The Marussia F1 Team is a Formula One racing team based in Banbury in the United Kingdom. The team is competing as "Marussia" for the first time in the 2012 Formula One season, following the purchase of a controlling stake in the team by Russian sports car manufacturer Marussia Motors in late 2010. The team had previously competed as "Marussia Virgin Racing" in 2011 and "Virgin Racing" in 2010. Th
e team is the third Formula One team to compete with a Russian racing licence, after Midland and Virgin (which adopted its Russian nationality in 2011 to coincide with Marussia's interest in the team). History
In 2009, Manor Grand Prix were awarded an entry into Formula One for the 2010 season, as a tie-up between successful junior racing team Manor Motorsport and Wirth Research. Before the end of the year they were renamed as Virgin Racing, after Richard Branson's Virgin Group of companies who had bought the title sponsorship rights. Marussia were one of the team's partners for its debut season, where it finished in twelfth and last place in the constructors' championship. In November 2010 Marussia purchased a controlling stake in the team, and the team became known as 'Marussia Virgin Racing' for the 2011 season.Following a disappointing start to the 2011 season, the team parted company with Wirth Research, and entered a relationship with McLaren Applied Technologies ahead of the 2012 season. The team later moved into the old Wirth premises in Banbury, moving from their original base in Dinnington in Yorkshire. In November 2011 the team applied to the Formula One commission to formally change their constructor name for the 2012 season from Virgin to Marussia, to reflect their new ownership. Permission was granted before being formally ratified at a meeting of the FIA World Motorsport Council. On 31 December 2011, Marussia Virgin Racing announced they were now called Marussia F1 Team. Virgin, who had previously been the title sponsor for the team, had announced that they were staying with the team after the name change, with Virgin logos staying on the 2012 car. The team had announced in July 2011 that Timo G***k had signed a new three-year contract with the team. G***k will be joined for the 2012 season by GP2 Series graduate Charles Pic, who spent two days testing with the team at the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi. By 29 September 2011, Marussia already had a 60% scale model of their 2012 car ready for use in the McLaren wind tunnel. By December 2011, the team had received the first parts for the car. The team also announced that the 2012 car will be the only car on the grid not to have KERS. This was however only the case for one weekend. Rival team HRT failed to qualify within the 107% time and were not allowed to race at the season opener in Australia. HRT decided that it was best to remove KERS from the car and focus on successfully qualifying. HRT are yet refit the KERS device. Prior to the final testing session for the 2012 season at Barcelona, on 27 February an announcement was made on the team's website, declaring that the new MR01 car had failed the last of the mandatory 18 crash tests required of each car by the FIA. This meant the team would miss the final test session, instead choosing to concentrate on passing the remaining crash test in time for the first race of the year, ensuring that the MR01 would not undergo any significant testing prior to the Australian GP race weekend. On 5 March 2012 Marussia revealed the new MR01 at Silverstone. The car design was led by technical consultant Pat Symonds. It was the penultimate team to reveal its car in the 2012 season. It was announced late because of the failure of a crash test, which meant that the car could not be used in pre-season testing events. The test was passed before the launch event and before the first race of the 2012 season. On 3 July 2012 test driver Maria de Villota was testing a car at Duxford Airfield, when she crashed heavily into the lift gate of the team transporter, and sustained serious injuries. She had been performing straight line aerodynamic tests in preparation for the British Grand Prix. On 4 July 2012 it was confirmed that Maria de Villota lost her right eye as a result of the accident. At Spa, the team's 50th Grand Prix as Virgin/Marussia, Charles Pic was fastest in free practice 2 with Timo G***k sixth. Which was the highest ever result in an official F1 session for the team in its history however only 10 drivers set times in heavy rain conditions. However at Singapore, Timo G***k produced the best ever race result for Marussia, finishing in 12th place. This crucially pushed Marussia into 10th place in the Constructors' Championship, due to a better non-points finishing record than Caterham.
