03/05/2010
NEWS STORY
The fallout following the eruption of the Icelandic volcano which caused major problems for the F1 circus after the Chinese GP, has also thwarted Virgin's plans to update the fuel tanks on its two cars.
With its schedule badly hit by the travel chaos, the British team has only been able to update the fuel tank on Timo Glock's car, leaving Lucas di Grassi fearing that he may not complete this Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.
"Since Shanghai, we have conducted an extensive investigation into the failures that halted the obvious progress the team has been making since its debut," says technical director, Nick Wirth. "That investigation has highlighted a number of issues that are currently being addressed by the race team, Wirth Research and our key suppliers and our continuing aim is to put an end to the reliability issues that have dominated our Grand Prix debut.
"Having worked tirelessly to prepare the new car for the race, including its successful rehomologation, it is a bitter pill to swallow that we are unable to complete the second car due to the "volcanic delays".
"Running two fundamentally different specification cars at Barcelona will certainly challenge the team," he admits, "but as the reliability fixes apply to both specifications, we'll keep our heads down and focus solely on getting both cars to the chequered flag."
Of the four races this season, di Grassi scored the team's only finish (Malaysia), however, even then he had to slow down in the final stages of the race in an attempt to conserve fuel.