Formula 1 2015 - Magnificent Malaysia

Wow. One word many people have used to describe Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix. After calls for equalization from Red Bull and many fans saying 'the sport is being ruined', Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel silenced all the critics by taking an incredible victory, the first for Ferrari since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix and the first for Vettel since that years season finale in Brazil. So how did Ferrari do this? And what else went on in this brilliant race?

Ferrari vs Mercedes

The foundations for Ferrari's win were laid down during Saturdays qualifying, with Vettel qualifying in second place, just 0.074 down from Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes and ahead of Hamilton's team mate Nico Rosberg. At the start of the race Vettel maintained his second place but it was all change on lap four when Marucs Ericsson spun his Sauber into the gravel at turn one after an optimistic move on Nico Hulkenburgs Force India. The safety car came out and as the two Mercedes dived for the pits, Vettel stayed out. By the the time Hamilton and Rosberg had fought through the traffic, Vettel had a 10 second lead and, on his older medium tyres (the options for the weekend), he was matching if not going quicker than Hamilton who was on a new set of hard tyres (the primes for the weekend.

Vettel stopped on lap 17 and rejoined third on a new set of option tyres, behind the two Mercedes, but within 13 laps had passed both Mercedes drivers. The Silver Arrrows were struggling with tyre wear and were forced into a three stop strategy, Ferrari could afford to carry on with a two stop strategy. Hamilton stopped on lap 24 for a new set of options but would have to pit again for another set of prime tyres, crucially when Vettel was running the same. Rosberg meanwhile made a visit to the to the pits on lap 27 for a set of prime tyres, but again Rosberg would have to pit again with the tyre wear being to good for Rosberg to try a two stop stint.

Vettel meanwhile continued onto lap 37 and made his final visit to the pits at the end of the lap for the prime tyres. Crucially, Vettel rejoined infront of Nico Rosberg, meaning he could go on chasing Hamilton who he knew would have to pit. Rosberg did not have the pace to catch the Ferrari and all he could do was watch Vettel race into the distance. Hamilton made his final visit to the pits at the end of lap 38 and put on the prim tyres. Rosberg pitted for the option tyre on lap 41 and hoped he could catch and pass his team mate, but sadly Nico couldn't and would finish around five seconds behind his team mate. Hamilton meanwhile carried on chasing Vettel, but couldn't catch the Ferrari and finished the nearly nine seconds behind Vettel. It was an incredible performance from a team recovering from its first win-less season in 21 years.

A special mention as well to Vettel's team mate Kimi Raikkonen, who suffered a puncture at the end of lap 1 but recovered brilliantly to fourth, all this after qualifying eleventh during the rain affected qualifying on Saturday. Raikkonen's race underlined the step forward Ferrari have made and also showed the Kimi himself is a different driver this year. Who knows what might have been had he qualified where he more than likely would have been, in the top four...

The rest of the pack

Behind the lead battle there was some fantastic racing. Williams drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa finished 5th and 6th, 5th for Bottas being a brilliant effort after recovering from the back injury that put him out of the season opener in Melbourne and he pulled off a stunning move around the outside of his team mate on the penultimate lap of the race, as well as doing the same earlier to Max Verstappen. Bottas did well to recover to fifth after dropping to 14th at the start. Williams will be disappointed to finish so far down on the winner (70 seconds) but don't count them out, expect the FW37 to soon be closer to the front than it is now. Whilst it is disappointing to see Williams behind Ferrari and Mercedes after finishing 2014 as the Silver Arrows closest challenger, they are clearly one of the top three teams in the sport right now and they have a decent buffer to the rest of the grid so they can take some comfort from that.

Toro Rosso had an excellent race, Max Verstappen becoming the youngest point scorer in Formula 1's history after qualifying a superb sixth and his team mate Carlos Sainz finished just one place behind in eight place. The Toro Rosso STR10 is clearly a solid little midfield car and its two drivers are both impressing, with solid drives from both of them in the first two races. Expect these two young guns to carry on impressing as the season goes on.

Red Bull meanwhile had a horrible race. The team qualified a great fourth for Daniel Ricciardo and fifth for Danill Kvyat but both cars were hampered with brake issues during the race and Kvyat made contact with Hulkenburg into turn 2, earning the Force India driver a 10 second stop go penalty. The RB11's eventually limped home in ninth and tenth places, but a woeful race for Red Bull who no doubt hope that Renaults power unit upgrades come sooner rather than later.

The less said about Sauber's race the better. Ericsson as mentioned earlier beached his C34 into the gravel at turn one after attempting to pass Hulkenburg, and Felipe Nasr had to pit at the end of lap two for a new front wing, as he was the cause of Raikkonen's puncture. Nasr eventually finished in twelfth place, but after the highs of Melbourne, it all came crashing down to earth for Sauber in Malaysia.

Despite a double retirement for the returning Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, McLarens race was full of promise. They qualified on the penultimate row of the grid but Alonso was running in eighth place before his retirement and Button was also running well before he himself retired. The Honda powered MP4-30 was fighting with the Saubers, Force India's, Lotus and Toro Rosso's, Alonso saying he was even catching the Red Bulls before he retired on lap 21. Things are still tough for the Woking squad but there are definite signs of improvement. Keep an eye on McLaren, they are getting there.

Like Sauber, the less said about Force India's race the better. Sergio Perez made contact with the Lotus of Romain Grosjean and Nico Hulkenburg with Danill Kvyats Red Bull, after running as high as second after the safety car. After benefiting from the high attrition rate in Melbourne to achieve a double points finish, Force India had the race they should have had in Melbourne. No points with a car that was late to the party. Still, always next time.

Lotus were another team that had a horrible race, after the car showed much promise over the weekend. Pastor Maldonado retired late on and as mention earlier, Romain Grosjean made contact with Perez, ending any chance he had gaining points for the team. Grosjean was as high as third after the early safety car.The E23 though does show a lot of promise and hopefully the team will get the points they crave in China.

Finally, a massive round of applause to Manor Marussia F1, who got Roberto Mehri's car to the end of the race. Both cars ran in practice, although Will Stevens sadly couldn't run in qualifying or the race due to a fuel system issue, and Mehri did qualify out of the 107% rule but for a team that only fired its engine up on the Thursday before the race, a team that was in administration only a couple of months ago and a team that is still working to get the car running at 100% and full power, it is a huge achievement. So well done to them. Will Stevens set a time of 1m45.704 in Free Practice 2 on Friday, which was over a second within the 107% rule of the fastest time (a 1m39.790 from Hamilton), showing that when the car runs well, they shouldn't have an issue with it. Heres hoping that both cars can start the race in China and the cars run at 100%. Here's hoping that they can soon run their new MR04 (which was rumored to be a good car) and maybe, just maybe, get into the midfield.

So a there we are,great race in Malaysia, and we can leave the Sepang circuit knowing one thing...Ferrari are back! The last time the German and Italian National Anthems were heard together was in China 2006, Michael Schumacher's last Formula 1 win. Here's to more of the same for the rest of the season, and hopefully we can hear the Finnish and Italian National Anthem together to. Until next time, ciao everyone.

Malaysia 2015 - Can Ferrari challenge Mercedes?

Before I begin this post folks I would just like to apologize for the lack of posts recently. Being a college student, work for my upcoming A Level exams has rather got in the way, however I will endeavor to post as much as I can. For now though, I want to talk about Ferrari.

The second race of the Formula 1 season is upon us and already things look a lot better than they did in Melbourne. Both Valtteri Bottas and Fernando Alonso have been cleared to race, and Manor Marussia have finally hit the track and look to be in good shape to be able to qualify and race this weekend. However, the biggest story to come from Friday Practice is the pace of Ferrari, as they have emerged as maybe,just maybe, a surprise challenger to Mercedes this weekend...

Ferrari emerged as best of the rest behind Mercedes in Melbourne, and it looks like that trend may continue this weekend, with Mercedes upfront, followed by the Scuderia and then the Williams team. In practice today the two scarlet red cars showed incredibly strong long-run pace, which would allow them to challenge the Silver Arrows if they could repeat it on Sunday.

Kimi Raikkonen ended both sessions on Friday in second place and was exactly 0.373 seconds off the pace of the fastest Mercedes, in this case above, Hamilton. This did raise a few eyebrows, but more so the finn's pace on the medium tyres in FP2. Raikkonen managed a nine lap run on the medium compound tyres. On average his laptime was around 1m45.080s. Compare that to what the two Mercedes were doing, with the six lap run Lewis Hamilton did (the Mercedes driver sat out FP1 after a car failure and then had a stop start FP2) and his average was 1m45.070s, with Nico Rosbergs average being slower than both his team mate and Raikkonen, at 1m45.313s over seven laps. Compare the averages of all three drivers runs, and once adjusted, Raikkonen was on average around a tenth faster than Hamilton and also three tenths faster than Rosberg, who had a trouble free FP1 and FP2. 

Now, there is every chance that this is Ferrari doing what it has been known to do on Fridays in recent times, run lower fuel loads, which make it look better before it tails off come race day. However, this is still very encouraging for Ferrari, even if Sebastian Vettels long run on the hard compound tyres meant that only Raikkonens car could be used as a comparison to the Mercedes. The team of course have said that they won't be in contention for the win and rightly so, as the chances are still in favor of Mercedes winning, as it would take some beating to knock them off the top spot of the podium on Sunday. However, Ferraris pace could mean that, if Mercedes do hit trouble in any way,shape or form this Sunday, the two red cars from Maranello could well be the ones to pick up the pieces and take home the silverware. Ferrari back on the top step off the podium...wouldn't that be something?

Manor F1 - Leave them be

Yesterday, Sky Sports F1 reported that Manor Marussia F1 will pay unsecured creditors 1.3p for every pound owed. So the team had a total debt of £35 million, which makes it...well I can't do the maths but you get what I mean, essentially its 1.3p (that's p for pence) times 35 million...I think. Now, the whole point of this blog post isn't to talk about maths, but to talk about something that has really irritated me. A lot people are now going around saying that, because of this, the creditors will not get payed back in full, or even close to it, so therefore Manor Marussia do not deserve to race and should fold.

I very much feel that people should do a bit of research before saying such things. First off, had the team gone into liquidation and therefore follow the fate of Caterham, then the creditors would have received even less then they are getting now. The creditors were consulted before the team came out of administration in February and all of them, McLaren and Ferrari included, agreed that they should be revived. So therefore, the creditors are all comfortable with the situation. Secondly, blaming the team for the fact the creditors get such a small amount of money is completely ludicrous. This is just how process of the Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) works, this being done by the teams administrators and not by Manor. If someone is to blame, it is Nikolai Fomenko, who set up the now defunct Maurssia Motors car company and took a major shareholding in the Manor team ahead of the 2012 season. Manor is now entirely separate from him and his company. I even heard rumors that Nikolai himself will have to pay up a lot of the money, due to it mainly being his doing the team found themselves in the mess they were in near the end of 2014.

My point is this...if you have a problem with their comeback, blame Nikolai for allowing this to happen. Manor are just following the process of the CVA and its creditors are more than happy for that to happen, its how it works. Another thing that irked me was the comments some people made of  'some F1 fans jumping on the underdog bandwagon, its all bulls**t'. Manor are underdogs, they proved that last year with Jules Bianchi's points at Monaco. The team has a dedicated fan base, a lot of whom have supported the team since its Virgin days when they first entered the sport and have gained even more fans in the past two or three years. Let them support the team as actually, yes, they are underdogs, they did what no one thought possible, and that was to be only one of the three 2010 hopefuls to score points. A lot of people had given up hope on any of the three teams achieving this feat. 

My message in this rather ranty (and my first post really showing how I feel on a topic) post is this...leave Manor alone, let them follow the CVA, there is no other way for them to return. Be angry at Nikolai, and the administrators if you have to be, and allow the teams fans to support them. I say good luck to them! For without one guy, they wouldn't even be here. Until next time folks. Ciao.

#ForzaJules

Formula 1 2015 - A Strange Start

Yesterday the 2015 Formula 1 season started, and was won, surprise surprise, by Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton leading home Nico Rosberg for a 1-2 finish for the team. However, only 15 cars started the race, 13 were running after lap one and only 11 actually reached the finish. Events prior to the lights going out had already cast a shadow over the weekend, so what exactly went wrong, and what did go right?

Sauber vs Giedo

The biggest talking point of the whole weekend was Giedo Van Der Garde's court case against Sauber. To cut a long story short, Giedo had a race contract for 2015 but Sauber didn't uphold it and signed Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr for 2015 instead. Courts in Switzerland and Australia ruled in Giedo's favor, but in the end he gave up his right to race this weekend, although talks with Sauber are set to continue leading up to Malaysia. This made the start to the season a bit of a sour one, as it further showed to the world that Formula 1 isn't in the best of shapes right now, with the financial struggles of some of the teams already being well known. Sauber though did respond in brilliant form, as Nasr took a brilliant 5th place and Ericsson silenced a few of the 'pay driver' critics by taking a solid 8th place, Sauber's first points since Brazil 2013 and first double points finish since Japan that same year. It started badly for the team, but they proved to the fans that they have a solid car, solid drivers and are in for a much better season in 2015.

Ferrari vs Williams

A more positive story during the weekend was the resurgence of Ferrari and its two drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen and the fact that Williams have maintained their place among the 'big boys' and are really back where they belong, at the front. Raikkonens race ended early thanks to Ferrari not attaching his rear left tire properly at his second pit stop, but Vettel enjoyed a great battle with Felipe Massa, holding off the Williams to take thrid place on his Ferrari debut. Valtteri Bottas sadly couldn't race for Williams due to sustaining back pain in qualifying, although he should be back for Malaysia, along with McLarens Fernando Alonso. It looks like the fight for runner up in 2015 could well be Ferrari and Williams. Isn't it great to see those two teams back at the front and fighting for the podium again?

Manor's (sort of) comeback

Another feel good tale from the weekend was the return of Manor, the former Marussia team, to the F1 grid, with Will Stevens and Roberto Merhri being signed up as the teams drivers and the team running an updated MR03 chassis and 2014 Ferrari engines. However, due to their software for the cars being wiped in anticipation of the computers going up for auction by the administrators, the team never even fired the cars up, although they very nearly finished all the work, John Booth later said after qualifying had taken place  "We had almost no time to fix the racks and electronics and get all those infrastructures built that are required. We are though in a massively different place now to where we were at the start of the week," Booth said. 

"We actually have functioning racks now, we can talk to the cars. Even the information on the pitwall is working now. Booth said he had no doubt that Manor will be able to run from the start of the Malaysian GP weekend later this month. The team did end up in a bit of hot water with the FIA, due to them not running, although the FIA didn't punish them as they understood the difficulties they faced in running, the teams revival being at the 11th hour when all seemed lost. So whilst it wasn't a great return for the team, they are back in Formula 1 and expected to make a full racing return in Malaysia.

McLaren's struggles

Kevin Magnussen's McLaren failed on the way to the grid and Jenson Button finished the race two laps down. This came after the team qualified on the back row of the grid. Whilst it was a dismal performance for McLaren and Honda, there are (incredibly) some positives that can be taken from the weekend. The car still felt driveable according to Kevin and Jenson, and the team completed a full race distance for the first time. For McLaren, that is big progress. 

The performance right now isn't really acceptable for a team that should be up front and winning world titles, with the team scoring 2 podiums in the past two years. However, I still think that once this partnership with Honda is working as it should be, McLaren will be back. They have two great drivers in Button and Fernando Alonso (who will be back in Malaysia) and what appears to be a very good chassis in the MP4-30. Things look bleak now, but McLaren will be back. Its just a question of when they will be back...

The rest of the pack

Lotus had a miserable race. Despite qualifying 9th and 10th, both cars retired within one lap, Pastor Maldonado taken out just after turn one by Felipe Nasr, and Romain Grosjean retiring at the end of the lap with an ERS failure. However, the team have a much better car this year, and expect the E23 to continue to perform well in Malaysia, where hopefully the team bag a good handful of points.

Toro Rosso's young charges had a good race, Carlos Sainz finishing in 9th place despite an issue with the rear left during the pit stops, and Max Verstappen running in the points and impressing even more until he retired with a technical problem. The STR10 is clearly a good car, and I am expecting great things to come from the team as the year goes on.

Despite its late start to the year, Force India achieved a double points finish, with Nico Hulkenburg finishing 7th and Sergio Perez 10th, after a good battle with Button early on, and after a spin due to contact with the McLaren. Those points probably wouldn't have gone Force Indias way had 20 cars been running at the start, but the team will no doubt take this result, as after expecting nothing they left Melbourne with seven points on the board.

The less said about Red Bulls race the better. Danill Kvyat didn't even start the race due to a gearbox issue and Daniel Ricciardo finished a lonely and lapped 6th after a dismal weekend for the team. The RB11 chassis is good enough, but Renault are continuing to produce an awful power unit, which is starting to really irritate the Red Bull team. With new threats of an exit from the sport, Red Bull will be hoping Renault get their act together and produce a decent power unit, to get them back into the mix with Ferrari and Williams.

And that is that, the first race of the season over. After only 15 cars and 11 finished it is easy to criticize the costs of the sport again, and whilst that is still an issue, it wasn't costs that lowered the numbers on race day. One team had three drivers for its two cars, another two cars broke down before the race had even begun, one Williams didn't start due to its driver having back issues, two more retired after lap one and two never even ran during the whole weekend thanks to a last minute revival. It wasn't acceptable what happened in Australia, but the chances are it won't happen again.

What will inevitably happen in Malaysia is that Manor will run and race, both Williams will run, Alonso and Button will both make the start and we will still have twenty cars running at the end of the first lap. It wasn't an incredibly exciting race and it wasn't made up for in quantity. But the sport will move on, Red Bulls threats of leaving will die down and we will probably enjoy an absolute treat next time out in Malaysia. Although, this being Formula 1, that may not happen! Until next time folks, ciao.

Formula 1 2015 - A Preview

At 1:30 am, UK time, Free Practice 1 begins in Melbourne Australia and 20 (hopefully) cars will hit the track to begin the new season. Ahead of Free Practice, and indeed the race, here is a preview of what we can expect this weekend....

Mercedes are clearly leading the way once again, the W06 showing lightning fast pace in the final test in the hands of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Indeed a lot of people are doubting anyone will get near the Silver Arrows and are placing their bets once again on it being a private battle between Rosberg and Hamilton, as it was in 2014. However, Hamilton will no bout face a much stiffer challenge for Rosberg, who today said 'I am not yet at my peak in Formula 1'. Rosberg pushed Hamilton hard for the title last year, expect him to do so again this year as he seeks to win his first world championship. 

The battle behind Mercedes is one of intrigue. Williams, Ferrari and Red Bull all look to be fairly close together, with perhaps Williams just about leading that pack. Williams had a very successful pre-season and have high hopes for this year. The FW37 looked like a very good car out on the track, so expect them to be at the sharp end again, as they were last year. Both Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa are very confident that they have the car that, given the right circumstances, will bring them and the team race wins in 2015

They should be in front of Ferrari, who have made gains of their own over the winter. The SF15-T looks a lot more driveable and responsive and the Ferrari power unit sounds better and is rumored to have a lot more power than last years. Ferrari appear to have improved the whole package, so they should certainly have a better season in 2015 than in 2014. A stronger season for both Kimi Raikkonen and new Ferrari recruit Sebastian Vettel is expected, both drivers currently relishing the new atmosphere at the Scuderia.

Red Bull however, whilst having what appears to be yet another good chassis in the RB11,will be worried at the current lack of performance from the Renault power unit. Whilst it is more reliable, over the three tests it has not shown the performance gains the French manufacturer hoped it would, although their first test was compromised due to 'stupid little things'. Expect though both Kvyat and Ricciardo do be right up their for Red Bull.

Behind the top four, an interesting battle rages for the remaining spots. Lotus are looking a lot stronger than in 2014 and both Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado are confident 2015 will bring them a much better season. The E23 was reliable and fairly speedy, although on track it did look a bit ragged. I would be very surprised however if they didn't have a better season than 2014. Who knows, maybe they can even claim a couple of podiums along the way?

Force India arrived late to the party, with the VJM08 only running for two and a half days at the final pre season test. Nico Hulkenburg and Sergio Perez were very pleased at how reliable the car was though and expect the team to recover well. Its difficult to judge where they will be this weekend, but expect them to find their feet soon.

With Sauber currently involved in a legal battle, its aims to solve whether Giedo Van De Garde should race for them this year instead of either Marcus Ericsson or Felipe Nasr, discussing their possible on track performance has sadly become a sub-story. However the C34 does look to be better than the C33, but all the team can really hope for is a season which ends in a decent handful of points. Its only going to get tougher now though, for the Sauber team...

Toro Rosso are fielding two inexperienced drivers in Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr. However, both are incredibly talented and have hardly put a foot wrong throughout testing. The STR10 also looks to be quite a handy little racer as well, so expect a sold season from Toro Rosso, but not an amazing one .

McLaren had a woeful pre-season, bar one day during the final test where Jenson Button managed 101 laps. The car looked driveable and solid on track but with the constant stream of issues, courtesy of its new partnership with Honda, it is very hard to predict anything but a slow start to the season for the team. Fernando Alonso is missing Australia due to his crash in testing, so Kevin Magnussen (pictured) will partner Button for the season opener. For McLaren, getting both cars to the finish would probably be a major achievement. However with the team remaining confident, look out for them as the season goes on. They could be a real force to be reckoned with soon...

Finally, Manor have pulled of a remarkable recovery, the former Marussia team reaching the first race with a modified 2014 MR03 and have signed Will Stevens for the season and Roberto Merhi for the opening rounds of 2015. With the car still essentially being a 2014 chassis and being powered by the 2014 Ferrari engine, they will no doubt be at the back, at least until the 2015 car is ready (which will have the new Ferrari engine). However, what they have done is remarkable and it is a real credit to the team that they have survived. I think I speak for everyone in the F1 world when I wish them all the luck in the world, lets hope they can have a half decent season! #ForzaJules

Free Practice One coverage at 1 am on Sky Sports F1, with Free Practice Two coverage starting at 5:15 am. Formula 1 is back folks. Here's to a great 2015!

Honda's IndyCar aerokit - better than Chevrolet's?

Honda today revealed their edition of the new aerokit for 2015 in the IndyCar series, which are to be used on street and road courses, as well as short ovals. This comes a few weeks after Chevrolet revealed their kit for the upcoming season. The looks of course are going to be one of the big talking points and I think that its safe to say, Honda's is a much better kit to look at than Chevrolets, although it is still not exactly what you'd call 'a thing of beauty'.

Above is the Honda kit, below is the Chevrolet one. Not that I really need to tell you that, seeing as the manufacturers names and logo's are on the cars but anyway. I won't go into to much technical detail, mainly because I aren't a technical genius but also because Autosport will no doubt cover it in their next issue this Thursday. Honda's front wing would appear to be more complex, with more elements to it and more winglets. 

The sidepods are a similar shape to the Chevrolet ones but they are less cluttered and the same goes for the rear wing. The whole car though has a more elegant look to it, as it doesn't have the the 1998 F1 style sidepod wings that the Chevrolet has. The front wring on the Honda is also more elegant, lacking the sticking up winglets of the Chevrolet. One thing I particularly like is the rather cool shark fin on the Honda. It just seems to fit in with the rest of the car.

IndyCars teams have now taken delivery of each of their aerokits and they are expected to make their debut at the Barber Motorsports Park test on the 16th and 17th of this month, ahead of the season opener at St.Petersburg on the 29th of March. The Speedway versions of the kits will be delivered to teams ahead of their race debut at the Indy500. We will wait and see which manufacturer has developed the best aerokit.

How three became one...the story of HRT, Caterham and Manor F1 - Part 3

So far in 'How three became one...' I have charted the history of both HRT and Caterham. Tonight see's the final chapter in this story. The story of the Manor F1 team, who we thought we would never see again after their demise as Marussia at the end of 2014. However, as the first race of 2015 approaches, the tale of Manor F1 will carry on going...they will race this year. This, is the story of Manor F1.



Chapter 3: The Manor Story

Manor F1 came out of the Manor Motorsport team, set up in 1990 by John Booth, a racing team in the junior catergories, and they made the step up to F1 with Cosworth power along with Hispania and Lotus in 2010. Before the season began however, Virgin bought a majority stake in the team so they ran as Virgin Racing in their debut season. Former Toyota driver Timo Glock and Lucas Di Grassi were signed up as drivers for Virgins debut season . However the season got off to an embarrassing start, as the team had designed a car with to small a fuel tank...once this was amended the VR-01 proved to be a reliable car, although they did finish behind Lotus and Hispania.  Di Grassi famously went off on an out lap to the grid at the Japanese Grand Prix although he and Glock did score the teams best results of the yea however, with 14th for Di Grassi in Malaysia and Glock the same result in Japan. Despite finishing at the bottom of the standings, Virgin headed into 2011 with high hopes for a better season.

Glock was retained for 2011 with Jerome d'ambrosio (pictured abover in Canada) also racing for the team that year. Despite hopes of moving up the order, the team again struggled to get ahead of HRT and Lotus and they again finished 2011 at the bottom of the constructors championship. However as the season went on they did get ahead of HRT, although it was to late to overhaul the team in the constructors, so they headed into 2012 ready to fight the re branded Caterham team, with a new identity themselves...Marussia.

Glock was again retained for the 2012 season and he was joined by French rookie Charles Pic (the pair are seen above in Bahrain ahead of the HRT's). The MR01 only ran in real anger for the first time in Melbourne for the first race, after a brief shakedown at Silverstone. The team had moved ahead of HRT and now had their sights on Caterham. Glock scored a crucial 12th place for the team at the Singapore Grand Prix, putting them ahead of Caterham in the constructors and putting them on course for their first ever top ten finish in the championship. However, despite comfortably outpacing Caterham for the rest of the season, Vitaly Petrov passed Pic in the season ending Brazilian Grand Prix with just six laps to go, moving his Caterham team back ahead of Marussia. Despite this setback, Marussia had beaten HRT for the first time in the championship, but with HRT folding at the end of the year, they really had to up their game for 2013...

For 2013 the team signed Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton (both pictured above in Shanghai),  Glock having to leave as the team needed a driver with backing, hence Chilton. Bianchi, a driver for Ferrari's driver academy impressed very early on, and Marussia's MR02 proved to be comfortably ahead of the Catheram CT03 early on. Bianchi scored a crucial 13th place for the team at the second race in Malaysia, and that was enough to secure the team 10th in the constructors championship for the first time come the end of the year. Caterham did get quicker as the year went on and could beat Marussia as the year went on, but Marussia held their own and that tenth place was never under threat. Even though Bianchi stole the show at the team, Chilton did manage to keep him honest and put in some solid drives and also became the first driver to finish every race in his rookie season. 2013 also marked the final year the team ran with Cosworth power and as Formula 1's new hyrbid turbo era dawned, so did a new era for the team with Ferrari power.

2014, despite a shaky start due to the new regulations regarding the power unit, proved to be the year that Marussia achieved what many had thought had been impossible for F1's new trio...they scored their first points with ninth place in Monaco, thanks to a gritty and quite frankly brilliant drive by Jules Bianchi. This put Marussia ninth in the constructors championship and they were in the running to end the season with $30 million in prize money. However, tragedy struck at the Japanese Grand Prix as Jules had a horrific accident, skidding off in the awful conditions at the Dunlop curve and striking the back of a recovery vehicle retrieving the Sauber of Adrian Sutil, seriously injuring the Frenchman. The accident shook the sport and it particularly hit the Marussia team hard. They vowed though, to race hard at the next Grand Prix in Russia for Jules and to fight for those points he had scored for the team in Monaco. With their hearts in Yokkaichi with Jules,the team raced on with the single car of Max Chilton, although sadly he had to retire after just nine laps.

The team, along with Caterham, then entered administration, and after a failed attempt to race at the season finale in Abu Dhabi, we thought that was the last time we would see Marussia in Fomrula 1. However, Graeme Lowdon and John Booth did not give up hope, and incredibly, after over four months of hard work, the team exited administration and secured an entry for the 2015 season as Manor Marussia F1. At the time of writing, the teams cars were on their way to Australia and Will Stevens, who drove for Caterham in Abu Dhabi (and a former reserve driver for the team) had been announced as their first driver, with a second driver to be announced soon. They had already achieved the impossible by putting points on the board, and they have done it again, defying the odds and surviving when HRT and Caterham both vanished from the grid. Whatever 2015 brings them, it is great to see them back on the grid, and they will no doubt race with Jules Bianchi in their hearts, as the Manor Marussia F1 team. And that is the story of how three, became one. 

#ForzaJules