Virgin Racing confirms Manor takeover and announces Lucas di Grassi for 2010
Lucas di Grassi will be F1's third rookie driver in 2010
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 Hülkenberg 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.
Read more
Image (C) Alastair Staley / GP2 Series Media Service
DanThorn said on 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 said on 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 said on 15th December 2009, 10:27
Glock is no rookie…
GeeMac said on 15th December 2009, 10:28
Virgin racing don’t have 2 rookies…
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 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 said on 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 said on 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 said on 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 said on 15th December 2009, 12:00
Yip, they did.
Sush Meerkat said on 15th December 2009, 18:22
Jordan, with Schumaker and Frentzen?. Spa 91?
Tim said on 16th December 2009, 9:40
Schumacher’s team mate at Spa ’91 was Andrea de Cesaris, who wasn’t a rookie.
luigismen said on 15th December 2009, 18:27
sorry Keith, but it would be Petrov or Maldonado, they’re both rookies
ciaran said on 15th December 2009, 16:20
Tyrrell ran 2 rookies in 1984 with Martin Brundle and Stefan Bellof.
iceshiel said on 15th December 2009, 10:41
Red and grey colour scheme? So boring!
Prisoner Monkeys said on 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 said on 15th December 2009, 17:10
i love the video on the virginracing site. hopefully they’ll be black and red.
Maksutov said on 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 said on 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 said on 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 said on 15th December 2009, 10:54
Who cares? This is about Virgin, not Heidfeld. There’s a discussion forum for that.
Icthyes said on 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 said on 15th December 2009, 11:07
Heidfeld could stay with Sauber.
ajokay said on 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 said on 15th December 2009, 10:59
Ooooh me too!! :)
Icthyes said on 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 said on 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 said on 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 said on 15th December 2009, 22:22
Sorry for the double post folks. Didn’t think the first one worked. I am shamed.
Gill said on 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 said on 15th December 2009, 11:16
You can do that here:
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/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 said on 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 said on 15th December 2009, 11:21
When was there a Portugeezer last in F1? Pedro Lamy?
Grace said on 15th December 2009, 11:21
Or Montiero?
Tom L said on 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 said on 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 said on 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 said on 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 said on 15th December 2009, 17:03
Here you go…
sumedh said on 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) said on 15th December 2009, 22:56
Coming up here shortly…
BT52/B said on 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 said on 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 said on 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 said on 15th December 2009, 13:01
Cool logo but looks like we’ll be in for another boring red and white colour scheme
steph said on 15th December 2009, 13:19
Nothing wrong with red! :P
Penelope Pitstop said on 15th December 2009, 13:27
Virgin is definitely my pick of the new teams.