Virgin come under pressure from HRT

2011 Spanish GP team review

Posted on

| Written by

Battle has been joined at the back of the field as HRT put Virgin under pressure in Spain.

Timo GlockJerome d’Ambrosio
Qualifying position2023
Qualifying time comparison (Q1)1’27.315 (-1.241)1’28.556
Race position1920
Laps63/6662/66
Pit stops33

Virgin drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2011drivercolours.csv

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152535455565758596061
Timo Glock107.55696.45695.86595.86395.3495.20695.23195.91495.57995.30695.49195.696.67995.20496.37199.174113.86793.55395.17494.59993.44193.46493.53295.75494.06893.25793.60994.51993.90294.78794.60593.45894.44393.31193.51994.19494.84898.092118.1691.63592.3591.86591.71791.66792.03893.22892.07992.3595.22992.62492.69392.10295.424113.9994.41391.90294.93593.88293.4195.35897.097
Jerome dAmbrosio108.57396.55396.05695.63995.59395.55195.27895.69895.1595.48695.4595.63296.4496.27397.13697.238100.259115.2392.98293.58595.71695.57393.88793.84793.97695.11597.26894.49395.4794.99398.91996.47296.66899.672115.07392.54992.79692.82792.97593.03392.67792.93392.92992.98392.93892.69292.76493.45196.166114.95393.37897.24193.11394.2393.40194.81793.29593.69393.88493.91397.625
Timo Glock, Virgin, Barcelona, 2011

Timo Glock

Slipped behind Vitantonio Liuzzi at the start and couldn’t find a way past during the first stint.

He stopped for tyres on lap 16 and was able to pass the HRT, just three laps before Liuzzi retired with a gearbox problem.

After that Glock had a largely trouble-free race aside from a tyre vibration. He finished a lap behind the next car, the Lotus of Jarno Trulli.

Timo Glock 2011 form guide

Jerome d’Ambrosio

Was only able to do one lap in qualifying because of a hydraulic problem and started behind the HRTs as a result. He only made it within the 107% time by 0.3 seconds.

He passed Narain Karthikeyan on lap six. He finished behind his team mate but was lapped once more, delayed by a braking problem.

Jerome d’Ambrosio 2011 form guide

2011 Spanish Grand Prix

    Browse all 2011 Spanish Grand Prix articles

    Image © Virgin Racing

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

    Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

    16 comments on “Virgin come under pressure from HRT”

    1. It really underlines how good a job Lotus are doing. Even though this result wasn’t great for them, in comparison to Virgin and HRT they are looking a lot more professional.

      It is sad to see Glock driving around at the back of the field

      1. It must be awful for each of those drivers, 60 laps so far from everyone else and with no opportunity to battle. How boring.

    2. So by now Virgin has shown the car has reliability. When will they start doing something about their speed?

      Did they have an EBD with somewhat off throttle boost prepared only to shelve it, like HRT did. Or are they just without a clue what to do for downforce.

    3. Yeh it’s a shame Glock might be remembered best for being overtaken by Hamilton.

      I think Virgin’s strategy is paying off. Reliability is a tough thing to conquer for a new team, despite what this era of seemingly bullet-proof cars implies. They just need a mad (probably wet) race to happen and they’ll get a 13th place. Realistically even if they went for pace they wouldn’t score any points so this is the best thing for them. It’s next year that they should be going for performance.

      1. Douglas62500
        23rd May 2011, 11:53

        I guess that’s the good bit really, with such vastly improved excellent reliability they could focus hard on pace, but sadly it does not appear to pay off at the moment…

      2. I like it too because it doesn’t matter how good your car is if you can’t finish.

        But they desperately need to get some better results solely for the purpose of demonstrating that their CFD only approach is valuable. Right now, they aren’t impressing anyone.

      3. Glock might be remembered best for being overtaken by Hamilton.

        That’s what I remember him for.

    4. “Battle Has Been Joined”. Haha, shame on you, Keith :)

      1. Er, why?

        1. *Cough* Legard *Cough*

    5. I see some people saying they have reliability, and maybe braking problems don’t count for that, but it seems to me they didn’t get the most out of the EBD because of reliability problems, like most others in the bottom half of the field that is running with it, or trying.

      Virgin really do not seem to have a solid direction to me. Now they have the high nose, it is time they start thinking up ideas of how to use it to the max for underfloor downforce.

    6. Get Timo into the Renault team as he should have been, They should get rid of Nick Heidfeld or Vitaly Petrov. It´s becoming clear that Virgin is a waste of time.

      1. And Glock is better? As i remember he wasn’t better than Trulli and Trulli now eats the dust of Kovalanien who used to eat the dust of Hamilton.

      2. Why get rid of either Renault driver, both are doing a good job.

    7. A pretty uninspiring team to be honest, they do next to nothing for me.

    8. Remember this quote? or something close to it.
      “It’s easier to make a fast car reliable, than to make a reliable car fast”

      I forget who said it. I wonder if it’s true.

    Comments are closed.