Virgin Racing announces fresh start with the MVR-02

The team launched their car at the BBC Television Centre in London, and Virgin hopes for a much better season in Formula One, after finishing last in the 2010 season. The biggest change for Virgin is the addition of a new title sponsor, with Russian carmaker Marussia Motor now coming on board, with the team is now known as Marussia Virgin Racing.

The Marussia Virgin Racing MVR-02 looks significantly different from its competitors, with its slightly lower nose and blown-diffuser exhaust. It will also not run the KERS energy recovery boost system, as the team felt that the benefits did not justify the cost of developing it for the car.

Virgin have also opted to retain the unique computational fluid design (CFD) approach in designing their car, and are positive that they are able to put in improved performances in 2011. Technical director Nick Wirth said, "Since the middle of year we worked on process, we calibrated how fast we had to improve and what did we have to work on. We have done a huge amount of development of physics and what we are doing to catch up with everyone. The back of car is heavily regulated from last year, and we managed to take this car and not only catch up where we were, but go above it in terms of aero efficiency - in every single way this car is faster and better than last year."

Virgin team boss John Booth added, "The MVR-02 is a clear step forward in every area and a credit to all the hard work that has gone into our car development programme over the past 12 months. We are delighted to be working with our engine supplier Cosworth for a second season of collaboration. Despite the freeze on engine development they have been working hard on reliability and performance optimisation over the winter and we fully expect a continuation of the success they enjoyed in their return to the sport in 2010. The sport has the added challenge of a new tyre supplier in Pirelli but we have made good progress with tailoring our mechanical package to suit the new Pzero tyres in the group tests in Abu Dhabi at the end of 2010 and in Valencia last week. Generally, we have every reason to believe that 2011 will be a very exciting and positive experience for our team."

The Marussia Virgin Racing team have retained German Timo Glock as one of their drivers for the 2011 season, with the other seat being filled by Belgian former GP2 driver Jerome D'Ambrosio, who was previously Virgin's test driver during the 2010 season. D'Ambrosio replaces Brazilian Lucas di Grassi, who has been dropped after disappointing performances last season.