Branson: Virgin can go all the way

The Virgin Group chairman joined the official launch of the team in London on Tuesday, and saw no reason why it cannot be as successful as other pioneering projects his company have been involved in.

"We have had a fantastic first year in Formula 1 and it was incredible to be sponsoring a team that fought so hard to win both championships," he said. "We are huge fans of the sport and we spent a lot of time exploring all the options for a longer-term involvement.

"Over the last four decades Virgin has invested in and supported incredible engineering minds who have literally been pushing the technological boundaries of what man previously believed was possible: boats capable of smashing world records, balloons that captured the imagination of millions around the globe, a plane built purely from carbon composite that flew around the world not once, but 2.5 times without refuelling, and with Virgin Galactic we are investing in technology that will literally push the boundaries off our planet! Virgin Racing will be no different."

Branson said that his decision to switch allegiance from Brawn GP to taking over the Manor team was because of word he got about technical director Nick Wirth's project - with the Virgin-Cosworth VR-01 being designed without the use of a wind tunnel.

"We knew there was an extremely successful designer out there who could bring something different to the sport with his all-digital approach to designing racing cars," said Branson.

"So we thought 'why not back a new British team?' I believe that with the right bunch of people you can achieve anything. It might take a while to get there, but I believe with this team of people on board, Virgin Racing can go all the way."