Virgin ready for Japanese test

The Dinnington outfit aim to maintain their advantage over new boys Hispania and to edge out rivals Lotus as they look to claim a £17 million pound windfall for finishing top of the three new teams.

Suzuka has a reputation as one of the great tracks of Formula One. It was designed and built in 1962 as a test track for Honda, who still own it. The track is unique in F1 as it is the only “figure of eight” circuit layout used during the season.

Racer Timo Glock had a bad accident there 12 months ago, but is confident that things will be different this time around.

“We head to Japan with another strong weekend under our belts in Singapore,” he said this week. “The first part of our two-phase upgrade was working well and I had a good time in the conditions," he said.