GreenBkk.com Formula 1 | Quaife-Hobbs gets F1 debut at Idiada with Virgin

Quaife-Hobbs gets F1 debut at Idiada with Virgin

In a day of ‘firsts’, Virgin completed their first straight-line aero test at the Idiada proving ground in Spain on Sunday and gave a first taste of Formula One power to one of the rising stars from their young driver programme, GP3’s Adrian Quaife-Hobbs.

The team’s objective was to conduct some detailed evaluation work with the updated MVR-02 package, introduced in Turkey last weekend, in order to extract more from the developments at this coming weekend's Spanish race.

“It has been an incredibly special day for me,” said Quaife-Hobbs, 20. “Driving a Formula One car is what you always dream of from the moment you start karting, so it has been fantastic to finally experience that. I completed a lot of runs for the team and helped them to collect a lot of data.

“I can’t thank Marussia Virgin Racing enough for this amazing opportunity, as it really allows me to gain experience and see how a Formula One team works. Experiences like this only make you hungry for more and it’s exciting to get a taste of what the future could hold.”

The British driver completed 146 kilometres, with the MVR-02 running reliably throughout, enabling Virgin to gather plenty of data with which to further develop their package ahead of Barcelona.

“Congratulations to Adrian on a very impressive debut,” commented team principal John Booth. “It really is extremely rewarding to put these young guys in the car and see how they respond to such an opportunity. He acclimatised well to the car and developed a strong rapport with the engineers and mechanics, so he should feel pleased with his first day’s work in a Formula One car.

“Overall it has been a very productive test for us, with the Idiada proving ground providing us with excellent conditions with which to test the updated package that we introduced at the last race. As we might have expected in its debut outing, we experienced a few teething problems in Istanbul and this test has provided us with the opportunity to understand more of the potential of the developments. We’re looking forward to seeing further signs of progress in Spain next week.”

Virgin are still seeking their first world championship points, with their best 2011 result to date being Jerome d’Ambrosio’s 14th place in Australia.

Credit: Formula One Administration Ltd (www.formula1.com)