Downforce with Virgin in the need for speed

Yorkshire’s Formula 1 marque head to the Turkish Grand Prix this weekend with their team principal John Booth confident a corner is about to be turned.

Marussia Virgin Racing sacrificed pace for reliability for the opening three grands prix of their second season and although they have improved the ratio of getting two drivers across the finishing line, they were a considerable distance behind the teams they are chasing in the middle of the pack.

Lotus have made more inroads into being regulars in the second session of Saturday qualifying, which is the Dinnington team’s ambition this season, but Virgin arrived in Istanbul this week with a new performance upgrade they hope will cut the gap.

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The team have been working tirelessly on a new package comprising exhaust, nose and front wing – the latter to increase downforce and therefore speed – which they hope will bring them up to speed for the start of the European campaign.

“By our own admission it’s been a difficult start to the year,” said Booth.

“But we actually started doing something about that when we realised back in testing we had not met our targets.

“We’ve been working hard behind the scenes since the middle of February, and this weekend is the culmination of all those efforts when we will be able to see just how much we can now progress.

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“The extent of our upgrade package for the start of the European season is significant to say the least.

“Aerodynamically it’s a new direction for us and we’re hopeful it will help us start to turn the corner, although with such a major step it may take us some time to tune it to the racetrack.”

Booth revealed only Timo Glock will possess the full spec on his car in Turkey, with Belgian rookie Jerome D’Ambrosio having to wait until the subsequent race in Spain later this month.

He is aware, however, any potential progress can only be realistically measured against that of their nearest rivals.

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“We are of course mindful of the fact everyone should have taken a step forward ready for Europe,” added Booth. “So we will have to see how we’ve fared versus the rest of the field.”

Glock has been particularly vocal in his frustration at the rate of development at Virgin, but he appreciates he will have to be patient as the team extract the new package’s full potential.

“There’s a lot of hard work to focus on with our new upgrade,” said Glock. “It’s quite a major package, but these things take time to adapt to the track.

“Our focus has to be getting as much running as possible so we can get maximum data and use it to keep working with the car in the next few races.”

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Meanwhile, the owners of Formula 1 yesterday echoed the words of Bernie Ecclestone by insisting the sport is not for sale.

Italian investment company EXOR and media giant News Corporation have confirmed their interest in a potential takeover of F1.

The consortium pitches media mogul Rupert Murdoch together with the powerful Agnelli family who, among many interests, run Fiat which in turn owns Ferrari.

F1 supremo Ecclestone, however, said that private equity firm CVC, who hold the commercial rights to F1, had no interest in releasing their asset at present.

Ecclestone said: “I know they don’t want to sell, so it’s going to be a bit difficult. I can see CVC in for the long haul, absolutely, 100 per cent.”

CVC purchased F1 in 2006 for £1.8billion.

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