GreenBkk Formula 1 | Virgin: Great, big steps forward

Virgin: Great, big steps forward

Virgin Racing chief executive Graeme Lowdon believes his team's design process is the "future of F1" despite numerous teething problems in 2010.

Virgin Racing was one of three new teams on last year's grid and, like their counterparts, had to deal with the many trials and tribulations encountered by teams as they start out.

However, Virgin, who used a CFD (computational fluid dynamics) programme to test their car's aerodynamics rather than the far more traditional wind tunnels, had several unusual issues as well such as a fuel tank that was not big enough to see the cars complete a full race distance.

But with the majority of their problems resolved by the end of the campaign, Lowdon believes Virgin will be on the up and up in 2011.

"Last year was about getting the team established after having had such a short time to put it in place, but now we're really excited about 2011," he said.

"As you know we've followed a different path to the traditional teams where we've used new technology and developed processes Nick has pioneered, so we're excited about moving into 2011.

"We believe we're the future of Formula One. We're up for a challenge, and we're keen to challenge the establishment."

As for the team's 2011 challenger, technical director Nick Wirth revealed that it is a "great step forward" from last year's car.

"The new car is a very big step forward from the 2010 car, so we're very excited about putting that on track.

"We've tried to learn the lessons throughout the project, in terms of all the bits and pieces, to try and bring it all together and make a great step forward in 2011.

"I think it's going to be a very interesting season as we've new rules, new tyres, and with this moveable rear wing, no one really has a clue as to how it's going to work in terms of the effect on racing.

"So there are a huge range of things that could make 2011 as exciting as 2010 was for the public.

"We just want to make a step forward up the grid and show what we can do."

Credit: PlanetF1.com (www.planetf1.com)