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.

 

[Brogan]

Chilton is the son of Grahame Chilton, the non-executive chairman of insurance giant Aon Benfield's UK holding company who is reportedly worth around £100million.

However, he has previously stated that the estimated £9.5m funding he has secured to realise his Formula One dream does not come from the family coffers.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo.../Max-Chilton-lands-Marussia-F1-deal-2013.html

I'm not particularly hopeful he's going to achieve much. Luiz Razia is less than impressed he lost out to him.

 

[teabagyokel]

Brogan - and rightly so. We're getting to mid-90s levels of pay driver appearances and it's sad. Maldonado may drag out a decent career and Perez certainly has a big chance, but the field is starting to look quite shallow.

 

[Il_leone]

Galahad

His Dad supposedly one of the top bosses at Aon insurance whose office is not that far from me..

 

[gethinceri]

Go and have a word with his Dad then, can you?

 

[Il_leone]

Max was born in Reigate which is very much a middle class area...not actually that far from me .

Brogan
I am surprised that neither top 2 in GP2 in 2012 will be on the F1 grid in 2013

--------------------

Max 's record is not stellar but nor was Damon Hill's when he got the Williams drive. Still have to wait if he will be a Hill or a Johnny Dumfries ( remember him?)

 

[Il_leone]

gethinceri
I don;t work in Insurance business

 

[racecub]

Glock and Marussia are apparently parting company. So I wonder who will pick up that seat.....Kobi...Suthil.....Heiki.....Senna???

 

[Jos the Boss]

http://www.marussiaf1team.com/news/709/

 

[RasputinLives]

Thats a bit of a shocker. Anything to do with Petrov and Caterhams talks breaking down?

Russian in Russian team would make sense

 

[McZiderRed]

Apparently, there is a young driver from Bristol that may well be a F1 driver of the future.

Dino Zamparelli * has recently been signed up by Marussia for their GP3 team and has now received financial backing from Steve Lansdown, the financial Backer of Bristol City (who co-founded Hargreaves Lansdown, the financial advisors).

You can read more here, at the This Is Bristol/Evening Post website.

For anyone not willing to read the above website, here is a short clip of Dino in action at Spa showing lightening quick reactions...

​

The QEH, Clifton, student may well be one to look out for in the future...

* A fine upstanding Bristolian name!

 

[RasputinLives]

All the backing he's getting is prob much to the annoyance of fellow Brit Luciano Bacheta who stormed to the Formula 2 title last year leaving Zamparreli in his wake. Maybe if he'd had a near accident at Spa that had gone viral on you tube he'd get big financial backing too?

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luciano_Bacheta

 

[McZiderRed]

The Steve Lansdown company have given financial backing to Dino Zamparreli because he is from Bristol and Lansdown likes to promote sporting success for people from Bristol. Nothing to do with having a video on youtube.

 

[RasputinLives]

Well with a name like that he does sound like a Bristolian through and through. After more reading it does seem he needs the backing so I withdraw my objection. He does seem to have had a promising start. His dads a World Powerboat champion ya know.

I'm sure the amount of views the video gets hasn't hindered him though. Hope it doesn't start a spate of young drivers trying to get funding with staged internet video clips.

 

[McZiderRed]

I'm with you on that one, RasputinLives
I'm sure any self respecting F1 driver hopeful would never stage any driving incident. After all, that sort of thing doesn't happen in F1... oh wait. ...NELSINHO, what have you done!

 

[Brogan]

Don't expect to see much of Marussia on TV.
They still don't have a commercial agreement with FOM and therefore can't be filmed.

http://www.espn.co.uk/marussia/motorsport/story/102437.html

 

[RasputinLives]

The pressure is on Bernie says John Booth? really? crikey not many live to tell the tale on comments like that! Bernie is likely to just not film them all year and hang em out to dry!

 

[cider_and_toast]

That's hilarious !!! I now have visions of Marussia being hidden behind a big black square in middle of the screen.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

Marussia will have to bend the knee. They simply won't survive without the television money if they don't. Not to mention they're the only team in this position.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Actually, having just read the article again, Marussia have put Bernie in an interesting position. As they point out, Bernie can't film Marussia without an agreement in place. Their entry has been accepted and the FIA has no grounds to stop them racing, after all, it's not their fault if the commercial rights holder can't film it, that won't prevent the race going ahead. It's Bernie's problem not the FIA's.

Ordinarily you don't see much of Marussia anyway but it could make the start a bit interesting if you can't show the back half of the grid for fear of getting a Marussia in it.

Of course, somehow I think it will all be sorted in time or failing that, their just maybe a couple of mysterious reasons why the Marussia car doesn't pass scrutineering. (laughing, short, grey haired man seen running out of back of Marussia garage, giggling and carrying a tool kit purely a coincidence)

 

[sobriety]

What if the leaders are lapping them? That happens quite a lot iirc...