Testing times lie ahead for Formula 1 rookies

Britain's newest F1 team, born out of the Manor GP operation at Dinnington, South Yorkshire, will test their product alongside the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes at three out of four official sessions in February.

The news is a significant affirmation to the FIA that Virgin Racing are on course to make the grid at the opening race in Bahrain in less than two months.

And with fellow rookies US F1 and Campos Meta both struggling financially and falling behind on development and driver recruitment, John Booth's team are already a step ahead in the primary goal of being the best of the four newcomers in 2010.

"We were hoping to get one test out in Spain but we've been lucky and are going to get to three," Booth told the Yorkshire Post.

"It's a great opportunity for us to test out the reliability of the systems and to make sure everything works ahead of Bahrain.

"The second and third tests are all about the performance of the car."

Campos Meta have yet to confirm whether they have the funds to embark on their debut season and have still to find a team-mate for Bruno Senna.

US F1 are in an even more perilous state with doubts over whether they will be able to participate in the opening four races of the season. The Spanish Grand Prix on May 9 could be when the North Carolina-based team – who have yet to name any drivers – make their entrance.

Even Lotus, returning to the grid after a 16-year absence, only plan to take part in the third testing session in Jerez.

For Booth, however, there will be no gloating at the travails of his team's immediate competition. Concentrating on their own progress, which so far has been smooth and encouraging, is the priority at Virgin.

The Nick Wirth-designed car will be fired-up on January 29 with a shake-down at Silverstone on February 4 and 5, at the same time as the first of four official test sessions takes place in Valencia

"That's just an opportunity to make sure the car runs, the gears change and that kind of stuff," explained Booth of the Silverstone experience.

"The first serious test is at Jerez."

Virgin will then fly out to test at three separate four-day sessions – two in Jerez and one in Barcelona – when they will get the chance to see how their car and drivers Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi are running against the more established Formula 1 marques.

Initial plans were for the Sir Richard Branson-backed team to only take part in one test session in Spain but they will now ship the new car out and begin testing on February 10.

And such a commitment to Spain has led to a major logistical challenge for Booth to organise.

The 53-year-old, who launched Manor from his own garage in 1990 into the support classes, was promoted from Virgin's sporting director to team principal earlier this week following Alex Tai's decision to stand down from the top position after helping facilitate the Manor-Virgin deal and the team's launch.

Not that a change of title has affected anything about Booth's hands-on role.

"The title is just a badge," he said. "I'm still the same as I was before.

"We've been flat out at the workshop in Dinnington. We're not a Red Bull with 20 people sorting out travel – there's three of us working on trying to organise 40 people coming back and forth from Spain over a four-week period."

Another area in which Virgin are ahead of their fellow rookies is in the driving department.

The team were still under the banner of Manor GP when Timo Glock signed a two-year deal in November, the 27-year-old German having spent the previous two seasons with Japanese manufacturer Toyota, who have now withdrawn from the F1 grid due to spiralling costs.

He will partner Brazilian Lucas di Grassi to form a driver line-up that truly excites Booth.

"We could not have wished for a better driver in Timo," he said.

"His whole attitude is fantastic. He came to talk to us thinking 'what am I getting myself in for?' He spent a couple of hours here and loved the small team environment.

"He has no outrageous expectations for the first season and will be superb for us.

"Lucas knows the engineers well and the set-up of the car.

"People look at him as being purely a rookie, but he has massive experience of testing in Formula 1.

"To me it is as good as having two experienced drivers in the team."

Looking beyond their debut season, Virgin yesterday launched a new driver development initiative, the Manor Racing GP3 team which will compete in the GP3 Series, a single- seater racing category making its debut in 2010 as a feeder series for the GP2 Series.

It will run alongside the GP2 Championship with the inaugural race scheduled for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Booth said: "Manor GP3 is a terrific opportunity for potential stars of the future to climb the Virgin Racing ladder.

"Our objective has been to achieve a budget for the series that is not only extremely competitive, but something which also offers our drivers the added benefit of the Manor driver development blueprint and a full integration with the Formula 1 team.

"Manor GP3 will occupy the same race shop facilities as the Virgin Racing F1 team and have access to the simulator programme operated by Wirth Research."

Key dates for virgin racing

January 29: Fire-up of car.

February 4-5: Shake down at Silverstone.

February 10-13: First testing session for Timo Glock, right, and Lucas di Grassi at Jerez.

February 17-20: Second testing session at Jerez.

February 25-28: Third testing session at Barcelona.

March 12-14: 2010 season begins with debut at Bahrain Grand Prix.

May 7-9: Fifth round of season in Spain marks first race for Virgin's GP3 team.

July 9-11: Virgin Racing make debut in front of home fans at British Grand Prix.

November 12-14: Final grand prix of 19-race schedule in Abu Dhabi.