Formula One - Should Virgin team block a place of the grid or leave?
John Booth, team principal of Virgin Racing, does not seem very happy with the Principal of Formula One racing, Bernie Ecclestone. He has pronounced quite openly that he felt very disappointed by hearing Ecclestone predict that two of the Formula One teams that had been struggling might not be able to stay there till the end of the season.
While talking to the media in July, the chief executive of the sport said that the two teams that had not been able to show any good performances must pack up soon as he thinks they "really shouldn't be there". He continued saying that he would rather be happy to see the grid handling 20 cars only.
Following the remarks of Ecclestone, the team boss of Virgin was asked about his initial reaction for such a comment, for which he said, "I was not particularly pleased, because comments like that for a team like ours can do great damage.”
He elaborated his statement saying that all the new teams see a tough time initially and just like other teams that are making their debut season they are also having some troubles with their performance.
During an interview to the motorsport-total.com Booth told that Ecclestone's comments are rather a "destabilising" factor for the team and the drivers who are working real hard to give better performance. However, he expressed relief for the fact that most of Virgin's sponsors have signed them for a long period of time, which would keep them in the sport for a long period.
He further disclosed that initially it was announced that every new team which would enter in the sport in 2010 would get an amount of 10 million Euros by Ecclestone, which means if Virgin or HRT are going to fail the commercial pot of the sport would be correspondingly bigger.
Keeping other things apart, the general negativity that had spread about the team is a big disappointment as ‘Virgin’ is a world-renowned brand and is headed by one of the highest profiled billionaire, Sir Richard Branson. The team came up with the promise of keeping up the Virgin's image, which it has badly failed to live up to.
Nevertheless, Booth still believes that what they had been able to build so far, despite the problems they have faced all through the season, ‘it's not all bad’.
He further kept on telling that in Formula One there had been around 30 to 40 new teams, which never qualified for a race, however they had been there at the start of every race and he still believes that step by step they are growing and getting closer to their goal.
He added that at the start of the season they did not have an idea of the problems that surprisingly came up, yet they are close to their expected target for their first year and would be soon farther ahead of it.
So far the season does not show anything very promising as the team stands at the last place in the Constructors’ Standings with having earned no points all through the season. The team drivers, Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi both have failed to deliver a single good performance with twelve races of the season already gone. Only seven races are yet to go and the competition is so tough that it is hard to expect any better finish from the team in the later races as well.
With a lot of financial problems, an undeveloped car and none of the drivers in a great form, let’s see if the team is able to do any better as they return from the three weeks summer break of the season.
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