Q&A with Timo Glock

At the end of a challenging debut season for Virgin Racing, Timo Glock talks to VirginRacing’s website about why it was “A tough test for us all ... but ultimately very rewarding” and why he’s 100% up for 2011!

Timo, how would you sum up your experience of Virgin Racing’s debut season?

Extremely challenging and very hard work – for the whole team. 2010 was a tough test for us all, but we survived and it was ultimately very rewarding for me. There were frustrations along the way and when things don’t go well, as a driver who is ambitious, I admit it was sometimes difficult, but I joined Virgin Racing knowing there would be difficult times ahead so it wasn’t really a surprise to me. We were building something from zero - no team, no factory, no previous year’s car to develop from and no data. Everything we have we have built ourselves in the space of less than a year. We should also remember that we were also taking a pretty revolutionary design approach to the VR-01. If you look at our season from that perspective, we have achieved something pretty incredible.

The team’s season was a rollercoaster of highs and, it has to be said, a few lows. How difficult was it to deal with the tough times you experienced?

Sometimes very. But they were mostly at the start of the season when it was right to expect them. Once we got into Europe we got better with every race. When you are in the heat of competition though, as a racing driver you are only focused on what is going on at the time. It is difficult to stand back and think ‘Oh well, it’s only our debut season’ or ‘We qualified as the best of the new teams yesterday, so it’s not so bad that we didn’t do so well in the race today’. There is no point in me sitting in the engineering truck after a session and not trying to contribute as much as I can. We had to examine all the things we could have done better so that, next time, we can do it better. As I say, as the season went on, things got easier and as we understood the car and each other, we had something pretty strong that we can all feel pleased with.

How do you feel about 2011?

I’m excited. And yes I am definitely driving for Virgin Racing. There has been a lot of speculation about me wanting to leave the team, but it is not about leaving a team, it is about wanting to do better and keep moving forward. It is not just 99.9% certain that I will stay, as has been reported - it is 100% certain that I am staying! Since the beginning I have had a long-term contract with the team and I said then that I was doing this to help build a team for the future. It would not be possible to do that in one year from nothing. Plus I think with everything we have learned this year we can take a very good step up next season. This is a great team of people who have given blood, sweat and tears to our first season. Some people haven’t seen that with their own eyes, like I have, so it’s easy to criticise or be cynical.

The team has yet to announce its driver line-up. We know you are driving for the team in 2011 but that means you are currently in the dark about your team-mate. How do you feel about that?

Well, I am already confirmed so there is nothing new to announce about me. But I understand that the team wants to announce the line-up together when the second seat is confirmed. I think it is right to take our time and make sure we have the best combination of youth and experience, plus make sure we have the best information going back into the team at testing and races to ensure we can develop as quickly as we want to and keep moving forward. I don’t think we will have to wait too much longer for that news - hopefully before Christmas!”

With Virgin Racing’s debut season under your belt, how do you feel about the digital design process?

I think we showed that it is possible to design and develop a good all-digital Formula One car. Perhaps the way we demonstrated this most is how we developed the car from pre-season testing to the end of the season. It was a very big step. The issue is always how quickly the competition is developing at the same time, so in the end we did not do enough to end the season as the best of the new teams, but that is not a reflection on our approach - more our rate of development. We have shown that we have a good direction and I have faith in our approach.

How do you feel about the news that Marussia have invested in the team?

It is great news. We are a small team and that is what we set out to be – to begin to challenge the thinking that you have to be a giant spending hundreds of millions of pounds each year to achieve good things in F1. But it is not easy and Marussia becoming more involved in our team is very good news. They have been close enough this year to see what the team has built and what it can achieve, so this is a great compliment to everyone at Virgin Racing. But with their support and ambition we have a secure basis from which to push hard and try to achieve our racing objectives over the next few years.

What are your plans for the winter?

Well it’s nice to be able to relax a little after such a long season and take some time out with my girlfriend, family and friends. I’m looking forward to Christmas and doing a bit of skiing. There is some work to do to help with the car development and of course as a racing driver it won’t be too long before I start my pre-season training programme because we begin testing in February. I feel in a good place though and I’m already looking forward to the new season.

As published on www.VirginRacing.com