Timo Glock, Virgin, Sepang, 2011

Virgin two seconds off Lotus’s pace

2011 Malaysian GP team review

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Virgin were not far off Lotus’s pace in the first race at Melbourne.

But the growing gap between them was made clear when Jarno Trulli easily passed Timo Glock at the start.

Timo Glock Jerome d’Ambrosio
Qualifying position 21 22
Qualifying time comparison (Q1) 1’40.648 (-0.353) 1’41.001
Race position 16
Laps 54/56 42/56
Pit stops 2 2

Virgin drivers’ lap times throughout the race:

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/charts/2011drivercolours.csv

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56
Timo Glock 121.234 110.257 109.443 108.197 107.944 108.006 108.357 108.397 107.885 108.355 108.402 108.392 110.405 109.144 109.046 109.134 112.268 128.467 106.965 107.344 107.141 108.282 107.213 107.786 107.04 106.728 106.718 106.066 106.591 107.349 110.027 108.38 106.974 111.188 127.482 105.628 105.704 105.811 106.106 108.488 107.765 106.324 105.975 106.587 106.403 107.409 107.345 106.686 108.279 105.357 107.428 107.891 107.208 107.36
Jerome dAmbrosio 122.159 110.009 109.235 108.224 108.518 108.273 108.398 108.591 108.757 108.412 109.631 110.399 109.478 109.57 110.284 110.8 114.904 131.736 106.061 106.07 106.011 106.566 107.576 106.907 106.878 106.248 106.8 107.499 108.162 107.591 107.906 107.956 108.51 108.938 113.353 127.135 107.07 105.681 105.441 105.53 105.346 105.658
Timo Glock, Virgin, Sepang, 2011
Timo Glock, Virgin, Sepang, 2011

Timo Glock

Glock was a full two seconds slower than Heikki Kovalainen in qualifying.

He got ahead of Trulli at the start, but admitted: “I was only able to defend the position for so long before he was able to get past.” Trulli came past him on lap three and pulled away at more than a second per lap.

Trulli had a slow first pit stop and dropped back behind Glock, but was once again able to catch and pass him with ease.

He was at least able to post his first of the year in 16th but was a lap behind Kovalainen.

Timo Glock 2011 form guide

Jerome d’Ambrosio

D’Ambrosio suffered a right-front suspension failure in the first practice session on Friday, which sent him into the gravel at the final turn. He missed the second session while repairs were being made.

Nonetheless he qualified four-tenths of a second behind his team mate on the 11th row. He kept pace reasonably well, and was within ten seconds of Glock when he was forced to retire on lap 43. He hit a kerb too hard, causing the ignition to cut out.

Jerome d’Ambrosio 2011 form guide

2011 Malaysian Grand Prix


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Keith Collantine
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17 comments on “Virgin two seconds off Lotus’s pace”

  1. At least they had no trouble getting into the race in the first place. Reliability does not look as much better so far, although the problem in the race was more down to driver error.

    Wirth, try something fresh and make a leap in speed!

    1. Like a wind-tunnel!

      Initially, early 2010, I was hoping for the best for Virgin, I really thought it would be great to try an alternative strategy for F1. But, it is a foolish man who refuses to admit that he has made a mistake, and surely after the end of this season virgin either have to get out of F1 or admit that they tried, gave it a good try, but failed nevertheless. No shame in trying something different and failing, but there is shame in beating a dead horse once it has been shown to fail…

      1. A windtunnel will not help them much without clever ideas of what to put in it, will it?

        They need some clever ideas to make a leap, or alternatively do some good copying.
        CFD is OK, but the ideas are not coming through.

  2. A pretty average result from them really and I think they will be looking at HRT over their shoulder much more than they were last year.

  3. Cut Virgin some slack guys, they’re proving more able than Williams to keep their cars going in the race. That won’t last forever but this isn’t an easy game.

    1. I agree and very well said Icthyes. I think they’ve done well to try to solve their reliability issues from last year.

  4. if HRT able to catch up with them in Turkey, it’s clear they need some time in Wind tunnel to verify their aero.

    1. I doubt the HRT has seen the inside of a wind tunnel as well…
      I don’t think CFD is the major reason behind this car’s shortcomings.

      1. I think I read somewhere HRT made a deal with Mercedes to use one of their wind tunnel, not sure when they will start using it though

  5. Of all this mess I feel most sorry for Glock. He’s a decent driver, well beyond the car that Virgin are providing him with.

    1. So is Trulli. And he beat Glock at Toyota in 2008 & 2009.

      1. Trulli has had his day though. He wasnt an exciting driver to watch when he had his time in Renault and Toyota. Glock is a better driver, ok, he isnt a great, but someone that deserve to be further up the field. He hasnt had a chance to prove himself.

    2. I think d’Ambrosio also did a solid job with the car he got. Really, it doesn’t matter if they use a windtunnel or CFD, they need to start actually developing ideas to get more downforce on the car.

    3. Timo chose to go to virgin. I was surprised he went there and I still think he’s capable of higher results that he will get in the mvr.

      Perhaps a solid candidate to replace jarno atteam lotus.

  6. looks like the CFD needs some updates!

  7. They have to look at Team Lotus as a marker for their own performance but I can’t see them keeping up in the long run.

    I have to agree with Glock, ultimately Branson needs to put more money in the kitty.

  8. Good luck using your weather forcasting computer in designing your cars.

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