Nick Wirth, the owner of Wirth Research which built the Virgin VR-01 chassis has revealed it will pay the estimated £1 million (€1.2m, $1.6m) to re-design and build a new one.
The reason for the re-design came to light after it was discovered the fuel tank capacity wasn’t large enough to finish a grand prix distance.
“The chassis supplier is us. Nothing to do with engine supplier or fuel supplier. What that means is that we are fixing it for the team. We are not charging the team,” Wirth told Autosport.
“It’s our responsibility to provide cars that can finish a grand prix. It’s down to us.”
This will be welcome news for the Virgin team who are running on a strict £40m budget, compared to an estimated £150-200m for the larger, front-running teams.
The new chassis is expected to debut at the Spanish grand prix, which takes places after China.
