2010 F1 Season Review Part 12- Immaculate Conception of a Bad Idea | Thebigtip

The 2010 Formula One season was one of the most exciting to date, with a heady mixture of new teams, new regs and a four-way title battle to keep even the least enthusiastic petrol-head glued to their telly screen. In my extensive season review, I'll be taking you through each of the 12 teams' performances, who was hot and who most certainly was not and I'll be giving my raw and unsolicited opinion on whether each team deserved their final finishing place. Last, and...yes, least, was Virgin Cosworth, a self-styled disaster from the start...

Drivers: Timo Glock / Lucas di Grassi

Team principal: John Booth  

Car spec: VR-01

Engine: Cosworth

He's got trains, he's got planes, he's got music stores and a cable TV network. He's crossed the Atlantic in a hot-air balloon and rolls in as the 212th richest person in the world. What more could Richard Branson possibly want to add to his vast emporium of goodies? That's it - a Formula One team.Originally set to be run by Manor Motorsport, a renowned racing team from series' such as Formula Three, Virgin Racing was rebranded in November 2009 when the business tycoon's Virgin Group became the squad's title sponsor. Plum last in their inaugural constructors' battle wasn't exactly starting as they meant to go on, but as the season progressed it seemed to the watching public that the entire operation didn't have a clue how to run an F1 team.

For example, there was the embarrassing revelation early on in the season that their fuel tank was not large enough to permit the car to make it to the end of a race. Did they forget that the rules had changed and re-fuelling had been phased out for 2010? Whatever was going on there, it was certainly a cause for red faces all round until it was rectified.

So much for the Virgin car being the first in F1's history to be completely designed by a computer. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) design method was all very well and fancy, but it did little to stop Lucas di Grassi making mincemeat of the vehicle before a wheel had turned in anger for the Japanese Grand Prix!

To give other driver Timo Glock some credit, the plucky German did the best he could with what was essentially a real tugger. He dragged it into 14th in Japan, equalling the team's best result when di Grassi achieved the same position in Malaysia early on in the season. Glock took it all in his stride and put in some convincing charges to keep faster cars behind him; but di Grassi's fortunes weren't as rosy.

Virgin Racing was about the worst team you could wind up at for your rookie season. A naff car and a much more experienced team mate - how could you hope to impress when pitted against that lot? Eight retiremenrs and the shame-faced DNS in Japan concluded a miserable season for di Grassi, and needless to say he's not staying on for another year with Branson's squad. He's been punted out for GP2 star Jerome D'Ambrosio, another rookie pitted against the well-seasoned Glock. History repeating itself much?

There's a new partnership with Russian sportscar company Marussia to look forward to, and indesputably enough financial backing to see them struggle through another season. Can they beat Hispania in 2011? You'd hope so wouldn't you?

Glock finished: 25th

di Grassi finished: 23rd

Bev's verdict: Too showy, too 'look-at-me', too disappointing. Give me Hispania any day of the week, and that's saying something. D'Ambrosio to be the surprise of the century and completely thrash Glock at his own game.

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