» Embarrassment for Virgin Racing design

They tried to keep this one under wraps, but this is very embarrassing for the team!

Recent talk by team officials within Virgin Racing as to the outfits improving reliability prospects have turned out to be complete bollocks, with Auto Motor und Sport revealing that the VR-01’s fuel tank isn’t large enough for the cars to be able to see the chequered flag!

I guess if the car can’t run reliably in pre-season testing to begin with, you won’t be able to test this particular reliability feature!

The team has been forced to apply to the FIA to amend its chassis design, with the rules in place meaning that the chassis design should remain homologated until the end of the season. It is believed that this request has been approved by the FIA under the ‘cost or reliability’ means test.

The revisions to the chassis will require a longer underbody and a new engine cover in addition to other chassis tweaks, and it is expected that the ‘B’ version will be ready in time for the Spanish GP.

That’s a pretty epic fail on behalf of the team’s chief designer, Nick Wirth!