The Virgin MVR-02 was shown off for the first time at the BBC Television centre in London. The car is a clear evolution of the VR-01 of 2010 but features a number of interesting details.
“We were extremely pleased to have proved our digital design process in Formula One last season and to have demonstrated that it is possible to compete at the highest level of motor sport with a car designed wholly in computer simulation” reveals Nick Wirth. “Having said that, we faced a very steep learning curve and experienced some tough lessons, which we have applied to our design programme for 2011. The watchwords of our 2011 challenge are: Ambition. Progress. Distinctive. We have addressed every single issue that troubled us last year, but in our own unique digital way. For example, the hydraulics and gearbox oil problems of last year have resulted in us doing more CFD in these areas alone than we used in the entire aero design program our first digital race-winning sportscar in 2008. In Abu Dhabi we took the opportunity to prove out these digital improvements by successfully track-testing a number of systems for the MVR-02. So we start 2011 as we mean to go on – rather more ahead of the game – by going testing in Jerez this week with many parts already proven on the race track, or by an upgraded and more comprehensive rig-test program. In terms of sheer CFD throughput, the number of configurations that our new processes have allowed us to test for the MVR-02 is a giant step forward from the VR-01, and we are looking forward to further improvements here as we finally begin to benefit from the new Supercomputer that our partners CSC have provided for 2011. I am confident that we have made real progress with the MVR-02, producing a car with considerably more aerodynamic efficiency than the VR-01 despite the regulation changes, and having made significant gains in terms of overall quality. It provides a good basis for development over the course of the season, and I’m very sure we’ll be able to keep up the impressive rate of aero development that we’ve had since the beginning of the MVR-02 project.
We also have the added challenge of a new tyre supplier in Pirelli and this helps level the playing field as the teams’ experience of the PZero tyres will be limited to only two days of testing in Abu Dhabi and 2011 pre-season testing in Spain and Bahrain. Wirth Research has nearly four years of real-time driver simulator development experience now, and our ability to produce very realistic thermal tyre models in-house has been of great benefit. We were very encouraged by the positive feedback both drivers have given our simulator group on their recent developments in this crucial area.”
Wirth also revealed that his team had fully investigated the Renault R31 front exit exhaust concept but like McLaren has initially opted against using it. Though the design got far enough for Timo Glock to test it in the Wirth Researh simulator. The MVR-02 features yet another exhaust solution instead, where the pipes run right to the back of the car and exit in the centre of the diffusers
What is unusual is the way the pipes exit the body work and continue above the floor until dipping through the diffuser (above). The rear wing end plates are fully heat shielded something unique to the MVR-02 and giving a good idea of gas flow.
The rear end also features Acura style “gooseneck’s” linking the aerodynamic elements together. A thin central spar carries the rear wing adjustment system from above the gearbox to the base of the main plane. From there a small actuator above the element links to the adjustable flap itself. A slight bulge in the engine cover houses the outlet for the cooler for the Xtrac 1044 transmission.
The driver cooling duct on the nose of the MVR-02 is shaped to represent the front end of a forthcoming Marussia supercar. Note the TV camera placement on the wing supports.
Melbourne
Virgin is one of a number of teams unhappy with their performance in Melbourne, the pace of the car is clearly not where it should be and the cars only just scraped into the race ahead of the 107% cut off. A hub problem hit one of the cars during the race, both MVR-02’s finished however, albeit a number of laps down.
“First and foremost we have to be happy that we achieved our objective of a two-car finish” explained Team Principal John Booth. “To move forward we have to maximise our track time and gather as much data as possible to feed back into the development programme and I am comfortable that we have been able to demonstrate such promising reliability. The problem with Timo’s wheel is disappointing and even when he was back out on track his progress was hampered as a consequence of the damage sustained.”
Sepang
John Booth, Team Principal “On the face of it we are obviously disappointed that we weren’t able to get both cars home today, but generally we can be very pleased with a strong team performance in the race. Both drivers drove well and we were a little better off in terms of pace but what worked well for us is the way we have been able to manage the tyre degradation we saw earlier in the weekend and get ourselves to a position where we only needed to stop twice with each car. The pit crew had some tough challenges thrown at them today – some late calls and stops in quick succession – and they responded admirably in what are always tough climatic conditions here at Sepang. In the end Jérôme hit the kerb hard which caused the power switch to toggle off and the car stopped out on track. That aside, he should feel very happy that he is doing a great job overall in only his second race.”
Shanghai
John Booth, Team Principal: “Obviously today was a very good result for Jérôme in only his third race. His two-stop strategy proved far superior to the three-stop strategy we decided upon for Timo and more suited to what our competitors were doing around us. All credit to Jérôme for getting a two-stopper to work. Following some feedback in the race from Timo regarding the degradation he was suffering with the rear tyres, we were perhaps a little too quick to convert him to three stops. Our predictions pre-race were that this would be worse and with the benefit of hindsight we can see it was not the way to go. We didn’t help Timo and when he had a problem during his final stop he lost quite a bit of time and had to fight hard to catch the HRT again and overtake. Overall we have had a better weekend in reliability terms and it has proved a useful development opportunity as we have faced several challenges that we will learn from. This is the last of the season-opening long hauls and, as is the case up and down the pit lane, the race team are ready for a bit of a break, particularly after the back to back between Malaysia and China. Meanwhile, as you would expect, everyone at our technical base is nose to the grindstone ensuring that the Turkey upgrade goes according to plan and delivers the performance gains we expect so we can get back to where we should be for the start of the European season.”
Istanbul
John Booth, Team Principal: “When the pit lane opened ready for the start of the race we had no reason to suspect that we would have anything other than a relatively straightforward grid procedure, so it was a surprise to hear Timo report a broken fifth gear on his reconnaissance lap. Back in the garage we attempted to change the gearbox, which is no mean feat in the pre-race window and when Jérôme’s car was lining up on the grid as normal. With the two car crews split between the two different situations, Timo’s crew worked calmly and methodically under extreme pressure to take the rear of the car apart. Despite a Herculean effort, in the end we took the decision not to compromise the car that was still in the race because the way things were panning out with the tyres, it looked likely that we would have some last minute calls from the pitwall and we needed the full crew to be on ready alert. We’re disappointed for Timo after his efforts and we’ll look into the data now to understand why this happened. Having experienced many gearbox issues last year and then to make such made enormous strides with the quality of the preparation this year, it is highly unusual that we should experience this problem. “As for Jérôme, we predicted that he would have a real ‘racer’s race’ and that is exactly what we saw. He grabbed the opportunity with both hands, using the DRS effectively to steal a march on Karthikeyan the minute the activation period came into play, then after a 3 or 4 lap battle with Liuzzi using the DRS, Jérôme’s tenacity paid off and he was able to ease away. From that point it was a lonely race for him, however he maximised the opportunity to perfect the strategy and managed the traffic well. In fact this was a race where we encountered the least instances of blue flags in our 23-race tally. On lap 30 we decided to change to a two-stop strategy, which was brave at the time given what everything else that was going on around us. We held our nerve and Jérôme drove brilliantly, preserving the Prime tyres to allow this strategy to work. Our focus now moves towards an aero test at the Idiada proving ground in Spain next Sunday, where we will continue our evaluation of the new aero package under more controlled conditions in the hope of bringing more to the car in Spain.”
The Virgin MVR-02 had a major aerodynamic update for Istanbul (above) featuring a new nose and revised exhaust positioning. It was thought to be worth around 0.4s over the old version (below)
Barcelona
Timo Glock Q: 20 R: 19
D’Ambrosio Q: 23 R: 20
Virgin tested a new floor, exhaust and diffuser package during free practice, in an attempt to overcome heat management issues experienced by the team in Turkey. During qualifying D’Ambrosio’s car suffered a hydraulic problem due to a split o-ring, which was easily rectified for the race.
John Booth, Team Principal: “Timo got a particularly good start on the run down to turn one, but unfortunately Liuzzi got past on the outside. He struggled in the first stint with a set of tyres which had a small vibration issue. We picked this up after qualifying but since we needed to run all three sets of our Option tyres today, we elected to use that set in the stint which we thought would be most plagued by traffic. It looks in general that our pace was a little bit better than we thought compared to the front-runners and we also didn’t see the traffic we expected in the first stint. After stopping for a new set of Option tyres Timo made light work of getting past Liuzzi and was able to run at his true pace for the rest of the race. Jérôme struggled a bit with his braking stability throughout the weekend and this seems to have harmed his pace in the race relative to Timo. However, overall, he completed his objective of moving ahead of the Hispanias. In terms of the team performance, another strong weekend in which we have completed the first five-race cycle on the gearbox, which is a huge improvement compared to last year. Now we have our reliability issues behind us, we need to focus on performance developments for the car.”
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To overcome heat management issues experienced by the team in Turkey the MVR-02’s tested a new exhaust layout at Barcelona – with more modern looking outlets mounted in the floor of the car.
Monaco
Timo Glock Q:21 R: DNF
D’Ambrosio Q:22 R: 15
John Booth, Team Principal “We predicted yesterday that the race would be incident-filled and that we would need to be ready to take advantage of any opportunity that came our way, and this is exactly what both drivers did today. It was a difficult decision to start both cars on a split strategy, but one that ultimately paid off at different stages in the race. We had information from Timo’s first stint on the Option tyre that made us feel confident that, when the safety car came out, we could switch Jérôme to a one-stop and take the track position that we were getting from the strategy. Jérôme had done a great job of defending against Lotus for around 15 laps but unfortunately, due to running wide for a blue flag, he picked up some marbles and was unable to stay in front. Timo drove a strong first stint to keep in touch with the guys in front. Throughout the weekend he has demonstrated great skill and faultless performances but unfortunately we believe his right rear push-rod failed in the race, so we will go away and analyse what led to that. All in all it has been a challenging but rewarding couple of weeks of back to back racing and we will return to our base to prepare for our trip across to Canada in two weeks’ time.”
Montreal
Timo Glock Q:22 R: 15
D’Ambrosio Q: 24 R: 14
Virgin had a troubled weekend, with D’Ambrosio failing to qualify after a practice accident demolished his car. The stewards allowed him to race based on times set in practice, securing a final finishing position of 14th, with Glock in 15th.
John Booth, Team Principal “An eventful race to say the least and one that initially looked to be playing in our favour given the level of downforce we had chosen to run. With Timo we held our nerve during the first part of the race, waiting for the rain that was obviously coming on the radar as we felt that a stop for intermediate tyres would have been costly. This proved to be the case with Timo being 15th at the restart. The second part of Timo’s race initially didn’t go well, with him losing places when we stopped for intermediates, however with the stops for slicks he managed to get back past Trulli. Unfortunately, during the final safety car period, we noticed in the data a flat-spotted tyre and we advised Timo but given his position we needed to try to race to the end as a pitstop would have dropped us to last. Jérôme had quite an eventful race – starting last and finishing 14th. He did a good job considering the events of the weekend. We used him at times to try out strategies with intermediates and even with this he managed to achieve a good result. All credit to him.”
Valencia
Timo Glock Q:21 R: 21
D’Ambrosio Q:23 R: 22
John Booth, Team Principal “Overall a pleasing result with both cars taking the flag and Jérôme improving from his qualifying position yesterday by overtaking Liuzzi on track. This means that the cars finished in the correct pace order compared to our direct rivals. Looking on the positive side, we seem to have moved closer towards our nearest competitor ahead of us on the grid, however with such strong reliability throughout the field it’s a little disappointing to end up 21st and 22nd. We got the strategy about right, although perhaps we should have stopped Jerome slightly earlier in the first stint as he was just falling into the second stage of tyre degradation but unfortunately we were already stopping Timo on that lap. Towards the end of the race with Timo we spotted an issue with fuel dropouts in turn 1, which meant he was having to back off. We now head back to the factory for a longer than usual period, ahead of our home race at Silverstone. We are all very excited about working in the new pits and we’re hoping to keep up our current momentum for the next few races.”
Silverstone
Timo Glock Q:20 R: 16
D’Ambrosio Q:22 R: 17
John Booth, Team Principal:“A good finish to the team’s home race weekend, not only with both cars finishing but also a clear positive in terms of an improvement in pace. Timo managed the 17th fastest lap in the race and Jérôme pulled off a good overtaking move on Liuzzi in Copse, so both drivers are leaving the track on a positive note. The engineers coped well with the decision that had to be taken on the grid with the tyres and determined a good strategy. This was all helped with some good pit-stop work by the mechanics, including some late calls and coping well with both drivers stopping on the same lap. We’ve got a busy week ahead before the next race in Germany, with an aero test at RAF Cottesmore and also further rig tests. We are all looking forward to maintaining our current form at Timo’s home race.”
Nurburgring
Timo Glock Q: 20 R:17
D’Ambrosio Q: 22 R:18
John Booth, Team Principal:“This is a great way to end Timo’s home race weekend. After announcing a new long-term contract with him this morning, the day ended in a positive way as we achieved another double finish. We knew that the Option tyres would work better, which is why we completed most of the race with them and waited until the very end to use the Primes. Jérôme struggled at the start of the race but after the first pit-stop found his way when the fuel load lightened and came back at Ricciardo, overtaking him in the second stint. We had a small issue with Timo’s braking system towards the end of the race and this slowed his pace. Overall, a pleasing result with the team working well under pressure. We now complete a quick turnaround and travel over to Hungary for what we hope will be another good weekend.”
Hungaroring
Timo Glock Q: 21 R:17
D’Ambrosio Q: 24 R:19
John Booth, Team Principal: “An incredible start for Timo on the opening laps of the race. In wet conditions he managed to fight with cars which are normally several seconds quicker than us in the dry. The rest of Timo’s race went pretty seamlessly with both him and his engineers on the wall making good decisions, particularly in the period where we had rain at around two thirds distance, and he remained out on slicks. Jérôme was also performing well, but his decision to fit intermediate tyres wasn’t correct. However, in the position he was in, had there been any more rain, it could have worked. The pit crew have been exemplary today, with good consistent stops under difficult conditions. The final pit stops for both drivers were affected by a slippery surface on the way into the pit box and unfortunately this caught Jérôme out. “Overall, at this point in the season we are very happy with our reliability but realise there’s still work to be done in terms of performance. It’s been a rollercoaster ride of a last few weeks for the whole team but with plenty of highs. Now everyone leaves for a well-deserved break and I’m sure all the batteries will be recharged ready for Spa.”
