[5] The car was due to be launched online through the official team website on 3 February 2010, but technical issues prevented the live internet broadcast from taking place.

[6] In February 2009, Richard Branson's Virgin organisation was reported as bidding to buy the former Honda Formula One team.

"[11] The team was meeting prospective sponsors for 2010 at Silverstone at the 2009 British Grand Prix weekend on the very day that F1 threatened to implode amid commercial acrimony and the threat of breakaway championships.

With Mercedes-Benz purchasing Brawn at the end of the season, Branson invested in an 80% buyout of Manor Grand Prix,[13][14] with the team being renamed Virgin Racing.

Car preparation and racing operations were run from its headquarters in Dinnington, South Yorkshire; Wirth Research designed, developed, and built the VR-01 from its base in Bicester, before announcing a relocation to new, larger premises in Banbury, Oxfordshire in July 2010.

Technical director Nick Wirth took the decision to use only the computer simulation tool CFD to develop the aerodynamics, with no reference to a wind tunnel.

John Booth said, "My prediction is that wind tunnels will be a thing of the past and by the time Malaysia1 (Lotus Racing) get theirs built, they will be redundant.

[19] Like all the new teams Virgin suffered problems with hydraulics, John Booth commented, "Everything connected with the hydraulics was such high pressure that the smallest impurity, crack or fault was a car stopper because it controls four or five major components," It had been reported by Auto, Motor und Sport that the VR-01's fuel tank was too small for the car to finish a race, and that the team applied to the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in order to obtain permission to modify the chassis to accommodate a larger tank.

The revised chassis, with a longer underbody, engine cover and other bodywork changes, was expected to be introduced at the Spanish Grand Prix.

[22] The car passed its mandatory FIA crash tests, and completed its first track run at Silverstone on February 4 in the hands of Glock.

[28] The problem recurred, however, at the final pre-season testing session held at Catalunya, costing the team further track time and necessitating a further redesign of the relevant components ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Glock was able to tour back to the garage for the remainder of the lap on three wheels, with the team discovering the problem being an under-torqued airgun.

Glock was able to stretch his legs thanks to greater familiarity with the Virgin car, and took a well-worked 19th, pipping Jarno Trulli in the other Lotus to be the highest placed driver of the new teams.

In the race, Both cars got off the line, but on Lap 3, Di Grassi suffered a hydraulic failure, similar to pre-season testing, and pulled off to the side.

McLaren and Ferrari drivers inexplicably opted to remain in their garages while the rest of the field set banker laps, before the rain arrived.

[36] At the Chinese Grand Prix, Glock was forced to start from pit lane alongside di Grassi after the team failed to lower him from the front jack on the grid in time for the warmup lap.

However, owing to the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland that had disrupted air travel across Europe at the time of the previous race, only one chassis was able to make it to Barcelona, to be used by Timo Glock.

In practice, Virgin were given a penalty after the team failed to notify the FIA of changes to their gear ratios before the deadline.

The incident caused a puncture on Glock's car that very nearly threw him into the wall and forced him to make a pit stop, though his crew was not ready for him and he lost several seconds as the tyres were brought out.

In Korea, di Grassi lost control of his car while trying to overtake the Hispania driver Sakon Yamamoto and crashed into the barriers on the 26th lap.

[48] Glock drove back to his pit box where his mechanics examined his car for damage and decided to retire him from the race.

At Brazil, di Grassi in his home race struggled with problems with his suspension and despite his team's mechanics rectifying the issue at his mid-race pit stop, he was not classified in the final results.

"[50] But John Booth said that it was unfair to suggest Branson should put more money into the team, saying how "He was very brave joining a start-up operation that might have gone horribly wrong and he's been supportive throughout and brought us new backers."

At the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, di Grassi chose to make a pit stop for new tyres during a safety car period and managed them until the end of the race, while Glock retired.

On 16 December 2009, Tony Fernandes, owner of Air Asia and Lotus F1 Racing accepted a "challenge" from Richard Branson.

Our passengers will be delighted to be served by a Knight of the Realm, but knowing Richard, the real challenge will be to prevent him from asking our guests 'coffee, tea or me?'

However, the date of the flight was delayed several times: first because of Branson breaking his leg, then because of the royal wedding, finally because of a fire at the Necker Island.