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.
 
Overall Glock did beat his team-mate (see Galahds comparisons in statistics) I really wouldn't pay much attention to the last three teams on who finishes ahead of who in the championship, as one lucky result can put you ahead, like last year Glock vs Di Grassi, Glock had the legs on him all season, yet one result Di Grassi finished infront of him.
 
Glock should have trounced D'ambrosio - yes he beat him but Glock considers himself a front runner for cripese sake.

Guess we'll just agree to disagree Sly - trust a Buemi fan to appreciate the average

(runs away very quickly)
 
Look at Monaco, where he said it wasn't possible for him to do a better lap, or in Singapore where he nearly snatched points for Virgin. It's very difficult for Glock to show his talent in that car which is why assessing d'Ambrosio was very difficult, for all we know he was outperforming Vettel at every race.
 
Glock should have trounced D'ambrosio - yes he beat him but Glock considers himself a front runner for cripese sake.

Guess we'll just agree to disagree Sly - trust a Buemi fan to appreciate the average

(runs away very quickly)

Of course Glock thinks of himself as a front runner, what would be his and the rest of the none-front running drivers motivation be?

I don't just look at a few statistics to make a judgement...

I think no-FIAt please post backs up my point.
 
I don't just look at a few statistics to make a judgement...

Now now Sly I was only poking fun. We're all entitled to opinions

or in Singapore where he nearly snatched points for Virgin

He qualified in 21st(2 tenths in front of Jerome) and retired on Lap 9! How is that almost snatching points? I thought you might have meant the year before but he retired in that one too! I was thinking maybe you had the Grand Prix wrong but I can't think of the one you mean.

As for him saying he couldn't go any quicker at Monoco - any driver can come out and say that doesn't mean its true does it?

I guess I check the facts rather than just going on someone's post eh Sly?

For me Glock didn't do it last year - he spent too many races mixed up with his team-mate and the HRTs when a driver of his quality should be out driving the machinary and come out on top in those battles.

Sorry just think he should be doing more.
 
Glock in Singapore was running very highly despite qualifying in 21st an kept several faster cars behind him for several laps, it was probably the best performance from someone in those 3 backmarker teams, yes more impressive than Kovalainen who in a faster seems to get a lot of praise for running in 15th for a few races.
 
I'll have to take your word on that Sly until I watch it again but all I remember is him crashing at the final turn on lap 9 and breaking his rear suspension.

You may mock Kovi's consistent 15th places and D'ambrosio statistically finishing in front of Glock due to two 14th places but just consider what is more important for the team. The higher in the constructors championship they get the more funds they get, the more funds they get the more they can put into the car. Kovi's (and Trulli's) nice consistent results got Caternham 10th in the championship again. Kovi was also the only one of the bottom 6 who got out of Q1 on a legit basis and the only one of the bottom 6 to beat any of the top 9 teams on a legit basis too (3 times actually).

Meanwhile despite not having the worst card in the field Marussia/Virgin have finished bottom of the pile again! And on days when they've had the chance to pick up those higher finish results Glock has not been there to score them. For instance in a race like Canada with so many dropping out Glock should really have come alive and ceased the oppotunity however not only did he not even beat his team-mate that day they both lost out to Liuzzi the HRT which should not have happened.

Glock should be pushing the team forward but to me he just seems not there and I bet you Marussia would swap him for Kovi in a second.
 
Interesting. That technically means they'll get less testing with their new car than HRT will as according to Pedro De La Rosa HRT's new car will be ready in time for the second test. We'll wait and see on that front.

There seems to be a lot of confidence coming from Marussia and Pat Symonds especially at the min yet not bringing out the new car until the final test seems to me like their behind.

I guess for a team like Marussia that unreliability at the begining of the season doesn't matter much if it helps them develop a car that might snatch a point at the end of it - lets hope, for their sake, thats whats happening.
 
And with the input from the Mclaren team I'd have more confidence compared to anything HRT cobble together. The Red Bull soap box racer is probably faster than the HRT.
 
Well everyone mocks HRT but they still have managed to finish in front of Marussia/Virgin 2 years running.

By gaining 13th place in Canada in a race that was to a large extent a lottery due to the conditions. Did they actually finish in front of the leading Virgin in any other race last year?
 
By gaining 13th place in Canada in a race that was to a large extent a lottery due to the conditions. Did they actually finish in front of the leading Virgin in any other race last year?

India for one, both Ricciardo and Karthikeyan beat d'Ambrosio.

I havn't even thought about the rest of the races. HRT definately deserve some credit, they operate on the lowest budget and have the worst infrastructure, beating Virgin in 2010 may have been luck but the fact that they have done it twice in a row shows that they're doing something right. I for one like them, it's good to have a minow on the grid.
 
By gaining 13th place in Canada in a race that was to a large extent a lottery due to the conditions. Did they actually finish in front of the leading Virgin in any other race last year?

Not many no but by the end of the year HRT were out qualifying Marussia and mixing it up with them in the race - and seeing how they started the season in Australia a full 2 seconds off the pace of them you have to say thats a an acheivement.

As regards the Canada race and it only being a one time thing I'll make the point I made earlier regarding Timo Glock, the little teams at the back live for the races like Canada - thats their chance to get results with plenty of retirements and safety cars bunching them together. For the team to let HRT beat them that day reflects badly on them and certainly the commitment of the drivers. Timo Glock is by fair the highest rated driver out of the 4 and he's been brought in to Marussia to drive the team forward it should be days like that when he comes alive and gets the results for them but not only did Liuzzi finish in front of him but so did his team mate D'ambrosio!

I'll say the same thing about Jarno Trulli who manged to finish 16th behind a HRT and both Virgins! and credit where credits due to Liuzzi who though aided by Kovi going out won the 'new teams' race on the day it really mattered and I'm sure increased the end of year fee the little Spanish team got.

I just think Marussia need to make the most of the chances they get and I don't think they've done that hence the two 12th places. They do have Pat Symonds now though so maybe that will change.
 
This is not good news.Surely Marrusia cannot afford to give away the extra performance gained from KERS.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97195 Marussia has decided against having KERS on its car for the 2012 Formula 1 season, AUTOSPORT has learned.
As the outfit bids to make the most of a major restructuring and design overhaul under the guidance of technical chief Pat Symonds, it believes its progress could be hampered if it adds KERS to its workload for the season ahead.
Although the decision means that it will suffer a laptime deficit compared to its KERS-running rivals, with the energy recovery systems worth a few tenths of a second per lap, the team believes that not having to expend efforts into getting the complicated technology working will be more beneficial in the long run.
 
Intersting how HRT have been taking a lot of flack from all and sundry for their relocation, late employing of new staff and late production of their new car whilst Marussia have been quietly going about making the exact same mistakes unnoticed - infact it seems Marussia might even be behind HRT!

Hispania's car failed the crash tests so it won't be at the second test but they will at least be running the 2011 machine with some of the new 2012 bits on it whilst Marussia are running the whole 2011 car just to give Pic some running. we've seen no sign of Marussia's new car at all and not really a lot of news other than they won't be running KERS - they seemed to have had the staff turn over of HRT as well with an all new team working on the car - they're still even advertising for people to come in yet they're PR department seem to have done a good job of making sure they don't get the flack HRT do.

You really think that Marussia should come on to the grid this year ahead of Hispania but the longer it takes for the new machinary to appear the more you have to wonder if they may be the team proping up the grid this year.
 
I think HRT generally get the headlines because there's a bonkers driver change every so often to put them in the news. Marussia are actually worse than tragi-comic, they're anonymous! You're not going to get too far in F1 on the back of anonymity, there's no sponsors in it!
 
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