Virgin Racing
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I was thinking about this the other day and I thought I would like to here what other people have to say.
For me I am quite a fan of Virgin Racing for what they have achieved in such a short amount of time, sure they might be at the back of the grid but I think they are in this for the long haul. They kind of remind me of the Red Bull Team when they where starting out (all be it a bit slower) and we all know where Red Bull are know.
But I think the biggest thing this team has going for it is Sir Richard Branson. In my opinion, this guy is an entrepreneurial genius. He rearly, if ever, fails at what he sets out to achieve and has cracked so many markets from music to airlines so why not motor racing. If he stays on board with this project then I predict that Virgin Racing will be vying for a championship within the next decade.
What do you all think?
I think Lotus will take a win and championship loooooooooooooong before Virgin. Lotus have now left Virgin to fend off HRT, and HRT are proving to be up for the fight.
Sir Richard Branson will only throw money at this for so long before he throws in the towel… they must get results and they must prove progress like every other team on the grid… as EJ says this first year is about Survival. F1 is a cut throat business, and I don’t see that being any different for Virgin.
Don’t forget that Sir RB is on the promise of a Hostess’s uniform should the team fail to better Lotus by year end… and we know how much Sir Richard likes to dress as a lady :-) Let’s see how he swings…
Before I start I should confess that I have a split allegiance; McLaren at the front of the grid and Virgin at the back.
I don’t think the difference between Lotus and Virgin is that big now (understanding that the above was posted a month ago). I was at Silverstone last week and the Lotus and Virgin cars were going round virtually locked together.
Virgin’s current challenges are obviously around reliability which has to be hindering development.
A variable that will be thrown into the mix during the second half of the season is the development of the car. I assume Lotus have a single wind tunnel, and they’ll have to take the model of the current car out to allow them to work on the 2011 car. As VR use CFD only they won’t have that problem – they should be able to develop both the 2010 and 2011 cars in parallel.
As a 52 year old guy (Gold Leaf Lotus, Graham Hill and all that), of course I have a fondness for Lotus and I hope they succeed too, but as a IT professional I’m hoping that CFD is able to produce some serious results.
Virgin has to hope their CFD approach will pay off. Maybe it could. It would be exciting if they can make it work!
I just hope some of the new teams can bring a surprise next year.
They are doing quite well considering they applied to race under the budget cap rules.
I do think Lotus will beat them for tenth place in the championship though.
Virgin Racing have the funding & I think they also have the right p-eople to take the right decision. All they need to make sure that they invest the money in the right place a thing Toyota failed to do.
I think Virgin are doing quite well inspite of their setbacks – and I’m not saying that because of my aavatar. Although Timo Glock was officially classified as two laps down in Great Britain and the Lotuses were only one down, he was within sight of them at the finish line. Mark Webber got him on the last lap, but didn’t catch the Lotuses. Lotus might have the upper hand over one lap, but when Virgin get things right, they do quite well for themselves. They’ve caught up the gap to Lotus faster than Lotus caught up to the established teams.
Got to support Virgin as the only proper British team of the new entrants and therefore only one of three British teams in F1!
I think part of the reason Virgin aren’t doing as well as Lotus is not only having to re-design the car early on in the season because of the fuel tank problems, but also because Lotus have two experienced drivers, whereas Virgin have di Grassi trying to learn the ropes (although on occasion he has beaten Glock) at the same time.
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