Glock: Virgin right to split with Wirth

The ex-Toyota driver, who has raced for Virgin since it came into Formula 1 in 2010 but has not finished higher than 14th in his 25 races driving for it, believes that the end of the partnership with former technical director Nick Wirth after the Monaco Grand Prix will allow the team to progress in the long term.

"It is the right move," Glock told AUTOSPORT. "We all want to move forward and the team wasn't happy with the performance of the car so they made the decision.

"A change like this is never the easiest, but to move on in the long-term it is very positive."

Virgin is currently working on a plan to create its own design and development base, a process being overseen by consultant Pat Symonds.

While the team is some way off establishing such a base, during the coming races car upgrades signed off by Wirth will be introduced. Glock believes that the team must now prioritise development work for the 2012 car, using the rest of this season to work on ideas for the MVR-03 where possible.

"Next year is the main target," said Glock. "We know that we cannot find three seconds in a couple of months, then it becomes the changeover point for 2012. We have to try to get a bit out of this year and put all of our focus onto next year.

"The rest of the season will be fine for us. We managed through such difficult times last year and at the beginning of this year. That proved we can deal with them. We have a good plan, so it shouldn't be a problem."

Glock is hopeful that the new technical structure will allow the race team to have a bigger influence in the development direction of the car. Previously, Wirth Research was responsible for the design of the car and delivering upgrades.

The German regards the racing side of the Virgin operation as one of the team's biggest strengths and thinks giving it more input into the car will accelerate the rate of progress.

"I think it will be much easier for us," Glock told AUTOSPORT. "We can make even quicker decisions in terms of development for the future. The engineers on the track know what the car needs so if they can do it directly it's good.

"The team has what it needs for the future, but it just takes time. We did everything right from last year to this year in terms of the structure of the race team, making the right changes and putting the right people in the right places. That has paid off.

"We can still improve, but this is one of the strengths of the team."