Branson sponsored the Brawn GP last season which won the drivers and constructors titles but the team has since been taken over by Mercedes and Branson is keen to continue his time in the sport and has started his own team. The VR01 was designed by Wirth Research and Branson was buzzing with excitement at the launch like a kid with a new toy.
He said "What a car! Nick [Wirth] and his design team have done an incredible job and so today they deserve all of the spotlight. It's been fantastic to be part of this journey almost from the very beginning and to see a great engineering mind at work. I'm sure we will be measured by how fast the car is on the track in Jerez next week, but I hope that doesn't overshadow the far bigger achievement of pulling an entire racing team together and taking a brave step that defies convention."
The new livery do look good and pretty much exudes the team’s reputation, fun, aggressive and well, good-looking. Branson added that "In many ways this is an exploration, but given the absolute self-belief we have seen, I can't help but feel very excited about what we can go on to achieve in the years ahead. For now though I'm looking forward to seeing the VR-01 on-track in testing in the coming weeks as we prepare for Virgin Racing's very first grand prix."
Virgin Racing was absent at the pre-season testing in Valencia due to the launch which was later than most other teams but according to John Booth, the team principal, it was purely intentional as they are only planning to start testing in the second session in Jerez. So it will be a little while more before we could know how the car will perform on the track.
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