The highs and lows of the season according to Nick Wirth

As we are fast approaching the final seven races of the 2010 F1 Season, it seems like this would be a good time to look back and review the progress of the Virgin Racing Team and to look forward to the final seven Grands Prix of this, their first season in F1. Technical Director Nick Wirth has given his views on the highs and lows of 2010 and where his focus is for the last seven GPs.

Highs –

"Well getting the team to the grid within 250 days of being granted an entry was an enormous achievement and one which should never be underestimated. Remember too that one of the new teams failed to pass the first test and with our business and technical model it really has been a start up from every perspective. I’m also very pleased that we’ve silenced those critics who said that an F1 car could not be designed entirely in the digital domain – that has been a personal high for me and the whole team."

Lows –

"It’s obvious isn’t it? The wretched fuel tank problem and the difficult race in China. We went through a tough period over those few weeks but our resilience in the face of that adversity will ultimately do us no harm.

"Looking forward we are feeling confident that we will reach our target of being top of the three new teams and take that much coveted 10th place in the F1 Championship. Why are we so confident?, well where Lotus and HRT have now switched their attention to developing their 2011 cars, we are in the unique position of being able to further develop our present car as well as working on the development of our future 2011car, all because of our digital design approach. Therefore Virgin Racing can expect to continue to improve our performance.

"We of course finished the first half of the Season on a high because after Hungary we ended qualifying and the race with clearly the fastest laps of the new teams and a solid and reliable two-car finish gives us a good platform for the next phase of the season, where we must continue this trend of improving our performance."