Virgin Racing has confirmed its long-expected take over of the Manor Grand Prix team for 2010.
And it has announced the team’s second driver will be Brazilian rookie Lucas di Grassi.
Di Grassi completes Virgin’s 2010 F1 driver line-up, joining Toyota refugee Timo Glock.
Di Grassi was runner-up in the GP2 championship in 2007 and placed third this year behind Nico Hulkenberg and Vitaly Petrov. He was previously Renault’s third driver and tested for the team at Jerez earlier this month.
Alvaro Parente will be the team’s test and reserve driver.
Brazilian fans will have two new drivers to cheer on in 2010 as Bruno Senna makes his debut for Campos. There’s still no sign of an F1 return for the disgraced Nelson Piquet Jnr, however.
With Felipe Massa returning for Ferrari and Rubens Barrichello switching to Williams there will be four Brazilians in F1 in 2010. By my reckoning the last time Brazil had that many drivers on the grid was the 2004 Italian Grand Prix, when Barrichello and Massa were joined by Antonio Pizzonia and Ricardo Zonta.
Update: Virgin Racing have launched their official website.
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Image (C) Alastair Staley / GP2 Series Media Service
DanThorn
15th December 2009, 10:24
Sounds good. He’s been a bit up and down in GP2 but overall very promising. He doesn’t seem like the kind of driver who’s going to stuff it in the barriers every other race either.
Gill
15th December 2009, 10:25
Is this the first time in F1 history that a team is having 2 rookies at the helm and that too a new team ?
We can now find out who is faster of both of them, Bruno or Grassi ?
What say guys ?
Pabs
15th December 2009, 10:27
Glock is no rookie…
GeeMac
15th December 2009, 10:28
Virgin racing don’t have 2 rookies…
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
15th December 2009, 10:31
Campos could if they do sign Petrov though.
I bet one of the tiny teams in the early 90s started with an all-rookie line-up. Any takers?
DanThorn
15th December 2009, 10:36
Coloni started off with Gabriele Tarquini in 1987, but that was only a 1 car team…does that count? :P
Red Andy
15th December 2009, 11:22
At the 1999 Brazilian GP Minardi’s two drivers only had 1 GP start between them, as Marc Gene had made his debut in the Australian race and Stephane Sarrazin was substituting for the injured Luca Badoer.
Red Andy
15th December 2009, 11:32
To add to that, the Jordan and Minardi teams both had all-rookie lineups at the start of 2005, didn’t they?
GeeMac
15th December 2009, 12:00
Yip, they did.
Sush Meerkat
15th December 2009, 18:22
Jordan, with Schumaker and Frentzen?. Spa 91?
Tim
16th December 2009, 9:40
Schumacher’s team mate at Spa ’91 was Andrea de Cesaris, who wasn’t a rookie.
luigismen
15th December 2009, 18:27
sorry Keith, but it would be Petrov or Maldonado, they’re both rookies
ciaran
15th December 2009, 16:20
Tyrrell ran 2 rookies in 1984 with Martin Brundle and Stefan Bellof.
iceshiel
15th December 2009, 10:41
Red and grey colour scheme? So boring!
Prisoner Monkeys
15th December 2009, 10:45
Uh, that’s the logo of Racing Engineering, a very successful GP2 team that Di Grassi drove for.
If their official website – http://www.virginracing.com – is anything to go by, they’ll be black with white and red.
Very flashy site, by the way. If they’re this stylish when 2010 comes around, I’ll be a happy man.
sato113
15th December 2009, 17:10
i love the video on the virginracing site. hopefully they’ll be black and red.
Maksutov
15th December 2009, 19:25
awesome site, I wish them the best I really hope they do well, ill definitely be cheering for Lucas di Grassi
Grace
15th December 2009, 10:49
Good or rubbish, who cares.
Rock and roll F1 is back.
Jordan F1 is dead. Long live Virgin Racing!!
Gill
15th December 2009, 10:53
Here is 1 more question .. if Merc signs Michael then for which team would Heidfield drive?
It may happen that both him and Kubica may drive for Renault nexy year.
Prisoner Monkeys
15th December 2009, 10:54
Who cares? This is about Virgin, not Heidfeld. There’s a discussion forum for that.
Icthyes
15th December 2009, 11:16
PM, why the attitude? With Schumacher possibly coming back, the closing of the second Virgin seat may impact on where Heidfeld goes. It may not be directly specific to the article’s title, but it is a relevant tangent.
steph
15th December 2009, 11:07
Heidfeld could stay with Sauber.
ajokay
15th December 2009, 10:54
I thought Virgin might tie-in their new F1 team with their new space tourism venture. A white, black and blue livery with the sponsorship of Virgin Galactic would look very sexy indeed.
I’m hoping for a ‘Virgin Girl’ noseart on the nosecone like their planes sport.
Grace
15th December 2009, 10:59
Ooooh me too!! :)
Icthyes
15th December 2009, 11:20
Personally I hope it’s more like this: http://www.breakfrom.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/spaceshiptwo.jpg
The Virgin Girl would be a nice touch too!
Ace
15th December 2009, 22:21
Good idea, it would look cool, but I don’t think Virgin need to try too hard to sell tickets on Virgin Galactic!
Ace
15th December 2009, 22:21
Good idea, it would look cool, but I don’t think Virgin need to try too hard to sell tickets on Virgin Galactic!
The girl on the nose would be great. I like girls. :)
Ace
15th December 2009, 22:22
Sorry for the double post folks. Didn’t think the first one worked. I am shamed.
Gill
15th December 2009, 11:06
The latest driver predictions
1.Button Mclaren
2.Hamilton
3.Nico Rosberg Mercedes
4.Michael/Heidfield
5.Vettel Red Bull
6.Webber
7.Massa Ferrari
8.Alonso
9.Barrichelo Williams
10.Hulkenberg
11.Kubica Renault
12.Kobayashi
13.Sutil Force India
14.Liuzzi
15.Buemi STR
16.Jaime
17.Trulli Lotus
18.Kovvi
19.Bruno Senna Campos
20.Petrov
21.Glock Virgin
22.Grassi
23.Heidfield(if no Merc) Sauber
24.Fisichella
25.Villenuv USF1
26.Bourdais
Prisoner Monkeys
15th December 2009, 11:16
You can do that here:
https://www.racefans.net/forum/topic.php?id=587&page=7&replies=187#post-11221
In the meantime, keep the discussion on-topic. There’s a lot to be said about Virgin that hasn’t been. For example, Alvaro Parente has ben confirmed as test driver.
Red Andy
15th December 2009, 11:33
I was hoping Parente would get the Campos seat. He’s easily good enough for a race drive in my view.
Grace
15th December 2009, 11:21
When was there a Portugeezer last in F1? Pedro Lamy?
Grace
15th December 2009, 11:21
Or Montiero?
Tom L
15th December 2009, 11:57
Yeah, I believe Monteiro was the last Portuguese driver to race in F1. I always thought he was quite good, shame his career never really took off.
CRM
15th December 2009, 11:26
I wonder if there is any chance of Anthony Davidson getting a seat now. I think Manor/Virgin was his best chance with them being a British team. Maybe he could end up at Sauber or USF1, but there are not too many places left for next season now and i’m starting to think he will be back in the BBC commentary box next season.
Chaz
15th December 2009, 11:35
There’s a fair amount of new young blood in F1 for 2010. It should make for interesting racing next year.
I wonder what sort of ‘long term’ commitment Virgin have in mind for this new project as they can sometimes be a little fickle or others may say astutely ruthless in their new business adventures…
sumedh
15th December 2009, 11:51
Good for Virgin Racing
@Keith: On a separate issue, at the start of the season, you had asked for a number of predictions from all the readers. There were around 20 questions, “Who will score more points, Kimi or Felipe”, “Will Felipe win Turkish GP”, “Who will win the WDC and WCC” and so on..
Can we bump up that particular post? It will be cool to reflect back on what all went wrong :-) or right :-)
Dougie
15th December 2009, 17:03
Here you go…
sumedh
15th December 2009, 19:09
Thanks :-)
But I want to bump it up, so that everyone can see. I just saw mine, horrendous predictions those are.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
15th December 2009, 22:56
Coming up here shortly…
BT52/B
15th December 2009, 12:24
Thanks for the report Keith, although the last time Brazil had four drivers was actually in Brazil 2004. The record was 5 drivers in the 2001 Canadian Grand Prix.
In Brazil they are reporting that Virgin will not develop their car in the wind tunnel and will instead use Computational fluid dynamics (or CFD) to design, similar to what some Le Mans team have done (and rather sucessfully). Has a Formula One team ever attempted this? Does it help cut costs, and furthermore, will it work?
Robert McKay
15th December 2009, 12:48
Quite a nice looking line-up. Am a fan of Glock, and think it’s quite brave that he’s taken on a new team when it looked like Renault were waiting for him (although the uncertainty there may be best avoided). And am glad to see di Grassi come through, quite liked him in GP2.
Overall this is probably my early favourite of the new teams, although I’d have preferred not to see Branson there to be honest and for it to still be “Manor”.
The no wind-tunnel thing could prove either genius or suicidal.
Invoke
15th December 2009, 17:12
I doubt it is solely down to hardware, as far as I know BMW had their own dedicated supercomputers for CFD as well as great wind tunnel facilities and look what happened…
I think it’s down to how you use the resources you have, and if you can identify & develop the areas of the car that will prove most effective that bring’s success. Not simply the power/size of your supercomputer/wind tunnel.
TommyB
15th December 2009, 13:01
Cool logo but looks like we’ll be in for another boring red and white colour scheme
steph
15th December 2009, 13:19
Nothing wrong with red! :P
Penelope Pitstop
15th December 2009, 13:27
Virgin is definitely my pick of the new teams.
sumedh
15th December 2009, 13:31
Now Glock says: Schumacher will be back.
This is really getting out of hand. Make the announcement already!!!
mp4-19b
15th December 2009, 13:46
Surprised. Thought he’ll go to Campos. But does it make any difference? I think all new teams will struggle. Keith, who do you think will be the worst among the new comers?
Just to make things interesting, can’t we have something like a intra-championship? I mean it was done before during the phasing out of the turbo era.
A Colin Chapman trophy was awarded to all the team that ran normally aspirated engines.
Something similar, just to add interest, cuz I highly doubt any of the new teams will get into the points.
luigismen
15th December 2009, 18:36
I think the better ones will be Lotus with Trulli and heikki, I’d put my money on them
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
15th December 2009, 22:57
We haven’t heard much from USF1 so far, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything at this stage. Virgin’s no wind tunnel approach is a heck of a risk.
Maksutov
18th December 2009, 5:06
I agree. Unless they have a very sophisticated fluid dynamics modeling software that nobody knows about (which i doubt). Even so, modeling of turbulence in 3D is extremely difficult.
BBQ2
15th December 2009, 14:13
Would have loved it if D. Patrick were a Virgin…….. pilot ;-)
PJA
15th December 2009, 14:14
I think it is a good line-up, probably what I expected a new team to do, have one experienced driver and one rookie.
I don’t think it is as good as the Lotus line-up simply because they have two experienced drivers.
I think there was a forum article about possible innuendo with the new Virgin team, how about the Autosport headline
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80582
GeeMac
15th December 2009, 14:18
He had to get the first Virgin quip in there didn’t he!
Penelope Pitstop
15th December 2009, 14:21
Joe Saward’s is one of my favorites so far: “Di Grassi to get Virgin berth.”
Pink Peril
16th December 2009, 2:06
Virgin budget below the belt? Virgin puts the brakes on blowing (the budget)?
*chortle*
Brakefluid
15th December 2009, 15:58
All the new teams are ‘Virgins’, aren’t they? Pun aside, most of the new teams will struggle, but they should soon find their feet. If they can’t, then they will just go the way of Simtek, Forti, Pacific, Eifeland etc. But overall, a bigger grid with more privateer teams in the mould of Williams can only be a good thing.
Searchandfound
15th December 2009, 16:26
I think the best driver is the third driver, the Portuguese Alvaro Parente. He is an impressed fast driver and know how to fit the car. Unfortunately, he don’t get the necessary money to be one of the first drivers. For sure he will develop quite well the car.
rfs
15th December 2009, 17:55
Haha, I dunno if that will be enough Richard.
Daniel
16th December 2009, 0:52
You forgot to mention other brazilian, Luiz Razia, was named the second test driver…
He had one full season in GP2, with a win from pole at Monza Sprint Race, but failed to score for the rest of the season…
He had a similar performance on 2008-2009 GP2 Asia, with a win from pole in Bahrain 2 Sprint Race, and very poor results on the rest…
wasiF1
16th December 2009, 1:43
I don’t want Nelson Piquet JR to return.
Marrc
16th December 2009, 12:31
virgin have so much money to just spend. i think they should of got a head start and tried to buy schumacher into the team :P