Virgin hope they have solved the fuel pick-up problems which have dogged their car in the opening races.
The fuel system has been a bane of the VR-01, particularly the fuel tank whose small size means they have to conserve fuel to complete a race distance. They will not have larger tanks ready until after the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend.
Low fuel running has also been a problem for the team but they plan to fix that this weekend as technical director Nick Wirth explained:
We plan to bring improvements to the aerodynamics, mechanical package and transmission, as well as modifications to the fuel system to help with low-fuel pickup. These should allow us to improve our low-fuel qualifying performance and also help our race pace.
Nick Wirth
The team are planning a big push for the European phase of the season according to managing director John Booth:
At the same time as maximising our chances for China, we’re headlong into preparations for the European races, a big part of which will rely on having a solid infrastructure on the road with us for the European rounds. I’m delighted to say that our new race preparation building in Dinnington is nearing completion and this will help us enormously for the five months of European races that lie ahead, where we can look forward to a more fluid turnaround operation in between races.
John Booth
Meanwhile Lucas di Grassi, who completed the team’s first race distance at Sepang, has been driving the Shanghai circuit in the teams’ simulator ahead of his first appearance at the circuit on Friday.
2010 Chinese Grand Prix
Browse all 2010 Chinese Grand Prix articles
Mark
14th April 2010, 19:25
Great job on the iPhone friendly site!
Enigma
14th April 2010, 19:46
Every team should be allowed to refuel during the race, but they’d have to wait in pits for a minute after that.
jose
14th April 2010, 19:55
the cost’s of taking the refulling rigs around the world was the problem.
jose
14th April 2010, 19:56
also, they can refule, but the car has to be switched off and it has to be done in the garage. will this happen one day?
James
14th April 2010, 23:21
Let’s hope not, because that isnt racing. That is BORING!
Mike
15th April 2010, 3:47
Either have refuelling ala the last few years, or not at all, I can’t see another alternative which wouldn’t hurt the entertainment value…
explosiva
15th April 2010, 4:56
Every team should be allowed to refuel during the race, but only if each member of the pit crew uses a pipette to refuel the cars one drop at a time. Blindfolded. While wearing rollerblades. Oh, and one lucky guy gets to smoke a cigarette while doing it!
Guelph35
15th April 2010, 6:03
They should allow refueling if the driver gets out and does it himself.
It should be done at a standard fuel pump like you or I might use, for the relevance to road cars.
Maybe we’ll even get some advancement in fuel pump technology out of the deal.
wasiF1
15th April 2010, 9:41
@ explosiva
HA HA HA
Pablo
14th April 2010, 23:17
Surely they still have to cart those refueling rigs around the world, as they still have to put fuel in the car at some point of the weekend?
RFB
14th April 2010, 23:40
Nope the ones used now are much smaller, and their refueling rate is limited by reglementation, so teams only carry simpler, much smaller rigs than the huge ones capable of refilling at 12 litres per second. So they are much less expensive to buy, repair, and carry around the world.
PeterG
15th April 2010, 10:27
Virgin does not have a fuel problem.
It would be great achievement if the cars would actually make it to the end of the available fuel.
Then, and only then, will Virgin have a fuel problem.
Mike
15th April 2010, 14:58
That was funny I admit, but Di Grassi did it didn’t he?
Mike
15th April 2010, 15:00
I’ve noticed that people are being very harsh on virgin, I don’t think it’s entirely fair, I mean, lotus could struggle just as much in the next three races, and I do think Virgin has the fastest car on raw pace, from the new 3 of course…
Leon Deuel
13th March 2012, 21:10
Great website – I really like it!