Marussia unveils 2012 car

Spoiler:

Marussia has unveiled its new Formula 1 car - the MR01 - after it made its on-track debut at Silverstone on Monday.

The Anglo-Russian team is running the car for the first time at the British track after it had failed the mandatory crash tests last week and was therefore unable to join its rival in Barcelona for the final test.

"We are very pleased to be running the new MR01 for the first time this morning," said team boss John Booth. "It has been a long and frustrating wait for everyone in the team but we can now get back on track - literally - and start working towards the first race of the season in Australia next weekend.

"Today is the first of two promotional events, so while the drivers will be able to get a feel for the car, they won't be able to draw any real conclusions until we start running in anger in Melbourne. Nevertheless, this is an important day for us and we'll enjoy every minute on track with the new car."

The team said the MR01 is the result of a ground-up re-evaluation of the way it designs its racing cars after having used only CFD technology for its previous challengers.

The Cosworth-powered car has been designed by a team lead by technical consultant Pat Symonds.

The car, however, is yet to pass the official FIA crash test it failed last week, with Symonds saying it has only passed an 'unobserved' one.

Marussia said the technical partnership agreed with McLaren Applied Technologies last year has been influential in the design process.

The MR01 is the only other F1 car to not feature a platypus-style nose together with McLaren's challenger.

Marussia said Timo Glock and Charles Pic will share driving duties at Silverstone today and tomorrow.

Source:autosport

Strange that Autosport have pictures of the MR-01. Even Marussia's official website doesn't have any yet. I see they've gone for a high-nose design this season, yet managed to avoid a "platypus" design. Nothing like as nice-looking as the Virgins of previous seasons.

Hopefully the partnership with McLaren will help them avoid being back-of-the-grid trundlers, though I think using Cosworth engines will still leave them somewhat handicapped.

Also good to know they won't be relying entirely on CFD to design their aero packages.