Virgin Racing today made its driver announcement in London, where it was confirmed that Manor have teamed up with Richard Branson’s Virgin brand, and that Lucas di Grassi will drive alongside Timo Glock at the team. di Grassi said:

“I could never imagine a F1 debut as perfect as this one. Entering F1 with John Booth and his crew, the same people with whom I won the 2005 Macau F3 race – one of the greatest successes in my career – is really beyond perfection I should say. And I believe I am ready for F1.

“I have worked a lot during these years to get here and I believe it happened just in time. I always had great expectations about the day I would enter F1, and I should thanks everyone who was with me all these years, and I shall say John and his team are among those very people I consider helped me to get there much before we signed the F1 contract.

“Being here with them makes more sense to me than to be with a veteran organisation. We will debut together, and that detail makes for a special bond too. I guess all that will make me stronger and more confident as I will be among old friends. I am ready to work twenty four seven and I am sure I will be able to contribute with the team efforts in every stage of our evolution in 2010.”

It was also revealed that Lucas di Grassi’s fellow GP2 graduates Alvaro Parente and Luis Razia will take on the role of test drivers with the team.

Virgin Racing driver Timo Glock is certain seven-times F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher will make a return to the sport.

The former Toyota driver, now partnered alongside Lucas Di Grassi at Virgin said:

“There’s still a lot of speculation, but in the end he is a crazy race driver, and he wants to come back to racing. It’s not enough for him to just do go-kart races, or go to the Race of Champions at the end of the year.

“The flame is still there, it’s still burning within him, and it will be great for Formula One if he comes back.
“For me, my personal feeling, it is quite obvious he is coming back.

“For Formula One and the fans it would be a big boost, a seven-time world champion coming back after three years out. It would be a mega highlight, and to drive for Mercedes, you would have a German driver in a German car.”

And Glock said he would relish the chance to race alongside his countryman, but realises it would be difficult.

“To beat Michael would be a good year for us, but we have to concentrate on ourselves, and not look at what others are doing.”

Virgin Racing have revealed Portuguese drive Alvaro Parente will be their reserve driver, and they have also made their new website live today.

To visit the the Virgin Racing website, click HERE

Campos Meta, the Madrid-based F1 racing outfit, could be closing in on a team-mate for Bruno Senna.

It is being rumoured that 25-year-old Portuguese race driver Alvaro Parente is on the verge of taking the drive.

Portuguese journalist Jorge Girao (of sportmores.com) said:

“Some of the companies have interests in Spain so it would be very positive for Alvaro’s sponsors to be with a Spanish team.”

It is also rumoured there are a few other drivers in the running (Vitaly Petrov & Pastor Maldonado) but the team have been promised sponsorship backing but seen very little.

Parente won the British Formula 3 Championship in 2003, with Carlin Motorsport, and the 2007 World Series by Renault in 2007, with Tech 1 Racing.

Parente moved into GP2 with the Super Nova Racing team. He finished eighth in the championship.

In 2009, he ran in the GP2 Asia Series with Malaysian team MY QI-Meritus.Mahara and in the GP2 Series with Ocean Racing Technology, finishing eighth.