Martin Brundle is relieved he will no longer have to use the word ‘Virgin’ whilst calling formula one races.
The BBC’s lead commentator is referring to Sir Richard Branson’s well-known brand, which has had naming rights at the new-in-2010 British team for the past two seasons.

For 2012, however, with Virgin remaining a sponsor, the team has been granted permission by the F1 Commission to revert to the name of its Russian supercar partner Marussia.

The news, including the Renault/Lotus and Lotus/Caterham name changes, has also been rubber-stamped by the governing FIA.

Regarding Virgin, former McLaren driver Brundle wrote on Twitter: “As (a) F1 commentator I’m so pleased Virgin are changing name next year.

“I have a mental red alert every time I mention their car in close action”, he added.

The F1 Commission on Thursday approved name changes for three formula one teams ahead of the 2012 season.
Next year, Team Lotus will become Caterham, Renault will be called Lotus, and Virgin will adopt the name of its Russian supercar partner Marussia.

Brazilian Livio Oricchio wrote in his O Estado de S.Paulo column that the Renault team no longer has “anything to do with the French carmaker” and in fact owes money to the Boulogne-Billancourt marque.

And the Telegraph reports that although Virgin will now be known as Marussia, Sir Richard Branson’s brand “will continue to pay money” to the team.

“As part of the new deal, believed to be for four years, Virgin will not have any equity but will continue to pay sponsorship”, the report added.

The changes – voted on by the 26 members including Bernie Ecclestone, Jean Todt, race promoters, teams, manufacturers and sponsors – are pending the approval of the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council meeting in December.

Also discussed in Geneva was the 2012 calendar, with events in Austin, Korea and Bahrain reportedly in doubt and Turkey apparently hoping to slot back in with a reduced sanctioning fee.

But a source close to Texas’ scheduled 2012 US grand prix reports that the F1 Commission confirmed next year’s calendar as originally published by the FIA.

F1′s three new teams have been “an embarrassment” for the sport in 2010, according to chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

Through additional financial incentives, the 80-year-old Briton actively enticed new entrants into pitlane this year.

But he has told the Financial Times that Virgin, Lotus and HRT have ultimately added no value to F1 because of their lack of competitiveness.

“They do nothing for us, they are an embarrassment,” said Ecclestone. “We need to get rid of a few of those cripples.”

He clarified that the Malaysian team Lotus is worth keeping in F1 beyond 2010, and called for Sir Richard Branson to put some serious money into Virgin.

“Richard should put some money in there shouldn’t he? He could do what (Red Bull chief Dietrich Mateschitz) has done and put some money in.”

Jun.14 (GMM) Team sponsor Sir Richard Branson said during his visit to the Canadian grand prix that a new scheme demonstrates Virgin’s “commitment to focusing upon the environmental impact of formula one”.

He said a deal struck with Canadian-based company Carbon Green to recycle tyres “is the first truly green and highly relevant deal in the history of the sport”.

Elaborating, the British billionaire explained: “Old tyres used by Timo Glock, Lucas di Grassi and co will be recycled into useful products.”

But an astute fan asked Bridgestone’s F1 press officer Andy Stobart via Twitter if Branson’s comments were true, given that the tyre supplier usually takes back its products from the teams at the end of a race weekend or test.

Stobart confirmed that the tyres “definitely come back to us” because of the “confidential technology”.

However, he added that Bridgestone’s old tyres are “used for fuel, a positive contribution to energy recovery”.

Jun.13 (GMM)  Sir Richard Branson would like to see a United States grand prix held in Las Vegas.

The British billionaire, sponsor of Virgin Racing, said he welcomes the news that an American race has been scheduled for Texas in 2012.

“The US market is extremely important,” the Virgin mogul told La Presse newspaper at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

“We have a cell phone company here in Canada, our airline will fly to Toronto soon and we will invest in the Canadian investment community.

“But we must also go to the United States,” Branson insisted.  “I think the best places would be San Francisco, or the streets of Las Vegas.”

When told that F1 is planning to be in Texas in a couple of years, he answered: “Texas?  Yeah, ok, but I would still go to Vegas.

“Imagine the cars on the Strip,” he smiled.

Sir Richard Branson on Saturday insisted Virgin Racing is not in danger of dropping out of formula one.

After Bernie Ecclestone hinted that one of the new teams is in trouble, HRT’s Jose Ramon Carabante as well as boss Colin Kolles insisted the F1 chief executive was not talking about the Spanish outfit.

“I’m surprised Bernie said what he did,” billionaire Branson said in Monaco.  “He might know something about the other teams I don’t.”

The Briton told the Daily Mail that Virgin has sponsors on board and will definitely “go all the way to the end of the season, and hopefully for many seasons yet”.

Branson, however, is only the naming sponsor of the rebranded Manor team, and Virgin has struggled both for pace and reliability so far in 2010.

But he insisted: “If they (the team) continue the kind of progress we’ve made to date, we will be delighted and will continue to support it, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t.

“We went into this with our eyes open and we plan to stick with it as long as they get other sponsors on board, which they are managing to do,” added Branson.

(GMM)

Apr.26 (GMM)  Force India’s chief engineer Dominic Harlow made it back from China in time to contest the 2010 London Marathon.

He completed the 42 kilometre course around the Thames on Sunday in just over three and a half hours.

Even faster was F1′s former safety car driver Oliver Gavin, 37, whose time under 3 hours placed him 657th overall amid 35,000 runners.

“My time today should now be enough to qualify me for the Boston or New York marathons … if I want to do either of them.  My legs need to recover first!” he laughed.

Another F1-related runner was Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin brand sponsored the event.

He crossed the line after 5 hours.

Last season Heikki Kovalainen stuck his way. Twin with Lewis Hamilton at McLaren for a second year, he struggled to get the most out of the MP4-24 and finished the championship 12th, 27 points adrift of his illustrious team mate.

This season Kovalainen have a different challenge as he competes for one of 2010’s four new teams – Lotus. Following is the interview that the official F1 have done to Kovalainen.

Q: Heikki, you have switched from massive manufacturer team to small, private outfit this year. How are you finding the change?

Heikki Kovalainen: Obviously McLaren is a very big team, but as we saw last year, it doesn’t necessarily mean they will always be quick. They can obviously turn it around quickly, but I see a lot of potential at Lotus and that’s why I decided to come here. At the beginning it will be tough, we’ll have a hard first few months, but once we get going, I think I’ll have a better opportunity here than I would do with anyone else.

Q: You are so familiar with the inner workings of McLaren. How do you think the departure of Mercedes will change the team?

HK: I don’t really know. It’s obviously a big change for them but they’re a big team and, to be honest, it’s not really my business anymore!

Q: While McLaren’s image is quite reserved, Lotus seems a bit different, especially with the fun and relaxed Tony Fernandes at the helm as team principal. It must be quite a change. Are you already comfortable in the more laidback environment?

HK: I think they are very different teams, but I did have a good time with McLaren. We tried as hard as we could to get the best results, but it just didn’t work out for me as it should have done. However, what I can do is bring what I learnt there. They are highly motivated, and they always push to the maximum to achieve the best result. I think I can bring that here and it will work well at Lotus as well.

Q: There must have been many times during 2009 when you doubted you’d be able to stay in Formula One racing. How did your deal with Lotus come about? When did it all happen?

HK: The deal was eventually signed quite late, but the team first contacted me directly during the season, asking me what my situation was. At that point I didn’t know anything really about Lotus. I was concentrating on finishing the season well. I had a number of options, but with rumours going around about some teams struggling for money, I was interested in talking to Mike (Gascoyne) and Tony, as I knew they had a stable budget for the next three years and a strong technical team joining later. In the end it was an easy decision to make and the best choice available for me.

Q: Have people underestimated your talents as a driver?

HK: I don’t think people have seen the best of me yet, and I don’t think I got the best out of McLaren. My aim at Lotus is to get the best out of the team and the car, and I don’t see any reason why the results won’t come. I don’t think there are any areas I particularly need to improve. Some people think I’m a good qualifier, and not such a good racer, but that’s only been while I was at McLaren. If you look at my time at Renault in 2007 the race performances were actually very strong, and I felt I got more out of the Renault than I did the McLaren. I don’t really care what people think – I’m more determined than ever to do a good job for the team.

Q: Your team mate Jarno Trulli may have an advantage as he’s worked with technical director Mike Gascoyne for many years. How will you muscle into that picture?

HK: I think Jarno and I will fit very well into that picture. I know the direction I want the team to go, and the team obviously wanted to get two experienced drivers on board so we do go in the right direction straight away. Together with Jarno I know we can do that.

Q: The driver announcement in Kuala Lumpur was very emotional and the location and guests were top notch…

HK: I didn’t really know what to expect when I got out there, but I was a little surprised by how well everything went. The team out there are experienced, but not really in terms of F1 so I wasn’t sure how much guidance I’d need to give them. In fact I didn’t have to give them any advice – everything was organised really well, and Tony had made sure all the main people knew what was going on and what they had to do. The Malaysian people were really excited about Lotus coming back as well and the whole atmosphere was very positive.

Q: You are at the factory right now. What is your impression of it? How does it compare to McLaren’s factory in Woking?

HK: It’s obviously very different. In terms of area – Woking and Norfolk – are both very similar. They aren’t big like London, but there are good golf courses around. The facilities are obviously very different. McLaren is a big, hi-tech kind of space centre that nobody else has, and this is where we are building a new operation. When you go from a space station to a building site it’s obviously different, but I know that once the team is fully set up here it will be as efficient as McLaren and we can go for good results.

Q: What is the schedule for the weeks ahead?

HK: We are preparing as well as we can at this time. One thing is that we could possibly join an earlier test. The car would probably be able to run but we wouldn’t have spare parts and we wouldn’t be able to test properly. If we had any problems, the test would be over. So at the third test we know we’ll be able to push the car hard. I can push it to the limit, get a feel for the car and hopefully we can do a lot of mileage. I expect the car to be pretty reliable straight out of the box because Mike and the design team are all experienced people who know how to build a race car. Then the question mark will be how much performance we have. When the factory’s all set up and running we’ll be able to get decent upgrades relatively quickly, and that’s when we’ll see the real performance.

Q: Tony has thrown down the gauntlet to Virgin’s Richard Branson in what could be the funniest bet Formula One racing has ever seen (the loser will spend a day as an air stewardess on the other’s airline). How confident are you that the team will beat Virgin? How much personal pride is involved there do you think?

HK: I’m sure there’s a lot of pride there. They’ve known each other a long time and they’re both very successful, so I’m sure it’s quite personal. I do know Tony will be kicking my ass to beat them, and I fully expect Mike to be doing the same. I think it’s cool – we already have one definite target to aim for. But a lot will depend on how quick the car is. If it’s very quick then we’ll be fighting all sorts of people, but I know that if I see a Virgin car I’ll have to get in front.

Q: When will we see you in the car for the first time?

HK: That will be at the third group test at Jerez. Jarno and I will be sharing the driving equally there, then at Barcelona. It’s not a lot of testing but I’ve done a lot of F1 driving so I’d be ready to go straight to the race if necessary.

source: formula1