Marussia, who previously raced as Virgin, produced the MR01 for 2012. The car had been conceived the previous season when the team was still entirely reliant on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for design.
As 2012 went on the team introduced their first upgrades which had been tested in a wind tunnel, and these significantly improved the car’s performance to the point that they were able to take on Caterham.
Marussia held the valuable tenth place in the constructors’ championship as they arrived at the final race of the season, but lost out to Caterham. It was an unfortunate end to a season in which they had shown some promise but also been rocked by a dreadful accident which befell test driver Maria de Villota while running their car at Duxford Aerodrome.
Images © Marussia