NEWS // MANOR GP CONFIRMED AS VIRGIN RACING FOR 2010

With the FIA releasing its latest 2010 F1 entry list today it was officially announced that new team Manor F1 will run under the banner of "Virgin Racing".

The Virgin Group, who with CEO and company founder Richard Branson had sponsorship ties with Brawn GP through 2009 had been rumoured to be in the process of forming a partnership with the Sheffield based team and with the latest entry list released this has now been officially confirmed. The fledgling young F1 team will be overseen by Virgin's Alex Tai as chief executive. He is joined by Manor's founder, John Booth, as the team's race engineer, along with Nick Wirth, the former Simtek F1 team principal, who will act as Manor's technical director... [read more]

News on the 13th team that will line up on the grid next March was not forthcoming however as all the FIA would say with regard to the possible Sauber "Buy Back" of the BMW team was that the last available 2010 entry was technically still in the hands of Toyota Motorsport GmbH which remains formally bound by the Concorde Agreement to put forward a team for participation, even though it has indicated that it will not be in a position to do so".

The FIA then added "An announcement will be made regarding this entry in due course."


Full 2010 FIA F1 Entry List (as of 11.30.09):

VODAFONE McLAREN MERCEDES
1 Jenson BUTTON (GB)
2 Lewis HAMILTON (GB)

MERCEDES GRAND PRIX
3 Nico ROSBERG (D)
4 TBA

RED BULL RACING RENAULT
5 Sebastian VETTEL (D)
6 Mark WEBBER (AUS)

SCUDERIA FERRARI
7 Felipe MASSA (BR)
8 Fernando ALONSO (E)

AT&T WILLIAMS COSWORTH
9 Rubens BARRICHELLO (BR)
10 Nico HULKENBERG (D)

RENAULT F1 TEAM
11 Robert KUBICA (PL)
12 TBA

FORCE INDIA MERCEDES
14 Adrian SUTIL (D)
15 Vitantonio LIUZZI (I)

SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO
16 Sebastien BUEMI (CH)
17 TBA

LOTUS COSWORTH
18 TBA
19 TBA

CAMPOS META 1 (DALLARA)
20 TBA
21 Bruno SENNA (BR)

US F1 COSWORTH
22 TBA
23 TBA

VIRGIN COSWORTH
24 Timo GLOCK (D)
25 TBA


Editorial: Neil Tozer