Digital launch of Virgin’s new VR-01

Virgin Racing unveiled its first Formula 1 car, the VR-01. The only small downside was that the scheduled launch was delayed by some minor technical difficulties. The VR-01 was supposed to be unveiled on the team’s website on Tuesday morning, as the team had opted for an all-digital launch. However, technical issues prevented the event from taking place as planned. The car was therefore revealed on the team’s website a little later than expected.

« Today is a day of great pride for everyone at Virgin Racing. Yet, I want to pay tribute to all those incredible people at Wirth Research, who deserve recognition for the design of the VR-01, » says Nick Wirth. « Building an F1 team, an engineering group, and a new car from scratch is an epic task. There were also deadlines to meet. »

I have had the chance to work with the best F1 designers and I am well aware of the key success factors in this sport. When you see what existing teams have achieved using the classic approach, it’s not surprising to observe skepticism about our all-digital approach. But we are competing in a sport that is experiencing significant changes. I have absolute conviction that digital is the path for development in F1.

The Virgin F1 Project was officially launched in December when Lucas di Grassi and Timo Glock were announced as drivers. The cars will have Cosworth engines and completed a shakedown at Silverstone on Thursday and Friday. The team will then join the rest of the F1 grid for the second test session in Jerez.

Not wanting to make predictions about the Grand Prix debut of his car, Wirth is confident about the potential of the VR-01: “We are a serious racing team with big ambitions, so we’re not going to try to run before we can walk. The starting point is to try to run reliably, safely, and efficiently and to be the best of the new teams. We will try to improve the car’s performance through an ongoing development program in computer simulation.”

He acknowledged that the digital approach had its limitations, but insisted that wind tunnel testing was no different: « We expect to encounter problems along the way; digital is an approximation, » added Wirth. « In both cases, it is only when you are on track that you can truly appreciate the factors that are difficult to model with any technology. We have done everything necessary, so I am quite confident in the accuracy of our predictions. I am eager to see how our starting setup will perform on the race track. »