Lucas di Grassi got to grips with the Virgin car on Friday as he took over testing duties from his teammate, Timo Glock. The Brazilian got his first drive behind the VR-01 at the Silverstone circuit.
Timo reluctantly handed over the cockpit to Di Grassi, who took to the track for the very first time as a fully-fledged Formula One racer. He went on to record a total of 36 laps.
When asked how it felt to drive the car for the first time, Di Grassi replied: “It feels good. It feels like home! I’m really happy and our first impressions of the car are very positive.
“It’s amazing what the team has achieved in such a short space of time. I think we have a strong car and a great team to get things started in Jerez. It was important for me to learn as much as possible here so I can start to put some real mileage on the car next week.”
Virgin’s technical director, Nick Wirth was delighted with the cars shake down. With results from the test already being fed back to the factory for updates, ready in time for Jerez when they will join the bulk of F1 teams.
“I am delighted that we have successfully shaken down the VR-01. To achieve 100km of running out of the box is a great achievement with only a few minor issues along the way. We have acquired some good information to feed straight back into design for the development of new parts, which we may even be testing next week. All in all this is a very pleasing conclusion to a memorable week for Virgin Racing.”
Check out the Gallery for images from the test…
