Di Grassi gets first Virgin experience

After the car first turned a wheel late on Thursday Timo Glock put some more laps on the Virgin VR-01 at Silverstone on Friday, before handing it over to team mate Lucas di Grassi. It was the first outing as a fulltime F1 driver for the Brazilian, who tested for Renault as recently as December in Barcelona.

Virgin were using the short 1.8kms Stowe circuit, so the day was more about checking that everything worked rather than exploring any performance limits. Glock ran 42 laps, and di Grassi another 36. “It feels good,” said Lucas in a team statement. “It feels like home! I’m really happy and our first impressions of the car are very positive. It’s amazing what the team has achieved in such a short space of time. I think we have a strong car and a great team to get things started in Jerez. It was important for me to learn as much as possible here so I can start to put some real mileage on the car next week.”

The true potential of the first car to be completely ‘digitally designed,’ without recourse to the wind tunnel, is yet to be determined. But thus far it seems to have gone well, and it certainly looks the part. “I am delighted that we have successfully shaken down the VR-01,” said technical director Nick Wirth. “To achieve 100kms of running out of the box is a great achievement with only a few minor issues along the way. We have acquired some good information to feed straight back into design for the development of new parts, which we may even be testing next week. All in all this is a very pleasing conclusion to a memorable week for Virgin Racing.”

The test was as much about the team gelling as running the car, as boss John Booth explained: “Our shakedown provided our very first opportunity to work together as a trackside operation and it couldn’t have gone any better. The way the team has come together to achieve such a successful shakedown has been commendable. I’m very proud of what we have achieved and we’re looking forward to taking our place alongside the other F1 teams in the pitlane next week.”

There have been a few sceptics along the way, but full marks to Virgin and Manor for getting out there and getting the job done. Meanwhile the world waits for firm news from Campos and US F1. And waits…

Lucas di Grassi had his first go in the Virgin on Friday