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I couldn't tell anything from todays testing.
The new Virgin team have been forced to stop running their car following a front-wing failure at this week's test.
The front wing fell off the car after driver Timo Glock had completed only 11 laps at Jerez in southern Spain.
Technical director Nick Wirth said the cause of the failure had been identified and that the team planned to continue work on Friday.
Wirth said in a team statement: "This morning we experienced a front wing mounting problem which caused the wing to come off the car at the beginning of a run. The cause has already been identified.
"Unfortunately, we're missing one or two spare parts which will hopefully arrive this evening, so we won't be able to run for the rest of the day.
"In the short amount of running that we've achieved so far, we are very encouraged by what we've seen and we have gathered some vital aero data which is very much in the range of what we were predicting.
"We look forward to resuming the programme tomorrow morning."
by Gilles 27 » 11 Feb 10, 17:22
It looks pretty grim for any teams that don't make the last pre-season test, just seeing how Virgin seem to be struggling to get any real mileage. Trying to get everything sorted during Grand Prix test sessions with no time to make major fundamental changes to the car before race day is going to be a nightmare!
by vaptin » 11 Feb 10, 18:33
One would hope the safety aspect is covered by the mandatory crash tests.
by vaptin » 11 Feb 10, 18:33
One would hope the safety aspect is covered by the mandatory crash tests.
The safety of the vehicle yes, but does crash testing and a shake down cover what happened to Virgin today with their front wing coming off in testing?
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My Autosport RSS Mobile Newsletter Align CenterVirgin to modify wing mounting
By Edd Straw and Matt Beer Thursday, February 11th 2010, 17:58 GMT
Virgin Racing is modifying its front wing mounting overnight to prevent a repeat of the problem that forced Timo Glock to halt testing today.
The VR-01's front wing became detached after 11 laps at Jerez this morning. The team has identified the cause of the issue and is flying in new parts, with some arriving this afternoon and others following overnight. Virgin will then work to get the car ready for Lucas di Grassi to use from the start of the test at 9am local time tomorrow.
Glock played down the problem and said he had always expected a few glitches as the new squad got up to speed.
"Overall I think that's part of being in a new team, and we have to take it like it is and try to get as much running as possible," he said.
"I said already at the launch that we will have problems which no one knows so far. This is normal. We have to sort it out as quick as possible and it's good that we have it at the test.
"Sure, it would be better to drive more to get more data from the car but that it's clear that we have to sort out quite a lot of stuff, and this is one part of it."
He is confident that designer Nick Wirth will have resolved the wing problem by tomorrow.
"Nick is quite hard on the safety side of it," Glock said. "He wants to have a car that is really solid and has no problems in it. Sure the front wing is a point we have to work on now because that was not expected, but I don't have any doubts. There shouldn't be any stuff but we don't know. It should be okay."
Glock admitted that the loss of mileage was not ideal, with Virgin also having sat out much of Wednesday's session as it waited for new parts and then the rain to ease.
"Tomorrow hopefully it's going to be dry again, but it's a bit of a shame when you have not enough days of testing and you lose a complete day," he said. "For a new team, that's difficult. But that's how it is and it should go better tomorrow."
That is a shame for Virgin, you can't help but feel worried for them about being 9 seconds off the pace at the same time.
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