Virgin Racing

Virgin Racing (subsequently Marussia Virgin Racing) was a Formula One racing team which was under management of Manor Motorsport, Wirth Research and Richard Branson's Virgin Group and competed in 2010 with a British licence and in 2011 with a Russian licence. It scored no points and finished last in the Constructor's Championship for the two years the team competed. The team was one of the four granted an entry for the 2010 season, and was originally known as Manor Grand Prix, before being renamed Virgin Racing when Virgin bought a shareholding and naming rights at the end of 2009. The team's original car, the Virgin VR-01, was the first in Formula One to be developed using only computational fluid dynamics, and was driven by Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi. At the end of the season, Marussia Motors bought a stake in the team and became the main sponsor, with the team known as Marussia Virgin Racing. The partnership with Wirth ended midway through 2011, and a new technical structure bringing car development in-house was set up for 2012. Marussia Virgin Racing was renamed to Marussia F1 Team at the end of 2011. The company retained its base in Dinnington, South Yorkshire as well as setting up the technical base in Banbury, Oxfordshire for the construction of the racing cars.