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Marussia: A history in pics

Wednesday 9 January 2013 16:43, UK

  1. Image: Previously racing under the banner of Manor Motors and Virgin Racing, Marussia will be looking to propel themselves up the grid in the 2013 season.
  2. Image: The team grew out of a collaboration between Manor Motors, a respected name in motorsport, and Wirth Research. The team was initially named Manor GP.
  3. Image: Having sponsored Brawn GP during their title-winning campaign in 2009, Richard Branson switched his allegiance to the Sheffield-based team for 2010.
  4. Image: The team's debut car was designed in the digital realm, with technical chief Nick Wirth relying on computer simulation technology and Cosworth power.
  5. Image: Virgin confirmed former Toyota driver Timo Glock and rookie Lucas di Grassi as their driver combination for their maiden season.
  6. Image: Despite having been tipped to be the best newbie, Virgin Racing finished at the very bottom, proving detractors of their CFD programme right.
  7. Image: One major flaw emerged at the start of the season when it was discovered that the Virgin VR-01's fuel tank was too small!
  8. Image: Added to that, hydraulic problems proved to the team's Achilles as the VR-01 suffered hydraulic problem after hydraulic problem.
  9. Image: Virgin eventually recorded their first double finish at the Spanish Grand Prix. But despite adding a further six results, not a single point was scored.
  10. Image: In fact the team's best result was the 14th-place finishes for di Grassi in Malaysia and Glock in Japan.
  11. Image: Virgin entered a partnership with Russian car manufacturer Marussia, who acquired a controlling stake in Virgin, guaranteeing the team's future until 2014.
  12. Image: The team also changed its driver line-up, replacing di Grassi with promising youngster Jerome D'Ambrosio.
  13. Image: Despite heavy criticism Virgin insisted that CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) technology was the way forward.
  14. Image: Commitment to this technology cost the team heavily in 2011, as they endured another disappointing season. This led them to part ways with Wirth research.
  15. Image: Marussia-Virgin finally abandoned using CFD and signed an agreement with McLaren to use their technical facilities, simulators and wind tunnel for 2012.
  16. Image: On 31 December 2011, Marussia Virgin Racing announced they were now called Marussia F1 Team - although the Virgin logo would still feature on the car.
  17. Image: And for the 2012 season, Marussia signed up GP2 graduate Charles Pic to partner Timo Glock.
  18. Image: The season turned out to be a respectable affair for the increasingly-popular Marussia outfit.
  19. Image: There was costly disappointment at the end of the year, however, when Caterham beat Marussia to tenth in the Constructors' Championship.
  20. Image: With attention now on 2013, the team have hired Max Chilton to replace the Caterham-bound Charles Pic.