday, which showed what we can do if we continue to keep pushing.”

Lucas di Grassi #25

“I got a great start and the car was feeling pretty good. I think we could have had a good race with the car that we had but then just a few laps into the race I had to pull over in turn 9 and my race was over before it had really begun. There’s no point being downhearted. We’ll be back in Melbourne with some new developments and a fix for the problems we experienced here. It’s race one of 19 and there’s a long way to go yet. I would like to thank the team for an incredible job here and over the past few months. It’s been a huge effort and I hope for a better result for the whole team in Australia in two weeks’ time.”

Nick Wirth, Technical Director
“Lucas retired due to a hydraulic fitting failure, which has occurred at other points during this weekend. After some laps in the race Timo’s car experienced an unexpected rise in gearbox temperature followed by a gradual loss in the number of gears he could select, which ultimately caused him to retire. We’re still currently investigating the cause of the high gearbox temperature. So we leave our first Grand Prix disappointed that we did not manage to get either car to the finish but at least we haven’t had a repeat of any of our winter testing problems. Most importantly, we now know that our faith in the all-CFD design approach was justified, as we have demonstrated that we have built a competitive Formula 1 car. That is one reward that we can take away from this weekend. Finally, congratulations to Lotus Racing on achieving a two-car finish in their first race. It is a fantastic achievement for a new team and I hope we can get Timo and Lucas to the flag in Melbourne in two weeks’ time.”

Virgin Racing – Round 1 – Bahrain Grand Prix - Qualifying

Virgin Racing emerged from their very first qualifying session as the best of the new boys in Bahrain this afternoon. Timo Glock ended the day exactly where he said he wanted to be, as the fastest new team driver of the Q1 session and just 2.7 seconds away from the established teams.

His team-mate Lucas di Grassi also had a solid debut qualifying session, ending Q1 in 22nd position.

After a tough few days of round the clock preparation, today’s result was a much-deserved boost for the race team in Bahrain and the rest of the team back in the UK who have all worked tirelessly to ensure Virgin Racing’s first race gets off to the best possible start tomorrow.

Timo Glock #24
“It’s great to be the best of the new teams here today and I’m very happy with what we have achieved. This is a Team result and a credit to everyone who has worked so hard in really difficult circumstances to get the best out of our first race package. To also be just 2.7 seconds away from teams with many more years of experience is even better. We have a big mountain to climb but we go into our debut race having achieved our first target and I think this will give us the momentum we need to keep on pushing. It just goes to show we are going in the right direction and all we have to do is focus on overcoming the hurdles we were bound to come across along the way. Thanks to everyone at Virgin Racing.”

Lucas di Grassi #25
“First of all I’d like to say a big thanks to the team. They have put in so much effort to make this team and today happen for us. For us to be here with a healthy car is fantastic. For me it was still the very beginning, I only did three laps in the session this morning due to the issues we had. I’m quite happy to have done my first qualifying in F1. I know there are a lot of opportunities for us and plenty of scope for improvement.”

Nick Wirth, Technical Director
“For the first time in a while, Timo managed to complete his full planned programme in Free Practice 3 this morning. We had a problem with one of the wheel guns, which meant the left front and rear wheel nuts were not correctly torqued. Unfortunately Timo lost the front wheel, which thankfully didn’t hit anyone and he managed to get the car round without any further damage. We were pretty confident that the car was capable of a mid to low 1min 58s lap in qualifying, but our early runs and tyre choice was affected by the rubber from the previous race, which changed the track conditions early in the session. Nevertheless, he managed to use the slower prime tyre to secure the top qualifying slot for the new teams, which was our target.

“Lucas did a great job in qualifying today given that we had a sequence of overnight problems on his car which resulted in him losing any meaningful running in – not an ideal way to prepare for your Formula 1 qualifying debut. However, he did a solid and professional job under that extra pressure and we’re so happy to give him his deserved debut as an F1 driver.

“All in all a good day and we hope to carry that momentum through to our first race tomorrow and leave Bahrain with smiles on our faces.”

Sir Richard Branson
“Both the car and the team are in their infancy and like all infants some of our first steps may falter. But unlike other teams when things go wrong we won’t be throwing our toys out of the pram, but we’ll pick ourselves up and get right back into the playground! That’s exactly what the team did here in Bahrain today after the setbacks they experienced over the weekend. Not only did we qualify as the fastest of the new teams, we came so close to the more established teams and on a fraction of their budget. This not only shows the technical brilliance of Nick Wirth and his team but true grit!”

13-Mar-10: Vettel Takes Pole Position in Bahrain

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Today is the 13th March 2010, this is F1 Minute.

Fernando Alonso led the way in free practice 3 this morning, showing some excellent Ferrari pace. He was followed by Rosberg and Webber. Di Grassi had gearbox troubles and didn’t set a time, whilst Chandhok’s car still wasn’t able to leave the garage, meaning he would have to put in his debut lap in F1 during qualifying.

When the three-part session took place, Chandhok did finally make it out on track, and although he was initially 21 seconds off the pace, he closed up considerably and finished last, but only one second off his teammate. All the new teams plus Alguersuari were out in the first session, but it was Glock who led the new team battle, finishing 19th. At the top, Vettel took a storming pole position, with Massa and Alonso lining up behind him. Webber made a mistake on his final flying lap to finish down in 6th. Rosberg was 5th, finishing ahead of Schumacher yet again – the seven times world champion qualified 7th,

That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1 Minute.

Formula 1 is Back, and 2010 is Go!

Whilst browsing through the available photographs for our required Free Practice schedule, we realised there are just too many good ones to narrow it down to one.

Instead, we’ve selected our ten favourite photographs from today in an F1 Minute special. Highlighting several moments that made the day fascinating, the photographs take you from posed portraits to raw speed out on track. Enjoy this F1 Big Picture – 2010 is Go Special.

1. The Class of 2010 – every single driver who will be on the grid on Sunday poses for a photo.
2. I’m Still Standing – Rubens prepares himself for the task ahead.
3. Bruno Meet Bahrain – Bruno Senna, and Hispania Racing, make their Formula One debut.
4. Let’s Get This Party Started – Lucas di Grassi is pleased to have got the weekend underway.
5. Grumpy Old Men – Michael Schumacher gets used to the way F1 is now.
6. Whole Lotta Laps for Liuzzi – Tonio gets plenty of running in for his first day of work in-season.
7. With Finland Behind Him – Heikki flys the flag for Finland and gets off to a good start with Lotus.
8. Glock ‘n Roll – Timo Glock holds off a Sauber. Probably not the last time he’ll have to do that.
9. Many Massa Returns – Felipe makes a welcome return to the cockpit of the red car.
10. The Boys are Back in Town – Smiling faces in the paddock, but how long will that last for?

I hope you enjoy this special set of Free Practice photos, look out for more F1 photo goodness as the season progresses.

Glock ‘n Roll

A ten-part F1 Big Picture series celebrating the return of F1 in Bahrain. Timo Glock leads Pedro de la Rosa, Virgin ahead of Sauber during Free Practice today. We saw several cars overtaking others as the teams got used to slower drivers on the grid. The field spread was vast. Glock has admitted he’s frustrated with the lack of running he got today, he just wants to get on with it.

Credit: Virgin Racing

Virgin Racing – Round 1 – Bahrain Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 & 2

Virgin Racing’s debut Grand Prix preparations got underway in Bahrain today for the first two practice sessions for Sunday’s 2010 season opener.

Another long night of preparation at the Bahrain International Circuit really tested the race team’s mettle as they took to the track for this morning’s session. With that in mind, the emphasis was on a slow steady start to the long list of set-up and tyre evaluation items that defines the Friday programme.

Once the team were up and running, Lucas was able to get some reasonable running under his belt. He ended the day 21st with a best time of 2:02.188 after 21 laps. Timo on the other hand was confined to the garage for most of the afternoon session due to a gearbox issue. He ended the day 20th after his limited running meant that he was unable to improve on a lap time of 2:02.037.

Timo Glock #24
“Today hasn’t been the start to the weekend that we hoped for. We always knew it was going to be tough but we’ve had too many technical problems which have prevented me getting track time today. We already had two tough nights but we have another one ahead, I’m afraid, to get us to a point where we can feel confident going into the rest of the weekend. On the positive side, if we can get on top of the issues we have we’ll be in an okay place because with the brief amount of running I have had, I can see that the car isn’t bad. I hope we can be ready to get some proper work done tomorrow.”

Lucas di Grassi #25
“Although a tough day, we actually had a good session this afternoon and got through a lot of things. For me everything is new. I wasn’t able to run this morning so the afternoon laps were key to my performance and helping us get started this weekend. The mechanics did a great job running the car and everything seems fine so far. Now we just need to work on car performance, which we clearly haven’t been able to optimise at the moment.”

Nick Wirth, Technical Director
“Due to the late arrival of some key new components, we had to work all through last night to have the cars running today, which is not ideal. Thankfully, we haven’t had a reoccurrence of any of the problems that blighted our winter testing. However, we found some interesting new challenges today, ranging from some engine set-up issues which caused handling problems, to the high ambient conditions bizarrely causing off-car electronics to overheat, affecting our ability to communicate with the car. In addition, we had a small gearbox issue on Timo’s car that hampered his running. Having said that, neither car ran low fuel and Timo was unable to test the super-soft tyre. We’ll do a thorough race preparation tonight and focus our attention on qualifying tomorrow.”

Big Hugs in Bahrain

Jarno Trulli hugs a Toyota team member after achieving his fourth career pole position at the Bahrain International Circuit in 2009. Timo Glock helped the Toyota team lock out the front row with a second place qualifying spot. Trulli went on to claim 3rd position in the race whilst Glock finished 7th.

The Toyota team won’t be present at this year’s Bahrain GP. Jarno can be found a long way from pole position at Lotus F1 Racing, and Timo finds himself in a similar position with Virgin Racing.

Credit: Toyota Motorsport GmbH

Virgin Racing – Round 1 – Bahrain Grand Prix – Bahrain In-Sight

Well, they say time flies and after an exhaustive nine month programme of car design and development, team-building and pre-season testing, Virgin Racing’s Grand Prix debut has finally arrived. The 45-strong race team are up and running in the Kingdom of Bahrain for the opening round of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship on 12/13/14 March.

The first of nineteen Grands Prix on this year’s calendar, the Middle Eastern location provides drivers with the challenge of the 3.9 mile (6.299km) Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir. With 23 turns, four straights, an elevation change of 18 metres and very high track and ambient temperatures, there will be plenty of factors to put the team to the test in what will literally be the white heat of its inaugural race.

After three weeks of pre-season testing in Jerez and Barcelona, race drivers Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi spent much of last week at Virgin Racing’s technical base in Bicester, UK, driving the Sakhir track on the simulator. They have now reached terra firma in Bahrain with the aim of leaving no stone unturned in their quest to ensure they are physically and mentally prepared for the challenges of the week ahead.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
“Pre-season testing has been pretty eventful for our team. We saw some very positive signs of the potential of the car and the team, but we also experienced some reliability issues and too much rain, the combination of which prevented us from maximising our track time. However, if I stand back and look at what we have built together in the space of only nine months, we should all feel pretty proud.

“Here we are, heading into our first race and I’m very excited. We’re as ready as we can be. We’re a small team but we have the resources and people to keep building something special together and that is what we must all keep in mind as we progress. We have some great team members at Virgin Racing who know what it takes to be quick and what we have to do to get to where we want to be. Our objective remains to be the best of the new teams and that particular race starts this weekend.”

Lucas di Grassi, Race Driver #25
“It’s very exciting to be here at last, ready to take part in our debut Grand Prix. It’s also my own personal F1 debut which definitely makes this weekend the high point of my career. I’d like to thank everybody in the team for the hard work and determination that we have all seen, especially over the past few weeks in pre-season testing. It hasn’t always gone our way but the team have fought hard and their spirits are high. Bahrain will be a tough challenge for sure. We will need to learn how to get the maximum out of the car in race weekend conditions.”

Nick Wirth, Technical Director
“The past nine months have flown by so quickly, it’s hard to believe that our Grand Prix debut has arrived. Despite the challenges we encountered in pre-season testing, we have conducted a great deal of off-track preparation, to give ourselves the best possible chance of a strong showing in our inaugural race. The rest will be down to good fortune and we’ve probably stored some of that up by now!

“We think that we have identified and applied appropriate fixes to the various hydraulic problems that affected our winter testing so badly. We also didn’t get the chance to set times with low fuel or the super-soft tyre in testing and so going into Bahrain we have yet to show our true performance level. Free practice on Friday will provide our first real barometer of relative competitiveness, but we’ll only know our true Bahrain pace on Saturday afternoon. To give us our best possible chance, we will be introducing the first of our season’s aerodynamic and mechanical development parts, which will significantly improve our pace versus our testing configuration, with more planned developments being added for Melbourne.

“As one of the most challenging circuits for car and brake cooling – with several hard braking corners on the lap – Bahrain is going to provide an altogether different challenge after three wet weeks of pre-season testing. Therefore the spotlight will inevitably fall upon the car’s cooling systems – and those of our drivers, who face cockpit conditions of around 45°C.

“Our simple objective for Bahrain is to do everything possible to ensure we have a strong debut race from lights to flag. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved with Virgin Racing and Wirth Research for their support and the massive effort that has brought us so far in such a short space of time.”

Quotes Roundup – Week Ending 28th February

The very best from the mouths of those in the know.

Final Test in Barcelona

The cars get set for their second week of testing…

• “If they did that time with 150 kilos then they were quick. But this time is not the benchmark. It’s early days, and I would not say that any team has made any serious qualifying efforts so far.” Norbert Haug on Red Bull
  
• “I really don’t know where we are, compared to all the other teams. There is such a scatter of lap times and long runs, it is very difficult for me to judge. I think we are quite competitive, but let’s wait.” Pedro de la Rosa
  
• “We are trying to do the best that we can, and then we will find out in Bahrain whether it is enough or not. But to be honest it is never enough, so we are pushing very hard and trying to work as hard as possible in these tests, which are quite crucial for the first few races, and we hope to be ready in Bahrain.” Robert Kubica
  

All About Virgin

The team prepare for the season…

• “Unfortunately when we were running some experimental control settings on the car, which were adversely affecting its handling, this caught Lucas out on the entry to turn nine resulting in a spin and contact with the barrier. We’re going to need to spend the time before tomorrow replacing some broken suspension and wings. We should be back on track tomorrow morning when we hope to really start building up our mileage.” Nick Wirth
  
• “I am thrilled to be joining Virgin Racing. This role offers me a great opportunity to prepare myself for the Formula 1 environment, which is naturally where my longer-term ambitions lie. I look forward to learning from Timo and Lucas as well as soaking up as much information as possible from engineering meetings and time on the simulator.” Andy Soucek
  
• “The way of operating with CFD is just a bit quicker than windtunnel time. A lot of stuff in the windtunnel takes quite a lot of time to make the model and test in the tunnel. That goes much quicker with CFD, but we still have to show people that it is definitely working.” Timo Glock
  

Return of the Michael

Schumacher is ready to race…

• “I cannot make judgements specifically to other teams. At the moment we are not perfectly in the position we would like, to be competitive to win the first races straight away. But we are working hard, the season is long, and the main issue is not to be too far off. This is very difficult to judge right now, what is the real picture.” Michael Schumacher
  
• “For me the age doesn’t matter. I don’t feel like what it says on my passport. The guys I am around with, with most of them I still feel like it’s the good old days. It’s no different for me. It’s the challenge of driving the car, fighting with the other guys and going wheel-to-wheel. It’s a specific thing, it’s difficult to put in words.” Michael Schumacher
  
• “We are working very well together. It has taken very little time to work with the team and get on with everybody, they are very good guys. It’s very professional and a good atmosphere. But we have to prove ourselves on track, testing is one thing racing is another thing.” Michael Schumacher
  

27-Feb-10: Rosberg Fastest on Day Three of Testing

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This is a special F1 Minute for the 27th February 2010 – catching up on the third day of testing in Barcelona.

The rain has held off since Jerez, but it returned to Barcelona today for a couple of hours. Nico Rosberg posted the fastest time of the day in the morning, and the damp track ensured that no one could beat it. Rosberg also completed the most laps with 128, whilst Massa completed 115 back in fifth place. Is it even worth me saying that Virgin Racing completed the least number of laps and Timo Glock was the slowest of the day? Well, that happened, but Vettel also completed a relatively low number of laps with 51. He ended up 8th but most of the Red Bull running was done after the rain came down.

Elsewhere, Michael Schumacher has done some rapid backtracking after proclaiming that Mercedes weren’t ready to be winning any races yet. He said: “”Yesterday I was a little bit pessimistic before I studied the data. I mentioned it after not having studied the data, afterwards it looks much more reasonable than I thought.” Does anyone else think he got told off?

That’s all for today, I’ll be back with another F1 Minute testing special tomorrow.

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