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124-647: In 2010, it acquired a "significant stake" in the Virgin Racing Formula One team, which was later renamed Marussia F1 . The team competed in F1 from 2012 to 2014 . In April 2014, the Marussia Motors company was disbanded, with staff leaving to join a government-run technical institute. The Marussia F1 team continued unaffected as a British entity, independent of the Russian car company. However, on 7 November 2014

248-455: A "freak accident". Controversy arose after an amateur video clip of Bianchi's crash, showing a marshal waving a green flag at the crash site, was uploaded to social media. Four-time world champion Alain Prost said that the marshal should have moved away from the crash scene, but five-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Emanuele Pirro said that it was normal practice and anyone who said otherwise

372-426: A 2:03.680, about seven seconds behind the fastest time. In Qualifying, di Grassi was able to head the two Hispanias by just under three seconds with a 2:00.587, two tenths behind Lotus’ Heikki Kovalainen , who qualified 21st. Glock took an impressive 19th, pipping Jarno Trulli in the other Lotus to be the highest placed driver of the new teams. However the race did not go well, with di Grassi retiring on lap 3 due to

496-523: A Grand Prix since Ayrton Senna in 1994 . Bianchi's funeral, on 21 July at Nice Cathedral , was attended by members of the Formula One community. The race result increased Hamilton's lead over Rosberg in the World Drivers' Championship to ten points. Ricciardo and Vettel maintained third and fourth place, and Alonso remained in fifth despite his retirement. Mercedes moved further ahead of Red Bull in

620-445: A change in wind direction prevented him from recording a faster lap time. Ericsson and Jules Bianchi started from 17th and 18th, with Kobayashi 19th and Vergne 20th. Chilton lost control of his Marussia 's rear, causing him to start 21st. The fastest lap in each of the three sessions is denoted in bold . Notes: There was a large amount of standing water on the track at the start, since Typhoon Phanfone had brought heavy rain to

744-448: A drive, even though the car might have been less competitive. Glock was signed for two years with a one-year extension offer. He was partnered by Brazilian GP2 Series regular Lucas di Grassi . It was reported by The Daily Telegraph that di Grassi had also provided Virgin with £5 million worth of sponsorship. An important factor in his decision was the chance to work with team principal John Booth. Technical director Nick Wirth took

868-493: A driver academy, a series of racing teams starting in the new GP3 Series and advancing all the way up to Formula One. On 17 November 2009 it was announced by the team that former Toyota driver Timo Glock would be the team's lead driver for the 2010 season. It seemed as though Glock would partner Polish driver Robert Kubica at Renault , but following Renault's uncertainty over whether it would take part in Formula One for 2010, Glock chose an option where he would be guaranteed

992-496: A full-time seat at Toro Rosso in the 2015 season. Aged 17 years and three days, Verstappen was the youngest person in history to participate in a Formula One race weekend. Caterham confirmed that Roberto Merhi would replace Marcus Ericsson , and Kamui Kobayashi would drive in the race. Formula Renault 3.5 Series driver Will Stevens was announced as participating in the first practice session in Max Chilton 's car, but

1116-527: A gravel trap at the S-turns; all three drivers continued running. Ricciardo closed up to Button on the same lap and attempted to pass him around the inside at the hairpin; Button defended his position, and Ricciardo ran wide. Hamilton recorded the overall fastest lap of the race on lap 39, at one minute and 51.600 seconds. Weather conditions continued to deteriorate, resulting in DRS being disabled on lap 41; visibility

1240-461: A head injury and was undergoing an operation to reduce severe cranial bleeding. The FIA then said that CT scans indicated that Bianchi sustained a "severe head injury" in the crash, and would be admitted to the intensive care unit after surgery. His family later reported that he had a diffuse axonal injury , a traumatic brain injury common in vehicle accidents involving quick deceleration. The first family update after Bianchi's emergency surgery

1364-514: A hydraulic issue while Glock lost both 3rd and 5th gears, ultimately retiring. Although the VR-01 seemed quicker, both Lotus T127s were classified in the race, the only one of the new teams to achieve this. John Booth commented, "Everything connected with the hydraulics was such high pressure that the smallest impurity, crack or fault was a car stopper because it controls four or five major components," It had been reported by Auto, Motor und Sport that

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1488-571: A joking way. Glock announced the following day that he would be staying with the team until 2014 . The two cars finished the race in the same order, but in 17th and 18th places. The MVR-02s sandwiched the HRTs in Hungary , having qualified in 21st and 24th places. Glock finished the race of mixed weather conditions 17th with d'Ambrosio 19th. Despite out-qualifying and out-racing HRT, the Italian Grand Prix

1612-539: A large stake of the Virgin Racing Formula One team. Later becoming Marussia F1 , the team competed between 2012 and part-through 2014 . In its first F1 season, it placed 11th in the Constructors' Championship , improving one position to 10th the following year . Thanks to Bianchi's exploits at the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix , the team won its first and only 2 points in F1. In 2014, the team participated until

1736-467: A larger fuel tank and a brand-new fuel feed system that would allow them to run as light as possible during qualifying. The VR-01 was also given a "shark fin" engine cowling. However, owing to the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland that had disrupted air travel across Europe, only one of the newly developed chassis was able to make it to Barcelona, to be used by Glock. In practice, Virgin were given

1860-519: A lengthy internal review led by former Renault engineering director Pat Symonds found that the team's CFD-only approach had not yielded the expected results. They soon entered a partnership with McLaren Applied Technologies ahead of the 2012 season. In Germany the two cars qualified 20th and 22nd on the grid, with Glock ahead of d'Ambrosio. Glock commented to his engineers on the radio that they were making it "difficult for him". Glock later tried to cover up his comments by saying they were meant in

1984-503: A minute ahead of Button. Massa, Bottas, Hülkenberg, Vergne and Pérez rounded out the points-scoring positions. Kvyat, Räikkönen and Gutiérrez filled the next three positions, each one lap behind Hamilton, with Magnussen, Grosjean, Maldonado, Ericcson, Chilton and Kobayashi the last of the classified finishers who were not involved in any incident. Bianchi and Sutil were classified in 20th and 21st, despite their accidents. Hamilton and Rosberg both led on two occasions, with Rosberg leading 26 of

2108-542: A penalty after the team failed to notify the FIA of changes to their gear ratios before the deadline. Glock and di Grassi qualified 22nd and 23rd, and Virgin scored their first ever double finish with 18th and 19th, the last of the finishers, although di Grassi battled with car setup and was the last driver to finish the race. Virgin finally brought a big update to the car for the Britain . They qualified ahead of both Hispanias and split

2232-541: A problem with paperwork sent to the FIA Contract Recognition Board due to an industrial action in Germany prevented him from driving. There were three practice sessions – two on Friday and a third on Saturday – preceding Sunday's race. The Friday morning and afternoon sessions lasted ninety minutes each; the third, one-hour session was held on Saturday morning. Mercedes conducted race simulations to see how

2356-482: A race, while Hispania scooped up a 14th, which would become costly for Virgin at the end of the season. In Malaysia , di Grassi overtook rivals Lotus and Hispania to finish 14th. It was Virgin and di Grassi's first ever finish in Formula One, albeit on fuel conservation mode. Virgin's solution to their problem of a small fuel tank was to bring a longer chassis to the Spanish Grand Prix , which would accommodate

2480-402: A run-off area. Hamilton made a pit stop at the end of lap 35 for new intermediate tyres, giving Ricciardo the lead. Heavy rain began to fall on lap 36; Ricciardo made his pit stop during this lap and rejoined fifth, behind Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel and Button. On lap 38, Magnussen ran wide onto the first-turn run-off area, while Vergne went off the track at the second corner and Vettel drove into

2604-561: A similar manoeuvre on the outside at the Spoon Curve, but Massa accelerated clear heading into 130R corner. Magnussen made a second pit stop at the end of lap 16 to change his steering wheel. On lap 17 Ricciardo went to the outside of Massa on the S-curves and moved inside, passing Massa to move into sixth. Vettel overtook Bottas around the outside for fourth place on lap 18; Bottas then fell to sixth on lap 19 when Ricciardo passed him around

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2728-486: A six-speed automatic gearbox . A six-speed manual gearbox allegedly was in development. The energy-absorbing cockpit is a three part space frame of steel tubes of different sections. The front and rear subframes are attached to a central cell. In an impact, the subframes are designed to absorb energy by deforming. The B1 and В2 vehicles have passed Russian safety tests and obtained their certification. Marussia Motors managed their own factory works team after buying into

2852-411: A speed of 123 km/h (76 mph) and an angle of 55 degrees. Bianchi was reported unconscious after not responding to a team radio call or marshals. Marshals reported the accident, and safety and medical cars were dispatched. Bianchi was extricated from his car and treated at the crash site before being taken by ambulance to the circuit's medical centre. Transport by helicopter was impossible due to

2976-532: A start-up operation that might have gone horribly wrong and he's been supportive throughout and brought us new backers". At the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix , di Grassi commented "We had to do more than 50 laps with the same set of tyres, which seemed like a difficult task, but we managed it. I am ending the year with a feeling of ‘mission accomplished’”. Hispania managed to pick up some 15th places in Singapore and Japan , and along with Virgin's unreliability at

3100-469: A tie-up between Manor Motorsport and Wirth Research . Initially, Alex Tai was appointed team principal, Graeme Lowdon as director of racing, Manor Motorsport boss John Booth as sporting director and former Simtek team owner Nick Wirth as technical director. Booth said: "I was introduced to Nick back in March 2009 when the budget cap concept was introduced. There was going to be £30 million TV money, that

3224-416: A time within 107 per cent of the fastest lap in order to qualify. The second part lasted 15 minutes, eliminating cars that finished 11th to 16th. The final session lasted 12 minutes and determined pole position to tenth. Cars who progressed to the final session were not allowed to change tyres for the race's start, using the tyres with which they set their quickest lap times in the second session. Rosberg set

3348-438: A tyre barrier. Vergne stopped a second time with an electrical problem after exiting turn 14; this resulted in a second red flag stopping the session early due to limited time available. Rosberg recorded the fastest lap of the third session at 1 minute, 33.228 seconds, ahead of Hamilton and Alonso. Felipe Massa , Bottas, Ricciardo, Magnussen, Vergne, Kvyat and Button occupied positions four through ten. Hamilton drove quickly into

3472-516: Is an SUV model. According to Marussia it can be used as a mobile command center, as a military vehicle or as an emergency vehicle. The prototype was shown on May 2, 2010. 300 units of the F2 were supposed to be made in 2012 by Valmet Automotive . The Marussia B1 and B2 models are based on the same semi-monocoque chassis with a steel spaceframe covered by carbon fibre panels - differing only in body shape. Both Marussia sports models are mid-engined, with

3596-484: Is available with the same engines as the B1 . B2 was first shown to the public at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. The list price of this model was about 100,000 Euro . A total of 500 units were scheduled to be sold out in 2012. Engine 1 - Marussia-Cosworth 2.8 litre Turbo Engine 2 - Marussia-Cosworth 3.5 litre Weight And Performance Suspension Dimensions ( mm ) Transmission Tires Fuel System Chassis The Marussia F2

3720-407: Is light and strong semi-monocoque and powered by Cosworth -built V6 engines developing between 300 and 420 bhp depending on the specification. Engine 1 - Marussia-Cosworth 2.8 litre Turbo Engine 2 - Marussia-Cosworth 3.5 litre Weight And Performance Suspension Dimensions ( mm ) Transmission Tires Fuel System Chassis The B2 features a more aggressive and "brutal" design and

3844-412: The 2008 Singapore Grand Prix race fixing at the end of the 2013 season. The team has abandoned using CFD as its sole R&D tool and signed an agreement with McLaren to use their technical facilities, simulators and wind tunnel. ( key ) (results in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) 2014 Japanese Grand Prix The 2014 Japanese Grand Prix (formally

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3968-414: The 2011 royal wedding , finally because of a fire at Branson's home on Necker Island . Branson ultimately honoured the bet on 13 May 2013. On 11 November 2010, Marussia acquired a controlling stake in the team and guaranteed the team's future until 2014. Marussia engineering director Nikolai Fomenko stated that the team would race with a Russian licence in 2011 , becoming the second Russian team in

4092-539: The 2014 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix ) was a Formula One motor race held on 5 October 2014 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Mie . It was the 15th race of the 2014 FIA Formula One World Championship , and the 30th Formula One Japanese Grand Prix . Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the 44-lap race starting from second position. His teammate, Nico Rosberg , finished second and Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel

4216-473: The 2015 season onwards. The victory allowed Hamilton to increase his lead in the World Drivers' Championship to ten points over Rosberg, with Daniel Ricciardo a distant third. Mercedes extended their advantage over Red Bull in the World Constructors' Championship, and Williams remained ahead of Ferrari in the battle for third place with four races left in the season. The 2014 Japanese Grand Prix

4340-571: The Constructors' Championship with 479 points, having won eleven of the previous fourteen races of the season, while Red Bull were second with 305 points, having won the other three races; they were followed by Williams (187), Ferrari (178) and Force India (117). Mercedes had to outscore Red Bull by 41 points to clinch the Constructors' title in Japan. Despite reclaiming the Drivers' Championship lead at

4464-589: The Russian Grand Prix , entering only one car driven by Max Chilton in the team's final GP, due to the events at the previous Japanese Grand Prix where the team's lead driver, Jules Bianchi , was involved in a serious accident and suffered an ultimately fatal head injury. On 7 October 2014, after a short period under administration, the team ceased its operations and folded. The team's assets were sold at auction in December 2014. Marussia Motors had stated that it

4588-703: The Virgin VR-01 from its base in Bicester , Oxfordshire before announcing a relocation to new, larger premises in Banbury , Oxfordshire in July 2010. Virgin Racing had the lowest operating budget of all the teams in 2010 of £40 million. Branson said, "Money's not everything. They are determined to prove that via engineering prowess, great drivers and a great affinity with the public they can do well." The team also had plans to create

4712-477: The hairpin , also without success; he then ran wide at the Spoon Curve but remained on the track. Pérez overtook Kvyat for ninth position on the lap. At the end of the first racing lap, Rosberg led Hamilton by 1.3 seconds; followed by Bottas, Massa, Ricciardo, Magnussen, Vettel, Räikkönen, Pérez and Kvyat. Bottas, Ricciardo, Magnussen and Räikkönen made pit stops to change to intermediate tyres on lap 12. After his early pit stop, Button moved up to eighth place on

4836-452: The 107% rule time, and Glock nearly two seconds outside of it. Glock was allowed to start the race because he set competitive times in practice. The two HRT cars were given penalties, so the cars started on the penultimate row instead. The race was short-lived for Glock, who retired after just two laps after being run into by Kamui Kobayashi . D'Ambrosio finished 16th, ahead of the two HRTs and Jarno Trulli. In November 2011, Virgin applied to

4960-708: The 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show that were to include a new sports coupé , a luxury SUV, a luxury sedan , and a small city car. However, owing to their discontinuation in 2014, the projects never came to fruition. The Marussia B2 appeared in the racing video games Need for Speed: World , Need for Speed: Most Wanted , Need for Speed Rivals , Driveclub , Asphalt 7: Heat and Asphalt 8: Airborne . The Marussia Formula One cars appeared in F1 2012 , F1 2013 , F1 2014 and F1 2015 . Virgin Racing Virgin Racing (subsequently Marussia Virgin Racing )

5084-716: The 2012 car. By 29 September 2011, Marussia already had a 60% scale model of their 2012 car ready for use in the McLaren wind tunnel. The team received its first parts for the car in December 2011. Virgin purchased 20% of the team, as part of sponsorship arrangement. The official FIA entry list for 2010 announced on 30 November 2009 showed that Manor GP had been entered as Virgin Racing. The team's partners for 2010 include tyre supplier Bridgestone , IT services company UST Global , environmental technology company Carbon Green, shampoo brand Clear , information technology firm CSC , foreign exchange traders FxPro , clothing company Kappa ,

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5208-399: The 44 laps and Hamilton the other 18. Hamilton's victory was his eighth of the season and the 30th of his Formula One career. Out of respect for the seriously injured Bianchi, the top three finishers did not spray champagne. At the podium interviews, conducted by the 1992 World Champion Nigel Mansell , Hamilton said that it had been a difficult race weekend and his speed near the end of

5332-591: The Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice (CHU) in Nice . Bianchi remained unconscious in critical condition there, but his family were better able to visit. On 13 July 2015, Bianchi's father said that he was "less optimistic" about his son's chances because of the lack of significant progress and the length of time since the accident. Bianchi died four days later, aged 25, thus becoming the first Formula One driver to be killed by injuries sustained during

5456-496: The Formula One commission to formally change their constructor name for 2012 from Virgin to Marussia, to reflect their new ownership. Permission was granted before being formally ratified at a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council . On 31 December 2011, Marussia Virgin Racing announced they were now called Marussia F1 Team . Virgin announced that they would be staying with the team, its logos would feature on

5580-606: The Lotuses. However, di Grassi retired with hydraulic failure on lap 9. Glock had a simple race and was within sight of the Lotuses when he crossed the finish line, ahead of both Hispanias Di Grassi had impressed the Virgin engineers with his feedback but John Booth had not been satisfied with his pace against Glock and scouted an alternative driver. This resulted in Booth coming into contact with Belgian driver Jérôme d'Ambrosio . D’Ambrosio became

5704-470: The MVR-02 at the 2011 Australian Grand Prix . The car was performing poorly due to the condition of the track and speculation rose up that Virgin was not going to be able to race. But Glock and d'Ambrosio qualified, at the rear of the grid. Early in the race, Glock was forced to make a lengthy stop in the garage due to a mechanical failure. As a result, Glock completed less than 90% of the race distance and although

5828-475: The Mercedes cars would prolong the battle. Horner ruled out team orders favouring one driver over the other. Rosberg said he was looking forward to the race, and his car's speed gave him hope for a good result. Typhoon Phanfone , classified as a category-four storm, was forecast to make landfall over the eastern Japanese coast on race day with heavy rain and winds of up to 240 km/h (150 mph). Although

5952-501: The Oxygen investment group and Russian sports car manufacturer Marussia . On 13 January 2010, reports emerged revealing that Virgin had paid an extra £1.5 million to Cosworth to have the CA2010 unit rebranded as a Marussia, though both Virgin Racing and Cosworth have denied the story. On 14 December 2009, Lloyds Banking Group announced that it had invested £10 million in the team, reversing

6076-408: The S curves with smoke billowing from his engine because of a broken exhaust valve , while Merhi spun at turn 13, causing Bottas to swerve to avoid him. In the second session, Hamilton set the fastest lap of the day at 1 minute, 35.078 seconds. Rosberg, Bottas, Button, Vettel, Räikkönen, Alonso, Magnussen, Kvyat and Ricciardo completed the top ten. Some cars went off the track; Ricciardo disrupted

6200-462: The VR-01's fuel tank was too small for the car to finish a race, and that the team applied to the FIA in order to obtain permission to modify the chassis to accommodate a larger tank. This was later clarified to mean that the car would struggle to complete races with a heavy rate of fuel consumption. For the Australian Grand Prix , Virgin Racing were granted permission from the FIA to change

6324-524: The administrator announced that the F1 team had ceased trading. The first Russian sports car and first car made by Marussia Motors. It has a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout . Marussia has announced they will build 2,999 examples of the car. The car has been produced at the Marussia Motors production facility in Moscow , with the company's first showroom following in the city in September 2010. Structure

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6448-418: The area. The air temperature was 20 °C (68 °F), and the track temperature was 24 °C (75 °F). About 142,000 people attended the race. The standing water caused heavy spray and impaired visibility, and all cars used full wet tyres. The race began behind the safety car at 15:00 Japan Standard Time ( UTC+09:00 ), with no formation lap ; despite the slow speed, drivers struggled for grip on

6572-461: The better. Our passengers will be delighted to be served by a Knight of the Realm, but knowing Richard, the real challenge will be to prevent him from asking our guests 'coffee, tea or me?' That would be scary." In addition, the team produced a poster depicting Branson in an Air Asia uniform. However, the date of the flight was delayed several times: first because of Branson breaking his leg, then because of

6696-543: The car was running at the end of the race he was not classified in the standings. D'Ambrosio finished 16th on the track, but the disqualification of both Sauber cars bumped him up to 14th. At the Malaysian Grand Prix , Virgin yet again qualified at the back of the grid, and d'Ambrosio retired due to electronic problems. Glock finished 16th, his first classified finish of the season. For the Turkish Grand Prix

6820-455: The cars would behave with a heavy fuel load. Rosberg was fastest in the first practice session with a lap time of 1 minute, 35.461 seconds, ahead of teammate Hamilton in second. Alonso was third-fastest, ahead of Valtteri Bottas , Kimi Räikkönen , Kevin Magnussen , Ricciardo, Jenson Button , Vettel and Daniil Kvyat . Verstappen's run ended early when he pulled over to the side of the track at

6944-419: The construction of the racing cars. In February 2009, Richard Branson 's Virgin organisation was reportedly bidding for the former Honda Racing F1 Team . Branson later stated an interest in Formula One, but claimed the sport needed to develop a more economically efficient and environmentally responsible image. Virgin later sponsored the new Brawn GP for 2009 . The team was formed as Manor Grand Prix as

7068-451: The day. People will start splitting the resource much more towards CFD." Later upgrades to the VR-01 seemed to vindicate that decision The VR-01 was officially launched on the team's website on 3 February 2010. The car passed its mandatory FIA crash tests, and completed its first track run at Silverstone on 4 February in the hands of Glock. It tested with other teams for the first time at the group test at Jerez from 10 to 13 February. On

7192-413: The decision to use only CFD to develop the aerodynamics, with no reference to a wind tunnel. Booth said, "My prediction is that wind tunnels will be a thing of the past and by the time Malaysia1 ( Lotus Racing ) get theirs built, they will be redundant. When you look at the pace of development, particularly in the front wing area, there's no way that can be done in a wind tunnel -- there's not enough hours in

7316-729: The end of the 2009 season, Branson invested in an 80% buyout of Manor Grand Prix, with the team being renamed Virgin Racing. Less than one month after the Virgin partnership was officially launched, Tai left his position and Booth took over as team principal, with Lowdon becoming the CEO. Virgin Racing were based on a three-way partnership between Manor Motorsport, which ran the cars, Wirth Research, which designed them and Virgin which handled commercial operations. Car preparation and racing operations were run from its headquarters in Dinnington , South Yorkshire , while Wirth Research designed, developed and built

7440-467: The engine mounted transversally on the back axle. The English company Cosworth supplies Marussia with two different V6 engines. One is a naturally aspirated 3.5 litre producing about 300 horsepower and the other is a 2.8 litre turbo-charged engine offered in 360 or 420 horsepower variants. The 420 horsepower engine allows Marussia cars to reach a claimed top speed of 250 km/h and acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.8 seconds. The B1 and B2 use

7564-758: The fastest time in the second and third sessions to clinch his eighth pole position of the season, the twelfth of his career with a lap of 1 minute, 32.506 seconds. He was joined on the grid 's front row by Hamilton, who missed out on pole position when, on his final lap, he hit the chicane curb before accelerating too fast into the final corner. Williams teammates Bottas and Massa qualified third and fourth, and Alonso and Ricciardo took fifth and sixth. Magnussen, whose mistakes on his quickest timed lap cost him time, took seventh. His McLaren teammate, Button, secured eighth and locked one of his tyres— flat-spotting it and slowing him. Vettel, struggling on corners due partially to Red Bull's use of wet tyres, took ninth. Räikkönen

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7688-560: The final pre-season testing session held in Barcelona , costing the team further track time and necessitating a further redesign of the relevant components ahead of the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix . During the first practice session in Bahrain, both Virgin cars were plagued by mechanical issues. Di Grassi could only manage a couple of installation laps whilst Glock was able to coax his car to

7812-456: The first day, Glock completed five laps of the track during wet weather conditions. On the second day, he completed eleven laps before the car's front wing failed; the team had to abandon the day's running due to a shortage of spare parts. Virgin modified the front wing mounting of the VR-01 ahead of the third day's running in Jerez, where di Grassi ran the Virgin for the first time. The following test

7936-493: The first driver to die as a result of injuries sustained in a Formula One race since Ayrton Senna in 1994 . The accident prompted Formula One's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), to investigate the incident with a ten-person panel in which it was determined there was no single cause that prompted the crash. The investigation led to the virtual safety car (VSC) being introduced from

8060-441: The first turn but ran wide onto a run-off area and collided with a tyre barrier, damaging the left front quarter of his car. Gutiérrez lost control of his car's rear at the exit of turn 15 but avoided a crash. Saturday afternoon's qualifying session was divided into three parts. The first part ran for 18 minutes, eliminating cars that finished 17th or below. The 107% rule was in effect during this part, requiring drivers to set

8184-437: The following lap by running in his slipstream , but Rosberg held the line and had enough acceleration to defend first place. Hamilton held a tighter line, while Rosberg complained of more oversteer on lap 26. On lap 27, Hamilton forgot to deactivate his DRS system and lost control of his rear; his brakes locked, and he went onto the turn one run-off area. However, he caught up to Rosberg and ran closely behind his teammate into

8308-414: The gains offered by the system did not justify the expense in developing it. Instead, the team concentrated on improving the car's hydraulics and gearbox, both of which had been the frequent source of problems in 2010. After being forced to re-design the VR-01 when it was discovered the fuel tank was not large enough to finish races with a high fuel consumption, the MVR-02 was designed to be the same length as

8432-432: The gap by one second. Rosberg reclaimed first position when Hamilton approached the exit of the pit lane after the latter's stop. He reported that his car was oversteering, and Button held a 6.5-second advantage over both Williams cars. The Red Bull cars reduced the gap to Massa in sixth by lap 16, with Vettel moving to the inside line and passing Massa with a narrow margin at the hairpin on this lap; Ricciardo then attempted

8556-519: The hairpin without trying to pass. Hamilton moved across the track during the lap in an attempt to pass; Rosberg's car shuddered, and Hamilton got a better run onto the pit-lane straight. He was in Rosberg's slipstream before passing him on the outside heading into the first turn to take the lead on lap 29. Hamilton pushed hard and pulled away from Rosberg, who lost control heading into the pit-lane straight. Gutiérrez lost ninth position on lap 30 when he

8680-500: The inside after the exit of turn 15 and lamp posts near debris fences outside turns 13 and 14 were moved back. Going into the race, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton led the Drivers' Championship with 241 points , three ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg , with Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo third with 181. Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso was fourth with 133, followed by Ricciardo's teammate Sebastian Vettel with 124. Mercedes led

8804-473: The new Virgin reserve driver, and was handed di Grassi's car in the first Singapore practice session. D’Ambrosio ended the session just over 0.2 seconds behind Glock At the Japanese Grand Prix, di Grassi out-qualified Glock, but had a heavy accident on the way to the grid. He left the track at the entrance to 130R, fishtailing wildly, spinning out across the run-off area and hitting the wall. Glock, on

8928-477: The original VR-01 chassis whilst retaining the full-size fuel tank. The air intake on the front of the nose was designed to resemble the one on Marussia's road car, the Marussia B2. Having previously driven for the team during Friday practice sessions at selected events in 2010 , Jérôme d'Ambrosio replaced Lucas di Grassi in the team's second seat alongside Timo Glock for the 2011 season. Virgin first entered

9052-480: The other hand, finished a strong 14th, ahead of both Hispanias but behind both Lotuses. In South Korea , di Grassi lost control of his car while trying to overtake the Hispania of Sakon Yamamoto and crashed into the barriers on the 26th lap. Glock was heading for 12th place after starting in 20th in very wet conditions. This 12th place would have brought Virgin up to 10th in the constructors' championship, since none of

9176-467: The other two new teams had finished that high. On lap thirty-one, Sébastien Buemi tried to pass Glock on the outside heading into turn 3 but lost control of his car under braking and rammed into the side of Glock. Glock drove back to his pit box where his mechanics examined his car for damage and decided to retire him from the race. This ruined Virgin's chances of finishing 10th in the constructors’ championship. In November 2010, Bernie Ecclestone said of

9300-463: The outside at the S-curves. Vettel began to reduce the gap to third-place Button, with Ricciardo driving at a speed similar to his teammate. Bottas was caught by his Williams teammate Massa, who pulled away from Hülkenberg (who went off the track at the second turn). Both Red Bull drivers were the fastest by lap 21, but Vettel was still 13 seconds behind Button and a further five seconds behind Rosberg, who now led Hamilton by only one second having run off

9424-478: The outside tyre barrier at the left-hand Dunlop Curve (turn seven) atop a hill. Double yellow flags were waved at the corner to warn drivers about the incident, and Whiting did not use the safety car. Sutil's car was extracted from the track by a tractor crane that lap which turned backwards toward a gap in the barrier. Then, on lap 43, Bianchi, who had ignored the yellow flags, lost control of his Marussia at 213 km/h (132 mph), veering right towards

9548-440: The position from Schumacher by driving around the outside of Ascari corner, but Schumacher got ahead of di Grassi on the pit straight. Di Grassi drove to his garage to retire with an issue with his car's hydraulics on lap 29, while on the 45th lap, Glock made a pit stop and his mechanics retired him from the race because a camber shim on his car was loose and it caused the left rear suspension to move around. Virgin had yet to finish

9672-458: The preceding Singapore Grand Prix , Hamilton said that he was not relieved because of the closeness of the race. He said that he would take Rosberg's race-by-race approach and was happy to be performing well. Hamilton, who had yet to win the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, aimed for a victory at the circuit. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said that the championship was out of their reach, although he hoped further reliability problems with

9796-560: The presence of a recovery vehicle on the track. The report made several suggestions to improve safety when recovering disabled vehicles (which were introduced for 2015), and concluded that it would have been impossible to mitigate Bianchi's injuries with changes to cockpit design. Since 2015, for safety reasons, the FIA has required that the start time of certain Grands Prix be at least four hours before sunset or dusk (except for designated night races). FIA safety commission chairman Peter Wright

9920-422: The race was reminiscent of the 2008 British Grand Prix . Rosberg called it a good weekend for his team, and congratulated Hamilton on the victory. Vettel said that he was lucky that the safety car came out, and was happy with his performance. At a later press conference, Hamilton said that he was confident in his car's balance when he passed Rosberg on lap 28, and saw no difference in the amount of standing water on

10044-404: The race was stopped after two laps and resumed 20 minutes later. Rosberg immediately blocked a pass by Hamilton heading into the first corner. His car then experienced oversteer , and Hamilton reduced the time deficit between them. Hamilton challenged Rosberg for the lead over the next four laps, before overtaking him on the 29th lap and pulling away. The race was scheduled to run for 53 laps, but

10168-459: The race: two dry compounds (the white-banded medium "options" and the orange-banded hard "primes") and two wet-weather compounds (intermediate and full wet). The drag reduction system (DRS) had one activation zone for the race, on the straight linking the final and first corners. The circuit underwent changes following the previous year's race; parts of the track between the 14th and 15th turns were resurfaced, TecPro barriers were installed on

10292-404: The recent trend of financial institutions such as ING and RBS withdrawing sponsorship. On 7 May 2010, Virgin Racing announced that it had reached a sponsorship deal with Full Tilt Poker . Since the team was formed, it had been in a partnership with Russian car manufacturer Marussia and QNet since 2010. On 11 November 2010, Marussia acquired a controlling stake in the team and guaranteed

10416-467: The run-off area on the outside the Dunlop Curve. Although he applied his throttle and brake pedals simultaneously, his fail-safe system did not work because the settings of his brake-by-wire system were incompatible. Bianchi collided with the left-rear wheel of the tractor crane, which caused extensive damage to his car; its roll bar was destroyed as it slid underneath. The impact briefly jolted

10540-502: The same lap. Button made a second pit stop for new intermediate tyres at the end of lap 31; his pit crew also changed his steering wheel, lengthening the stop and putting him behind both Red Bull drivers. Vettel recorded a new fastest lap of the race at one minute and 51.915 seconds, 2.3 seconds quicker than Hamilton. Rosberg made his second pit stop, for new intermediate tyres, on lap 33 and came out behind Ricciardo. Magnussen experienced understeer and spun 360 degrees after running onto

10664-405: The same lap. Massa and Vettel made their pit stops on lap 13, Vettel moving in front of Massa and rejoining ahead of teammate Ricciardo. Rosberg made his pit stop on lap 14 and rejoined in second position, 22 seconds behind Hamilton (who recorded fast sector times in an attempt to move ahead of Rosberg after the latter's pit stop). Hamilton went off onto the run-off area at the Spoon Curve, reducing

10788-407: The session for eight minutes when an oversteer sent him into a barrier at turn 18. Kobayashi lost control of the rear of his Caterham at turn three, damaging his rear suspension and front wing, while Vergne stopped his car on the back straight after exiting the Spoon Curve with a fuel pump problem. Esteban Gutiérrez later lost control of his Sauber entering the Spoon Curve and crashed into

10912-549: The size of their car's fuel tanks because their capacity was not large enough for their drivers to complete a Grand Prix at full speed. The revised chassis, with a longer underbody, engine cover and other bodywork changes, was expected to be introduced at the Spanish Grand Prix . Both cars started from the pit lane after replacing the fuel collectors on their cars when issues in qualifying forced them to run with more fuel than would be ideal On lap 5, Schumacher attempted to pass di Grassi for 19th position but di Grassi managed to retake

11036-544: The sport after Midland . Director Nick Wirth announced that it was a major financial boost for the team and that it will allow it to promote Formula One in Russia . The team also announced that their CFD facility would be upgraded, to become the third largest such facility in the world. The Virgin MVR-02 followed the VR-01's design principle of exclusively using CFD instead of the more traditional windtunnel approach. The car did not use KERS ; chief designer Wirth commented that

11160-507: The start and not finishing 12th in Korea meant Hispania finished ahead of them in the constructors championship, despite having a slower car. On 16 December 2009, Tony Fernandes , owner of Air Asia and the Lotus team accepted a "challenge" from Richard Branson. The losing team's boss would work on the winner's airline for a day dressed as a stewardess. Fernandes won the bet. He later joked "The sexier

11284-446: The start time, but later said that the event would proceed as planned. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) race director, Charlie Whiting , suggested to race organisers that the start time be moved and warned them that the race would not take place unless it was declared safe, but they refused. Honda , the owners of the track, reportedly rejected the start time change to allow spectators to arrive at Suzuka in time for

11408-421: The start. Whiting was also overruled by senior FIA officials, who opposed the disruption of the event's worldwide television coverage. There were 11 teams (each representing a different constructor ) entering two race drivers for the event and two free practice session participants. Red Bull selected Formula Three driver Max Verstappen to replace Jean-Éric Vergne to test him as part of his preparation for

11532-406: The storm was predicted to miss Suzuka, heavy rain from its northern edge was expected to drench the circuit. The Russian Grand Prix , scheduled for the following week, made it impossible for the Japanese Grand Prix to be postponed until Monday due to freight schedules to Russia for the teams' equipment. Bernie Ecclestone , owner of Formula One's commercial rights, raised the possibility of moving up

11656-436: The team and became the main sponsor, with the team known as Marussia Virgin Racing. The partnership with Wirth ended midway through 2011, and a new technical structure bringing car development in-house was set up for 2012. Marussia Virgin Racing was renamed to Marussia F1 Team at the end of 2011. The company retained its base in Dinnington, South Yorkshire as well as setting up the technical base in Banbury, Oxfordshire for

11780-572: The team applied their first upgrade to the car. Glock was given an "extreme" update, while d'Ambrosio had to wait until the Spanish Grand Prix . Despite this, d'Ambrosio was faster than Glock for the whole weekend. Glock's pit crew noticed a mechanical fault and set to correct it. However, the repair proved so drawn out that Glock ended up not racing. D'Ambrosio finished 20th. In June 2011, the team announced that they had ended their relationship with technical partner Wirth and his company, Wirth Research, who designed their 2010 and 2011 cars. This came after

11904-451: The team's future until 2014. Marussia engineering director Nikolai Fomenko has stated that the team would race with a Russian licence in 2011 . Director Nick Wirth announced that it was a major financial boost for the team and that it will allow it to promote Formula One in Russia. The team also announced that their computational fluid dynamics (CFD) facility would be upgraded, to become

12028-502: The third largest such facility in the world. Having previously driven for the team during Friday practice sessions at selected events in 2010 , Jérôme d'Ambrosio replaced Lucas di Grassi in the team's second seat alongside Timo Glock for the 2011 season. Following a disappointing start to the season, the team ended its partnership with Wirth Research. The team retained Pat Symonds as a technical consultant, though he could not be employed directly until his ban expired over his role in

12152-420: The three new teams "They do nothing for us, they are an embarrassment. We need to get rid of a few of those cripples." He also said "Richard [Branson] should put some money in there shouldn't he? He could do what Dietrich ( Mateschitz , owner of Red Bull ) has done and put some money in". John Booth said that it was unfair to suggest Branson should put more money into the team, saying how "he was very brave joining

12276-446: The track at 130R. A dry line began to emerge by this time as some drivers drove through standing water to keep their tyre temperatures down. DRS was enabled on lap 24. Although Hamilton had closed Rosberg's lead to half a second and used DRS, he could not pass his teammate. Räikkönen made a pit stop this lap, which went wrong as his mechanics struggled to install a right-front wheel nut correctly. Hamilton tried to pass Rosberg again

12400-423: The track when more heavy rain fell. Although Rosberg's car was set up similar to Hamilton's, he was unhappy with its balance and tried to adjust it during his pit stop. According to Vettel, the weather was borderline and his team decided to make a pit stop when it deteriorated. Bianchi's crash overshadowed the race. His father, Philippe, initially reported to L'Équipe that Bianchi was in critical condition with

12524-462: The tractor crane off the ground, causing Sutil's car (suspended in the air by the crane) to fall to the ground. Marshals moved away from the scene to avoid being struck by Bianchi's Marussia. Calculations in July 2015 indicated a peak of 254 g 0 (2,490 m/s ) , and data from the FIA's World Accident Database, which sources information from racing accidents worldwide, indicate that Bianchi's impact occurred 2.61 seconds after loss of control, at

12648-581: The weather, so Bianchi was taken by ambulance with a police escort to Mie Prefectural General Medical Center in Yokkaichi , about 15 km (9.3 mi, a 32-minute drive) from the track. A second red flag was waved on lap 46, bringing the race to an early end; the results were taken from the running order at the end of lap 44. Hamilton thus won from teammate Rosberg by 9.1 seconds, with Vettel twenty seconds further back in third. Ricciardo finished just under ten seconds behind his Red Bull teammate, and nearly half

12772-522: The wet surface. Ericsson lost control of his car after accelerating out of the final turn, spinning into a gravel trap; marshals pushed his car out of the gravel, allowing him to keep driving. Following complaints from Hamilton about poor visibility, the race was suspended after two laps. The cars drove back into the pit lane , lined up in grid formation and their engines were shut off. Several cars had their ride heights raised to make them less prone to aquaplaning on their underbody planks . The race

12896-500: Was "mistaken". According to several commentators, the marshal committed no infraction. Former driver and Sky Sports F1 announcer Martin Brundle called for recovery vehicles to be barred from driving on the track. Driver steward Mika Salo defended Whiting's decision not to deploy the safety car after Sutil's crash, and minimised claims that the race was stopped for intensifying rain. Rede Globo lead commentator Galvão Bueno , however,

13020-508: Was a Formula One racing team which was under management of Manor Motorsport , Wirth Research and Richard Branson 's Virgin Group and competed in 2010 with a British licence and in 2011 with a Russian licence. It scored no points and finished last in the Constructor's Championship for the two years the team competed. The team was one of the four granted an entry for the 2010 season, and

13144-442: Was a relatively minor sensor problem. He and Vergne reported that conditions had improved, but Vettel and Massa said that visibility remained poor. The safety car drove into the pit lane at the end of lap 9, and cars were allowed to overtake. Button immediately made a pit stop to fit intermediate tyres. Hamilton unsuccessfully attempted to overtake Rosberg heading into the first corner, while Vettel tried to pass Magnussen going into

13268-492: Was brought to an end on the 46th lap (with the result taken at the end of lap 44) after an accident involving Jules Bianchi . Bianchi lost control of his Marussia at the Dunlop Curve on the 43rd lap and collided with a tractor crane that was tending to Adrian Sutil 's Sauber , which had spun off on the previous lap. Bianchi sustained severe head injuries in the accident, from which he died in France on 17 July 2015, thus becoming

13392-520: Was delayed by traffic on his out-lap , leaving him 15th. Pastor Maldonado failed to advance beyond the first qualifying session, but Lotus installed a new engine (his sixth of the year) in his E22 chassis on Friday morning. Like Vergne, he incurred a ten-place grid penalty (carried over to the next race because he qualified within the top-ten bottom positions). His teammate, Romain Grosjean , took over 16th position and aimed to qualify higher; however,

13516-461: Was disrupted by slower cars; when he entered the first corner his tyres had not reached their optimum temperature, compromising his run and leaving him 12th. Nico Hülkenberg qualified 13th in the other Force India car after he locked his tyres at the final chicane. Adrian Sutil progressed to the second session after making balance set-up changes, and took 14th in its closing seconds; his Sauber teammate, Gutiérrez, struggled with tyre temperature and

13640-408: Was going to be the cost of the season and it all sounded like a great idea." The team was meeting prospective sponsors for 2010 at the 2009 British Grand Prix weekend, at a time when Formula One faced a split amid commercial acrimony and the threat of breakaway championships. Against that landscape, the new teams were very much needed as an insurance policy by the sport's power brokers. But, once it

13764-601: Was its intention to open at least two new showrooms in 2011, with London and Monaco named as probable locations. The company wished to market its cars to large European countries and some in Asia and Australia within several years, with the United States to follow. Planned steps to support this included manufacturing vehicles in Western Europe and increasing its product range. Marussia Motors anticipated presenting 7 models at

13888-458: Was made by his father during the week of 13 October; the driver was reportedly in a "desperate" condition, with doctors saying that his survival would be a miracle. His father said that he drew hope from the emergence of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher from his coma. Marussia also issued regular updates on Bianchi's condition, denying initial speculation about their role in the accident. Former FIA president Max Mosley described it as

14012-505: Was obvious that a breakaway was no more likely than at any other time during the previous 30 years, that was not quite so true. There would be no performance breaks for the newcomers, as promised, and the question was whether or not to continue. They ultimately decided to continue but within the financial framework they had decided on for the old regulations - and could only do that because of Nick Wirth's computational fluid dynamics (CFD) capability. With Mercedes-Benz purchasing Brawn GP at

14136-400: Was originally known as Manor Grand Prix , before being renamed Virgin Racing when Virgin brought a shareholding and naming rights at the end of 2009. The team's original car, the Virgin VR-01 , was the first in Formula One to be developed using only computational fluid dynamics , and was driven by Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi . At the end of the season, Marussia Motors bought a stake in

14260-424: Was passed by Kvyat, who drove through standing water on the inside of the pit lane straight and used DRS. Vettel made his second pit stop for intermediate tyres on the same lap, rejoining in fifth behind Ricciardo but ahead of both Williams cars. Button, still third, recorded faster lap times than Rosberg, closing the gap to 12.8 seconds by the beginning of lap 31. Pérez overtook Gutiérrez to take over tenth position on

14384-459: Was plagued by weather conditions and the car suffered a hydraulic problem on the first test day and Glock only managed 10 laps. On the next day Glock notched up 72 laps for the car and had no mechanical problems, however the weather was still wet. Di Grassi took over for the remaining two days of the test. Technical director Wirth said that the hydraulic problem was solved and the car had not suffered any big glitches. The problem recurred, however, at

14508-402: Was quite disappointing for the MVR-02. Qualifying on the penultimate row, d'Ambrosio suffered a gearbox failure on lap 1, and although Glock managed one of the team's best results of the year with a 15th-place finish, this was last of the finishing cars. At the first ever Indian Grand Prix , the cars set the two slowest times in qualifying, with d'Ambrosio the faster of the two teammates inside

14632-543: Was quoted in July 2015 as saying that a closed cockpit would not have prevented Bianchi's head injuries, and vice-president Andy Mellow confirmed that attaching impact protection to recovery vehicles was unfeasible. Hospitalised in Yokkaichi, Bianchi remained in a critical but stable condition on a medical ventilator . He was removed from his induced coma in November and began breathing unaided, enabling him to be transferred to

14756-399: Was reduced due to fading light and low cloud cover, while drivers were dazzled by the lights on their steering wheels. Ricciardo attempted to overtake Button again that lap by taking the inside lane into the hairpin, but Button took a wide line. Ricciardo finally got past at the hairpin on lap 42, with Button then making a pit stop for full wet tyres. On the same lap, Sutil aquaplaned into

14880-402: Was restarted 20 minutes later behind the safety car, after the rain eased. Alonso stopped his car with an electrical issue – possibly a short circuit from the wet conditions – to become the race's first retirement on lap 3. His departure promoted Ricciardo to fifth place, with Magnussen sixth and Button seventh. Although Hamilton became concerned about his Mercedes' brakes, he was told that it

15004-473: Was tenth, encountering problems with his car's balance which prevented him from pushing. Vergne was the fastest driver not to advance into the final session. Because his team had changed his engine, he received a ten-place grid penalty, his sixth of the season. This promoted Force India's Sergio Pérez to 11th position; he had encountered slower cars entering the final chicane, which forced him to slow and lose brake and tyre temperature. Kvyat's final timed lap

15128-561: Was the 15th of the 19 races of the 2014 FIA Formula One World Championship , and the 30th running of the event as part of the Formula One World Championship. It was held on 5 October at the 5.807 km (3.608 mi) 18-turn Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Mie . The event's official name was the 2014 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix , and it was scheduled to last 53 laps over a distance of 307.471 km (191.054 mi). Tyre supplier Pirelli brought four types of tyre to

15252-523: Was third. It was Hamilton's eighth victory of the season and the 30th of his Formula One career. Going into the race, Hamilton led Rosberg by three points in the World Drivers' Championship and their team led the World Constructors' Championship by 174 points over Red Bull. Heavy rain from Typhoon Phanfone made the track surface wet and reduced visibility. Starting from behind the safety car ,

15376-502: Was vocal in his criticism of Whiting's decision, describing it as "the biggest mistake I've seen in 40 years in Formula One". The FIA announced a ten-person review panel, composed of former drivers and team principals, to investigate the cause of the accident and published its findings four weeks later in Doha . According to the report, there was no single cause of Bianchi's accident; contributing factors included track conditions, car speed and

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