Manor (formerly Marussia)

Virgin

FIA Entry: Marussia Virgin Racing
Car 24: Timo Glock
Car 25: Jerome d’Ambrosio
Engine: Cosworth V8
Team Principal: John Booth
Technical Director: Nick Wirth
Race Engineer Car 24: Mark Hutchison
Race Engineer Car 25: Dave Greenwood

Stats as of end 2010

First Entered 2010
Races Entered 19
Race Wins 0
Pole Positions 0
Fastest Laps 0
Driver World Championships 0
Constructor World Championships 0

Manor Motorsport

When F3 team Manor Motorsport were given a place on the F1 grid in 2010 they commissioned Wirth Research to build them a car. Brawn sponsor Virgin became title sponsor and Virgin Racing was born

Virgin Racing

With Cosworth engines, Xtrac gearboxes and drivers Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi Virgin Racing embarked on their first F1 season. The VR01 chassis was the first ever F1 designed entirely using CFD, with designer Nick Wirth believing computer simulations were sufficient to not need expensive wind tunnel testing.

Inevitably the team had reliability issues early on and they also discovered the fuel tank on the car wasn't sufficiently large enough to allow the team to complete full race distance. Wirth Research got a dispensation from the FIA to homologate a new chassis and by Spain both cars finished the race.

The team regularly finished races but barely troubled the mid-field. By seasons end the team were placed 12th and last in the Constructors Championship based on a count back of minor placing’s having managed a highest finish of 14th.

2011

Russian carmaker Marussia have taken a controlling interest in the team for 2011 and Belgian Jerome d’Ambrosio replaces Lucas di Grassi. With the VR02 chassis Virgin will be hoping to move further up the grid in 2011.
 
Well the Marussia looks a hell of a lot nicer than the Caterham this year (not that that's difficult, the Caterham looks like a fat man with a broken nose). I'll be surprised if either of them do more than close the gap, I don't really see how they're ever going to get themselves in to the midfield to be honest.
 
It's not beyond the realms of possibility. If the Renault engine continues to lagg behind Mercedes and Ferrari during the 'flyaway' races then I could see Bianchi stealing a point, he drove excellently to 12th in KL last year. All you need is the right circumstances to come together at an opportune moment.
 
I'm not sure about Q2 as I doubt Marussia will have much more speed this year than before, but they seem to have hit the ground running pretty decently when it comes to reliability and I predict a few points with the extra difficulty of finishing races that we should see this season. Wow what a run on sentence go me!
 
So Marussia score points at last! I can't see Caterham picking up more the 2 points and Sauber might even struggle to score that at this rate so they are really in a strong position.

More importantly they seem way ahead of the Caterhams on pace too.

I think they are doing a good job with a small budget. I hope they'll catch that midfield pack up eventually.
 
So if this is the indended grid:
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Did Gutierrez pull up to Maldonado's grid slot, then Chilton parked on row 9 and Bianchi followed him through?
 
On this circuit, nothing can be truly generalised. Montreal could be a good place to see if they're right.

However, his pace compared to the other Frenchmen (Vergne and Grosjean) suggests some sort of progress.
 
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