Virgin hoping to see the chequered flag

Bahrain was a hectic weekend for all three new teams, but unlike Lotus Virgin did not have the consolation of seeing its cars run the distance. That was a huge disappointment for founder and team principal John Booth, who is hoping that this weekend’s Australian GP will see an improvement.

“It was a fantastic feeling to be on the grid, but we were absolutely gutted to lose two cars inside 16 laps,” Booth told this blog. “I know other people broke down, but it’s no consolation, it really isn’t. We’re almost there, it’s so tantalising!”

Inevitably the team was on a steep learning curve all weekend: “The biggest problem was only having a five-day turnaround after the Barcelona test before the car went out, so we had boxes and suitcases arriving up until the Thursday night. We had two all-nighters getting the cars ready, so we didn’t really have time to take it all in. Once we got to qualifying we were sorted. Qualifying went like clockwork, and we were really pleased with the way we were getting organised.

“We don’t have any resources at home, the whole team is at the track. We’ve got someone answering the phone and one stores guy, that’s all we’ve got back at base, so that adds extra strain! I’ve got some great people here with a lot of F1 experience, including Nick [Wirth] of course, so that’s side of it has been made easier. We’ve got four complete sets of car bits for Melbourne, so we’re starting on the front foot. It should be much easier.”

Last year Richard Branson made a big splash in Oz when he arrived on the scene with Brawn, and Jenson Button won the race. This time his ambitions will have to be a little more modest. However a finish in what is usually a hectic race of high attrition might be the team’s best chance all year of getting any points…