Virgin Racing became the first new team to unveil its 2010 challenger today, when it held an albeit unsuccessful launch of the VR-01 online. Technical problems plagued the event, which was supposed to show the car being launched at 10.00 GMT, forcing fans to wait over an hour and a half to get a first glimpse of the red and black car.

The VR-01 is the first car to be launched that has been designed solely using Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technology, and without the use of a conventional wind tunnel, although fellow F1 debutants USF1 have also designed their car using only CFD.

Speaking following the unveiling, the team's technical director Nick Wirth paid tribute to the hard work of his engineers in getting the car ready in time. “Today is a very proud day for everyone involved with Virgin Racing, however on this occasion, where the car is the star, I want to pay tribute to all the amazing people at Wirth Research who deserve so much of the credit for the VR-01. Putting together an F1 team, assembling an engineering group and designing a new car from scratch is an epic task in the timeframe we have been working to.

“I have been fortunate to have worked with the very best designers in F1 and I am well aware of exactly what it takes to be successful in this sport. When you see what the existing teams have achieved using the conventional but proven design approach, it is unsurprising that there is a great deal of scepticism about our all-CFD approach. But we are competing in a sport that is undergoing significant change having come face to face with today's harsh economic realities.

“Under resource restriction, convention will become too costly and necessity really will be the mother of invention. I have absolute belief in the digital design process and the opportunity to put the all-CFD approach to the test at the highest level - to demonstrate that this could be the way for the future of F1 - is very, very exciting.”

Team principal John Booth was equally delighted with the launch, having been fully involved in the project since June when Manor's F1 entry was confirmed. “Today is the culmination of a very emotional journey which really began in June last year when we celebrated the fantastic news that our entry into Formula One had been accepted. The celebrations were necessarily brief however, because we were already in a race against time to design and develop a race car at the same time as building a new team of people and premises.

“I have always had the utmost confidence in Nick to design a good race car, just as he has the faith in the race team to make a good job of operating it. Having worked closely with the technical team over the past 10 months, I know that the VR-01 is the product of a very intensive and thorough design and development process and my excitement at seeing our first race car make its track debut later this week is shared by every single person involved with Virgin Racing.”

Following today's launch, the car was brought to Silverstone for a two-day shakedown test before it is shipped to Spain where it will make its official track debut in Jerez, the second pre-season test. Timo Glock and Lucas Di Grassi have already been confirmed as the team's 2010 race drivers.