Just one revised Virgin ready for Barcelona 03 May 2010
Delays in getting back to Europe from China mean Virgin will only run one updated chassis - with its enlarged fuel tank - at this coming weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. The team’s more experienced driver, Timo Glock, will use the new car.
Virgin admitted earlier this season that miscalculations during the VR-01’s design process meant that its tank was too small to finish some races without the drivers having to conserve fuel.
The team’s plan was to have two new chassis ready for the start of the European season. However, when the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano left teams stranded in Shanghai after the Chinese Grand Prix, that plan went awry.
“Having worked tirelessly to prepare the new car for the race, including its successful rehomologation, it is a bitter pill to swallow that we are unable to complete the second car due to the ‘volcanic delays’,” said technical director Nick Wirth.
“Running two fundamentally different specification cars at Barcelona will certainly challenge the team, but as the reliability fixes apply to both specifications, we’ll keep our heads down and focus solely on getting both cars to the chequered flag.”
Glock’s team mate, Lucas di Grassi, admitted he was frustrated at missing out on getting the VR-01’s most important update for Spain, but insisted he was simply hoping for a better weekend after just one finish from the season’s first four races.
“Though I’m disappointed that I will be driving the previous specification chassis, as we didn’t have enough time to modify two cars, I hope with all the work we’ve been doing to make our race weekends go more smoothly we can have a positive European debut,” said the Brazilian.
