The Virgin that won’t go all the way!

Astonishingly the BBC is going with rumours that had originally surfaced pre-season that the Virgin F1 car does not have a big enough fuel tank to get it to the end of the race.  Apparently commentator Jonathan Legard has heard about this astonishing blunder.

If this is true it is an amazing mistake that cannot be easily fixed.  Firstly because in race refuelling has been banned, and secondly to change a F1 chassis after it has been approved by the FIA will take weeks to implement.

The Virgin team is yet to make a formal announcement, and I wonder if they ever would admit to such a mistake, as it would make it impossible for them to get a result for the next 2-3 races which would be damaging to title sponsor Richard Brandson.

One hopes this is not true, but a memo has gone round the teams from the FIA that Virgin needs to make adjustments to its car, and this only serves to add to the mounting rumours.

During the first practice session the BBC commented that various parts of the cars designed were outsourced and we can only assume that something has been miscalculated or communicated.

The Virgin car is the first F1 car to be designed completely by computer by Nick Wirth’s team.  Whether he has any responsibility over the design of the tank is as yet unknow.