Timo Glock worried about Virgin
The Virgin were disappointing in Australia.
Timo Glock believes that Virgin Racing risks not qualifying for the next four Grand Prix unless significant improvements are made to the cars.
Virgin was optimistic during pre-season testing, their performance having improved after a difficult start in Formula 1. However, Timo Glock and his new teammate Jérôme d’Ambrosio could only qualify at the back of the grid after struggling not to be relegated outside the 107% in Australia.
Although the team was better prepared for the race this year—after bringing a tank too small to last an entire race in 2010—the German thinks his speed has decreased.
We have made progress regarding the team’s entire structure, the work of the mechanics and engineers is better than last year. But in my opinion, from a performance standpoint, we have stepped back. The others have made giant strides. We are unable to do the same. We didn’t believe it during the Barcelona tests, but now it is quite clear that we are not where we should be. The team needs to think about certain things and make changes that will bring us closer to the others. We cannot continue like this; it’s impossible.
Virgin Racing was very close to joining the HRT of Vitantonio Liuzzi and Narain Karthikeyan over the 107% mark in Melbourne, and Glock fears that this will be repeated in Malaysia.
«Of course. We were at 105% so we had a bit of leeway. But if the other drivers put on soft tires and run at 100% in Q1, we will have problems. The balance of the car is not so bad. We simply don’t have enough downforce, and people in the team need to realize that.
