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115-670: In February 2009, Richard Branson 's Virgin organisation was reported as bidding to buy the former Honda Formula One team. Branson later stated an interest in Formula One, but claimed Formula One needed to develop a more economically efficient and environmentally responsible image. Virgin later sponsored the new Brawn GP for 2009. The team was formed as Manor Grand Prix as a tie-up between Manor Motorsport and Wirth Research , with Graeme Lowdon as CEO, Manor Motorsport boss John Booth as team principal and former Simtek team owner Nick Wirth as technical director. John Booth said: "I

230-452: A "challenge" from Richard Branson. The losing team's boss would work on the winner's airline for a day dressed as a stewardess. Fernandes joked "The sexier the better. Our passengers will be delighted to be served by a Knight of the Realm, but knowing Richard, the real challenge will be to prevent him from asking our guests 'coffee, tea or me?' That would be scary." In addition, the team produced

345-712: A 20-per cent stake in Malaysia's AirAsia X . On 13 October 2007, Branson's Virgin Group sought to add Northern Rock to its empire after submitting an offer that would result in Branson personally owning 30% of the company and changing the company's name from Northern Rock to Virgin Money . The Daily Mail ran a campaign against his bid; Vince Cable , financial spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats , suggested in

460-520: A chain of health care clinics that would offer conventional medical care alongside homeopathic and complementary therapies, a development that was welcomed by Ben Bradshaw , the UK's health minister. Plans where GPs could be paid for referring National Health Service (NHS) patients to private Virgin services were abandoned in June 2008. The BMA warned the plan would "damage clinical objectivity", there would be

575-510: A cooperative. His business sold records for considerably less than the "High Street" outlets, especially the chain WHSmith . Branson once said, "There is no point in starting your own business unless you do it out of a sense of frustration." At the time, many products were sold under restrictive marketing agreements that limited discounting, despite efforts in the 1950s and 1960s to limit retail price maintenance . Branson eventually started

690-459: A damaged front wing, and made a pit stop on the next lap. Glock was also given a 20-second time penalty for not observing blue flags. Di Grassi finished 17th, ahead of Chandhok, Glock and Senna. Virgin finally brought a big update to the car for Britain . They qualified ahead of both Hispania Racing cars and split the Lotuses. But di Grassi retired with hydraulic failure on Lap 9. Timo Glock had

805-506: A drive although the car might be less competitive. Glock was signed for two years and had a one-year extension offer as well. Long-time Brazilian GP2 regular Lucas di Grassi joined him. It was reported by The Daily Telegraph that di Grassi had also provided Virgin with £5 million worth of sponsorship. An important factor in his decision was the chance to work with John Booth , the Virgin team principal. Technical director Nick Wirth took

920-411: A driver to race in Formula One – was reported to have expired as he had not raced in over three years (his last appearance being at the 2006 Italian Grand Prix ), which would have prevented him from leaving pit lane and taking to the circuit. Klien took part in the session, with reports claiming that his racing licence had been renewed just ten minutes before the session began. The first practice session

1035-439: A few of those cripples. He also said "Richard should put some money in there, shouldn't he? He could do what (Red Bull chief Dietrich Mateschitz) has done and put some money in." But John Booth said that it was unfair to suggest Branson should put more money into the team, saying how "He was very brave joining a start-up operation that might have gone horribly wrong and he's been supportive throughout and brought us new backers." At

1150-581: A financial incentive for GPs to push patients toward the Virgin services at the centre. Plans to take over an NHS Practice in Swindon were abandoned in late September 2008. In February 2009, Branson's Virgin organization was reported as bidding to buy the former Honda Formula One team. Branson later stated an interest in Formula One , but claimed that, before the Virgin brand became involved with Honda or any other team, Formula One would have to develop

1265-537: A five-year contract for provision of a range of health services which had previously been under the aegis of NHS Surrey, the local primary care trust. By March 2015, Virgin Care was in charge of more than 230 services nationwide. In July 2012, Branson announced plans to build an orbital space launch system , designated LauncherOne . Four commercial customers have already contracted for launches and two companies are developing standardised satellite buses optimised to

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1380-462: A front wing change. The second of Chandhok's incidents saw Jaime Alguersuari chop across his front end at the same corner, knocking his front wing off. Chandhok was forced to pit, but retired a lap later with suspension damage caused by the collision; Alguersuari was given a drive through penalty for his efforts. His team-mate Buemi had been penalised earlier after rejoining the track in unsafe manner, just ahead of Jarno Trulli . Williams gambled on

1495-590: A further redesign of the relevant components ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix . At the Bahrain Grand Prix first practice, di Grassi was plagued by mechanical issues, di Grassi could only manage a couple of installation laps whilst Glock was able to coax his car to a 2:03.680. In the Bahrain Grand Prix final practice, Twenty-two minutes into the final practice session at the Sakhir circuit,

1610-688: A global audience. The company was founded with author Deepak Chopra , filmmaker Shekhar Kapur , and entrepreneurs Sharad Devarajan and Gotham Chopra . Branson also launched the Virgin Health Bank on 1 February 2007, offering parents-to-be the opportunity to store their baby's umbilical cord blood stem cells in private and public stem-cell banks. In June 2006, a tip-off from Virgin Atlantic led both UK and US competition authorities to investigate price-fixing attempts between Virgin Atlantic and British Airways. In August 2007, British Airways

1725-479: A great affinity with the public they can do well." On 17 November 2009 it was announced by the team that former Toyota driver Timo Glock would be the team's lead driver for the 2010 season. It seemed as though Glock would partner Polish driver Robert Kubica at Renault , but following Renault's decision to announce whether it would take part in Formula 1 for 2010, Glock chose an option where he would be guaranteed

1840-530: A greater problem for de la Rosa, forcing him to retire with accident damage. The other first-lap incident saw an early exit for Bruno Senna , his Hispania spearing into the barriers at the same corner as the Buemi-de la Rosa incident. Lotus 's Heikki Kovalainen was the only driver who failed to start the race when his gearbox software attempted to select two gears at the same time. The Red Bulls, especially Webber, slowly started pulling away from Hamilton, but

1955-474: A longer-wheelbase version of the VR-01 for Lucas di Grassi after the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull . The Cosworth engines suffered problems, but Virgin managed to score another double finish, ahead of HRT and Lotus, albeit only Chandhok was a classified finisher of these rivals. At Canada , Hispania improved a lot. They beat Virgin in free practice, and split qualified in front of them. Glock retired due to

2070-536: A magazine named Student in 1966 with Nik Powell . The first issue of Student appeared in January 1968, and a year later, Branson's net worth was estimated at £50,000. The office for the venture was situated in the crypt of St. John's Church, off Bayswater Road , in London. Though not initially as successful as he hoped, the magazine later became a vital component of the mail-order record business Branson started from

2185-443: A more economically efficient and environmentally responsible image. At the start of the 2009 Formula One season on 28 March, it was announced that Virgin would be sponsoring the new Brawn GP team, with discussions also under way about introducing a less "dirty" fuel in the medium term. After the end of the season and the subsequent purchase of Brawn GP by Mercedes-Benz , Branson invested in an 80% buyout of Manor Grand Prix, with

2300-601: A passenger onboard Virgin Galactic Unity 22 at the edge of space , a suborbital test flight for his spaceflight company Virgin Galactic. The mission lasted approximately one hour, reaching a peak altitude of 53.5 miles (86.1 km). At 70, Branson became the third oldest person to fly to space. Richard Charles Nicholas Branson was born on 18 July 1950 in Blackheath , Royal Borough of Greenwich , London,

2415-618: A poster depicting Branson in an Air Asia uniform. However, the date of the flight was delayed several times: first because of Branson breaking his leg, then because of the royal wedding , finally because of a fire at the Necker Island . On 19 December 2012, Fernandes announced that Branson would honour his bet in May 2013. Branson ultimately honoured the bet on 13 May 2013. ( key ) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap) Driver failed to finish, but

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2530-520: A record shop in Oxford Street in London . In 1971, he was questioned in connection with the selling of records declared export stock. The matter was never brought before a court because Branson agreed to repay any unpaid purchase tax of 33% and a £70,000 fine. His parents re-mortgaged the family home to help pay the settlement. In 1972, using money earned from his record store, Branson launched

2645-428: A second separated all but Aluguersuari and Liuzzi from making it into Q3. Elsewhere, Mercedes elected not to send Michael Schumacher out to join everyone else late in the session as they were confident his time would be enough to see him through to the final session. Ferrari committed to a similar course of action in 2009, with the result being that Kimi Räikkönen was eliminated early on. The final ten-minute period

2760-600: A simple race and was within sight of the Lotuses when he crossed the line as the finish line. He finished ahead of the HRTs. Di Grassi had impressed the Virgin Racing engineers with his feedback but Booth had not been satisfied with his pace against Glock and scouted an alternative driver that ended with Booth coming into contact with the Belgian racer Jérôme d'Ambrosio . d’Ambrosio became the new Virgin reserve driver, and

2875-626: A steering rack leak that crippled his VR-01 on lap fifty-five. An early flurry of pit calls and incidents helped di Grassi to climb up to 10th place by lap 9, but the Brazilian fell through the field over the following laps as the Virgin VR-01 lacked all of the qualities of its fellow cars. His cause was not entirely helped by a hydraulics issue and he finished 5 laps down. Hispania was now level with Virgin. At Europe , Virgin qualified ahead of them. On lap 36, Glock attempted to pass Senna around

2990-532: A stewardess. Fernandes escaped as the bet winner, as Lotus Racing ended tenth in the championship, while Virgin Racing ended twelfth and last. Branson kept his word after losing the bet, as he served his duty as a stewardess on an Air Asia flight between Perth and Kuala Lumpur on 12 May 2013. In 2010, Branson became patron of the UK's Gordon Bennett 2010 gas balloon race, which has 16 hydrogen balloons flying across Europe. In April 2012, Virgin Care commenced

3105-597: A strategic partnership between the two. Branson joined the board of directors, and in December 2017, became its chairman. The announced winner of the 2017 Virgin StartUp's Foodpreneur prize was The Snaffling Pig Co ., which won a six-week rental space at Intu Lakeside, the retail center with the highest foot traffic in the United Kingdom. 2010 Spanish Grand Prix The 2010 Spanish Grand Prix (officially

3220-541: A strong 12th, ahead of both Hispanias , but behind both Lotus Racing cars. In Korea, di Grassi lost control of his car while trying to overtake the Hispania driver Sakon Yamamoto and crashed into the barriers on the 26th lap. Glock was on a roll in Korea heading for 12th place after starting in 20th in very wet conditions. This 12th place would have meant Virgin would have been 10th in the constructors, since no other of

3335-523: A too-small fuel tank was to bring a longer chassis to the Spanish Grand Prix to accommodate a larger fuel tank and a brand-new fuel feed system that would allow them to run as light as possible during qualifying. The VR-01 was also given a "shark fin" engine cowling. However, owing to the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland that had disrupted air travel across Europe at the time of

3450-559: A two-stop strategy for Nico Hülkenberg , a mistake that shunted the German driver down the order where he was caught up in a duel with a struggling Rosberg. Sébastien Buemi was the only other retirement, stopping on lap forty-four with hydraulics problems. The race order settled down with Webber leading from Hamilton and Vettel. Alonso was fourth, ahead of the Schumacher-Button scrap which Massa also joined, with Sutil, Kubica and

3565-678: A variation of the Virgin Galactic livery to his personal business jet, the Dassault Falcon 900EX "Galactic Girl" (G-GALX). He was ninth in The Sunday Times Rich List 2006 of the wealthiest people or families in the UK, worth slightly more than £3 billion. Branson wrote in his autobiography of the decision to start an airline. My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them ... from

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3680-507: A wind tunnel -- there are not enough hours in the day. People will start splitting the resource much more towards CFD." Later upgrades to the VR-01 seemed to vindicate that decision. Like all the new teams Virgin suffered problems with hydraulics, John Booth commented, "Everything connected with the hydraulics was such high pressure that the smallest impurity, crack or fault was a car stopper because it controls four or five major components," It had been reported by Auto, Motor und Sport that

3795-649: A young age. His first business venture, at the age of 16, was a magazine called Student . In 1970, he set up a mail-order record business. He opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records —later known as Virgin Megastores —in 1972. Branson's Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s, as he started the Virgin Atlantic airline and expanded the Virgin Records music label . In 1997, Branson founded

3910-468: Is manufactured by The Spaceship Company , which was founded by Branson and Rutan and is now solely owned by Virgin Galactic. In 2013, Branson said that he planned to take his two children, 31-year-old Holly and 28-year-old Sam, on a trip to outer space when they ride the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane on its first public flight, then planned for 2014. As part of his promotion of the firm, Branson has added

4025-445: The 2009 race , Mark Webber reported being able to hear Spanish truck drivers talking to one another over CB radios. Lotus was once again the fastest of the newcomers, with Trulli and Kovalainen qualifying nineteenth and twentieth respectively, ahead of the two Virgins and the two Hispanias. The second session was similarly themed, as Sutil, de la Rosa, Hülkenberg, Petrov, Buemi, Alguersuari and Liuzzi all fell away. Just four tenths of

4140-500: The Chinese Grand Prix , Glock was forced to start from pit lane alongside di Grassi after the team failed to lower him from the front jack on the grid in time for the warmup lap. Glock was returned to the pits, but never started after an engine failure manifested itself. Di Grassi trundled behind Karun Chandhok until he retired with clutch failure after and retired on lap 8. Virgin 's solution to their problem of having

4255-642: The Formula 1 Gran Premio de España Telefónica 2010 ) was the fifth round of the 2010 Formula One season . It was held on 9 May 2010 at the Circuit de Catalunya . It was the first European race of the 2010 season , and was ultimately won by Red Bull 's Mark Webber after the Australian qualified on pole and led every lap of the race. The lead-up to the first practice session saw the media focus on several major upgrades various teams had introduced in time for

4370-638: The House of Commons that Branson's criminal conviction for tax evasion might be felt by some as a good enough reason not to trust him with public money. In September 2023, Branson declared his decision against injecting additional funds into Virgin Galactic, his space travel company experiencing financial losses. He highlighted that his business empire no longer possesses extensive financial resources, indicating constraints on further investment. On 9 January 2008, Virgin Healthcare announced that it would open

4485-694: The SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane designed for space tourism . In March 2000, Branson was knighted at Buckingham Palace for "services to entrepreneurship". Due to his work in retail, music, and transport, his taste for adventure, and for his humanitarian work, he has become a prominent global figure. In 2007, he was placed in the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World list. In June 2023, Forbes listed Branson's estimated net worth at US$ 3 billion. On 11 July 2021, Branson travelled as

4600-583: The Spanish Grand Prix on 9 May. The Lotus T127 was definitely ahead of the VR-01 in terms of both pace and reliability, whilst the Dallara -designed Hispania F110 was a little behind Lotus and Virgin. Glock and Di Grassi qualified 21st and 22nd respectively, but nominated to start their drivers from pit lane after replacing the fuel collectors on their cars after issues in qualifying forced them to run with more fuel than would be ideal. Both cars managed to avoid

4715-442: The VR-01 . The final result meant that Button kept his championship lead going into the next round by just three points, while the same amount separated McLaren from Ferrari in the constructors' standings, with Red Bull only a further three points behind. The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media at a later press conference. Red Bull team mechanic Kenny Handkammer appeared on

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4830-835: The Virgin Rail Group to bid for passenger rail franchises during the privatisation of British Rail . The Virgin Trains brand operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from 1997 to 2019, the InterCity CrossCountry franchise from 1997 to 2007, and the InterCity East Coast franchise from 2015 to 2018. In 2004, he founded spaceflight corporation Virgin Galactic , based at Mojave Air and Space Port in California, noted for

4945-473: The previous race , only one chassis was able to make it to Barcelona, to be used by Timo Glock . In practice, Virgin were given a penalty after the team failed to notify the FIA of changes to their gear ratios before the deadline. Glock and di Grassi qualified 22nd and 23rd, and Virgin scored their first-ever double car finish with 18th and 19th, the last of the finishers, although di Grassi battled with car setup and

5060-402: The 3 teams had finished that high. On lap thirty-one, Buemi tried to pass Glock on the outside heading into turn three but lost control of his car under braking and rammed into the side of Glock. Buemi sustained a broken left, front suspension, and front wing damage, causing him to retire. Glock drove back to his pit box where his mechanics examined his car for damage and decided to retire him from

5175-567: The Earth's climate. Branson also announced that he would be joined in the adjudication of the prize by a panel of five judges, all world authorities in their respective fields: Al Gore , Sir Crispin Tickell , Tim Flannery , James E. Hansen , and James Lovelock . In July 2007, Branson purchased his Australian home, Makepeace Island , in Noosa . In August 2007, Branson announced that he had bought

5290-554: The McLarens of Hamilton and Button slipped backwards; Hamilton finishing fifth and Button ninth. Jarno Trulli supplanted teammate Kovalainen as the fastest of the new teams. The third session was marked by separate incidents by Petrov and Kamui Kobayashi , both of whom found a puddle of standing water in the middle of the Repsol corner just minutes apart. Kobayashi survived unscathed, but Petrov spun and crashed. The damage to his R30

5405-492: The VR-01's fuel tank was too small for the car to finish a race, and that the team applied to the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in order to obtain permission to modify the chassis to accommodate a larger tank. The revised chassis, with a longer underbody, engine cover and other bodywork changes, was expected to be introduced at the Spanish Grand Prix . This was later clarified to mean that

5520-464: The Virgin group was Virgin Fuels , which was set up to respond to global warming and exploit the recent spike in fuel costs by offering a revolutionary, cheaper fuel for automobiles and, in the near future, aircraft. Branson has stated that he was formerly a global warming sceptic and was influenced in his decision by a breakfast meeting with Al Gore . On 21 September 2006, Branson pledged to invest

5635-519: The Virgin label to EMI for £500 million. Branson said that he wept when the sale was completed because the record business had been the very start of the Virgin empire. He created V2 Records in 1996 to re-enter the music business, owning 5% himself. Virgin also acquired European short-haul airline Euro Belgian Airlines and renamed it Virgin Express . In 1997, Branson took what many saw as being one of his riskier business exploits by entering into

5750-404: The age of sixteen. Branson has dyslexia , and had poor academic performance; on his last day at school, his headmaster, Robert Drayson , told him he would either end up in prison or become a millionaire. Branson has also talked openly about having ADHD . Branson's parents were supportive of his endeavours from an early age. His mother was an entrepreneur; one of her most successful ventures

5865-407: The car would struggle to complete races with a heavy rate of fuel consumption. The car passed its mandatory FIA crash tests, and completed its first track run at Silverstone on February 4 in the hands of Glock. It tested with other teams for the first time at the group test at Jerez from February 10 to 13. On the first day, Glock completed five laps of the track during wet weather conditions. On

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5980-517: The chance to see our beautiful planet from such a powerful perspective." In 2014, Branson launched the "Foodpreneur" food and drink-focused start-up competition. Winners were provided with mentorship from Branson, legal support, and brand counseling. The 2014 winners included Proper Beans, Killer Tomato, Sweetpea Pantry and Sweet Virtues. In 2015, the competition expanded to the Virgin StartUp's Foodpreneur Festival. The 2015 winners were given

6095-718: The commercials. Car preparation and racing operations were run from its headquarters in Dinnington , South Yorkshire ; Wirth Research designed, developed, and built the VR-01 from its base in Bicester , before announcing a relocation to new, larger premises in Banbury , Oxfordshire in July 2010. Virgin Racing had the lowest operating budget of all the teams in 2010 of £40m. Branson said, "Money's not everything. They are determined to prove that via engineering prowess, great drivers, and

6210-529: The contract, Branson said he was convinced the civil servants had "got their maths wrong". In October, after an investigation into the bidding process, the deal was scrapped. The Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin announced there were "significant technical flaws" in the process and mistakes had been made by transport staff. Virgin Rail continued to operate the West Coast line until 7 December 2019, when it

6325-400: The decision to use only the computer simulation tool CFD to develop the aerodynamics, with no reference to a wind tunnel. John Booth said, "My prediction is that wind tunnels will be a thing of the past and by the time Malaysia1 (Lotus Racing) get theirs built, they will be redundant. When you look at the pace of development, particularly in the front wing area, there's no way that can be done in

6440-501: The design of LauncherOne, in expectation of business opportunities created by the new smallsat launcher. In August 2012, when re-tendered the InterCity West Coast franchise was awarded to FirstGroup after a competitive tender process overseen by the Department for Transport . Branson had expressed his concerns about the tender process and questioned the validity of the business plan submitted by FirstGroup. When Virgin Rail lost

6555-463: The fastest times in each of the three session. Webber went on to take pole position. Q1 saw the elimination of the six newcomers – a running theme throughout the season – as well as the Williams of Rubens Barrichello . Barrichello claimed he had been unable to understand his engineer while out on the circuit. The Circuit de Catalunya has a history of radio-related problems; during practice sessions for

6670-471: The good of mankind. The Virgin Earth Challenge was to award $ 25 million to the individual or group who are able to demonstrate a commercially viable design that will result in the net removal of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases each year for at least ten years without countervailing harmful effects. This removal must have long-term effects and contribute materially to the stability of

6785-405: The latter attempted to lap him as they negotiated the corner before the final chicane; Massa, who had been lacking speed all weekend, experienced a better-handling car with a damaged front wing. A pitstop would have meant dropping down at least two or three places for Massa and since the handling of the car wasn't hampered much due to the damage, the team took the decision of not bringing Massa in for

6900-437: The new teams were very much needed as an insurance policy by F1's power brokers. But, once it was obvious that a breakaway was no more likely than at any other time during the previous 30 years, that was not quite so true. There would be no performance breaks for the newcomers, as promised, and the question was whether or not to continue. They ultimately decided to continue but within the financial framework, they had decided on for

7015-431: The new teams. In the race, Both cars got off the line, but on Lap 3, Di Grassi suffered a hydraulic failure, similar to pre-season testing, and pulled off to the side. The Brazilian driver was not too disheartened however, and was adamant that “the car was feeling good”. Timo Glock also retired on lap 17 after losing third and fifth gears. Heikki Kovalainen finished fifteenth in the second Lotus , meaning that Lotus became

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7130-433: The next day Glock notched up 72 laps for the car and had no mechanical problems, however the weather was still wet. Di Grassi took over for the remaining two days of the test. Technical director Wirth said that the hydraulic problem was solved and the car has not had any big glitches. The problem recurred, however, at the final pre-season testing session held at Catalunya , costing the team further track time and necessitating

7245-417: The nut on Timo Glock's front-left tyre worked loose. The tyre itself rolled off and along the track before hitting a barrier and coming to rest. Glock had moments earlier become the first of the newcomers to dip under the two-minute mark for the 6.299 km track, clocking a time of 1min 59.245sec. Glock was able to tour back to the garage for the remainder of the lap on three wheels, with the team discovering

7360-412: The old regulations - and could only do that because of Nick Wirth's CFD capability. With Mercedes-Benz purchasing Brawn at the end of the season, Branson invested in an 80% buyout of Manor Grand Prix, with the team being renamed Virgin Racing. Virgin Racing were based on a three-way partnership between Manor Motorsport, which ran the cars; Wirth Research, which designed them, and Virgin which handled all

7475-498: The only entrant of the new teams to have a car finish the race. For the Australian Grand Prix Virgin Racing was granted permission from Formula One's governing body the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) to change the size of their car's fuel tanks because their capacity was not large enough for their drivers to complete a Grand Prix at full speed; the chassis would not be ready until

7590-546: The opportunity to pitch Target Corporation buyers. The 2015 winners included Pip & Nut, Double Dutch Drinks, Harry Bromptons, Cauli Rice and Mallow and Marsh. In March 2015, Virgin Trains East Coast commenced operating the InterCity East Coast franchise; the company was a joint venture between Stagecoach (90%) and Virgin Group (10%). Due to the line performing below VTEC's expectations, it

7705-403: The outside heading into the first corner but was unable to move ahead. On lap 37, Glock again attempted to overtake Senna but the two cars collided. The incident caused a puncture on Glock's car that very nearly threw him into the wall and forced him to make a pit stop, though his crew was not ready for him and he lost several seconds as the tyres were brought out. Senna remained on the circuit with

7820-644: The partnership on Richard Branson's boat, leading to the concise and impactful title " Now That's What I Call Music! ," inspired by a Danish Bacon poster gifted to Simon Draper. Richard Branson's introduction to the antique shop owned by Joan Templeman, played a pivotal role in his growing fascination with old signs and advertisements, ultimately shaping the collection. Branson formed Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Cargo in 1984. He formed Virgin Holidays in 1985. In 1992, to keep his airline company afloat, Branson sold

7935-580: The path of Rosberg; the young German was forced to swerve in the direction of the pit wall – and came close to contact with it – in order to avoid a collision. The front-row starting Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel started well off the line, and even though they were challenged by Lewis Hamilton and local hero Fernando Alonso on the long dragrace to the first corner, they maintained their positions with polesitter Webber leading. Reigning world champion Jenson Button and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher kept fifth and sixth, but there

8050-696: The perspective of wanting to live life to the full, I felt that I had to attempt it. In 2006, through a merger with SN Brussels Airlines , Virgin Airlines formed Brussels Airlines , while retaining its separate listing. It also started a national airline based in Nigeria, called Virgin Nigeria , which ceased operations in 2009. Another airline, Virgin America , began flying out of San Francisco International Airport in August 2007. Branson's next venture with

8165-459: The press that portrayed Virgin negatively. After the so-called campaign of "dirty tricks" , British Airways settled the case, giving £500,000 to Branson, a further £110,000 to his airline, and had to pay legal fees of up to £3 million. Branson distributed his compensation (the so-called "BA bonus") among his staff. Branson launched Virgin Mobile in 1999, and airline Virgin Blue in Australia in 2000. On 25 September 2004, Branson announced

8280-425: The problem being an under-torqued airgun. In Qualifying, by some margin, di Grassi was able to head the two Hispanias by just under three seconds, managing a 2:00.587 and two tenths behind Lotus’ Heikki Kovalainen, who qualified 21st. Glock was able to stretch his legs thanks to greater familiarity with the Virgin car, and took a well-worked 19th, pipping Jarno Trulli in the other Lotus to be the highest placed driver of

8395-633: The profits of Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Trains in research for environmentally-friendly fuels. The investment is estimated to be worth $ 3 billion. On 4 July 2006, Branson sold his Virgin Mobile company to UK cable TV, broadband, and telephone company NTL:Telewest for £900 million. A new company was launched with much fanfare and publicity on 8 February 2007, under the name Virgin Media . The decision to merge his Virgin Media Company with NTL

8510-417: The public to such lesser known avant-garde music as Faust and Can . Virgin Records also introduced Culture Club to the music world. Branson's net worth was estimated at £5 million by 1979, and a year later, Virgin Records went international. Branson's first successful entry into the airline industry was during a trip to Puerto Rico. His flight was cancelled, so he decided to charter his own plane

8625-540: The race because a camber shim on his car was loose and it caused the left rear suspension to move around. Virgin had yet to finish a race, while HRT scooped up a 14th, which would become costly for Virgin at the end of the season. At the Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying, a heavy storm lashed the circuit, proved pivotal – as the track started to dry in the last moments of qualifying. McLaren and Ferrari drivers inexplicably opted to remain in their garages while

8740-534: The race. This wrecked Virgin's chances of finishing 10th in the Constructors’ table. At Brazil, di Grassi in his home race struggled with problems with his suspension and despite his team's mechanics rectifying the issue at his mid-race pit stop, he was not classified in the final results. Glock finished 20th. In November 2010, Bernie Ecclestone called the three new teams "cripples" and said "They do nothing for us, they are an embarrassment. We need to get rid of

8855-621: The railway business during the privatisation of British Rail in the late 1990s. Virgin Rail Group won the InterCity CrossCountry and InterCity West Coast franchises, beginning operations in January and March 1997 respectively. Both franchises were scheduled to run for 15 years. A series of disputes in the early 1990s caused tension between Virgin Atlantic and British Airways , which viewed Virgin as an emerging competitor. Virgin subsequently accused British Airways of poaching its passengers, hacking its computers, and leaking stories to

8970-417: The rate at which he pulled away was not as quick as one would have expected. The gap to Hamilton increased by two or three tenths of a second per lap, not by a full second as suggested in practice and qualifying. The first and only round of pit stops came shortly after lap fifteen, and a mistake by Red Bull cost Vettel four seconds, and a place to Hamilton. McLaren also did not have a perfect pitstop with Button,

9085-421: The record label Virgin Records with Nik Powell . The name "Virgin" was suggested by one of Branson's early employees because they were all new at business. Branson bought a country estate north of Oxford in which he installed a residential recording studio, The Manor Studio . He leased studio time to fledgling artists, including multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield , whose debut album Tubular Bells (1973)

9200-414: The recovering Rubens Barrichello in the Williams completing the top ten. On lap fifty-four, Vettel went wide at turn six, with a suspected front brake failure and had a trip across the gravel. This damaged his tyres, and he came in for inspection and also for a new set of tyres, which dropped him behind Alonso. It was soon evident that he was struggling with brake issues, and thus Vettel had to slow down for

9315-592: The rest of the field set banker laps, before the rain arrived. By the time they made their way onto the track, the rain had set in, and it proved impossible to complete a lap good enough to make it into Q2. This meant Timo Glock qualified in 16th, ahead of both McLaren and Ferrari, while di Grassi qualified 24th. Glock was overtaken on the first lap, and retired on lap three after a collision with Jarno Trulli . di Grassi overtook rivals Lotus Racing and Hispania Racing to finish 14th, Virgin and di Grassi's first-ever finish in Formula One, albeit on fuel conservation mode. At

9430-459: The rest of the race to nurse his brakes and finish the race. On lap sixty-five – the penultimate lap of the race – Hamilton lost second place when he suffered a left-front tyre puncture followed shortly by a blowout at turn three, which punted him into the wall, although far less violently than when a similar accident claimed then McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen at the 2008 race . He was classified as finishing fourteenth as he had completed 90% of

9545-535: The rest of the way and offered a ride to the rest of the stranded passengers for a small fee to cover the cost. In 1982, Virgin purchased the gay bar Heaven . In 1991, in a consortium with David Frost , Branson made an unsuccessful bid for three ITV franchises under the CPV-TV name. The early 1980s also saw his only attempt as a producer—on the novelty record " Baa, Baa, Black Sheep ", by The Singing Sheep in association with Doug McLean and Grace McDonald, on which he

9660-481: The result being that he came out behind Schumacher at the end of turn 1. Button was later critical of the German's swipe across the circuit to claim the position. He spent the rest of the race looking at the Mercedes' rear wing. The sole surviving Hispania of Karun Chandhok was caught up in two separate incidents in the final sector of the circuit. The first saw contact between his car and Felipe Massa's Ferrari as

9775-409: The same church he used for Student . Branson used the magazine to advertise popular albums, driving his record sales. He interviewed several prominent personalities of the late 1960s for the magazine including Mick Jagger and R. D. Laing . Branson took over full direction of Student after successfully lying to Powell that the workers at the magazine opposed Powell's plans to turn the magazine into

9890-568: The season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix , di Grassi chose to make a pit stop for new tyres during a safety car period and managed them until the end of the race, while Glock retired. After the race, di Grassi commented "We had to do more than 50 laps with the same set of tyres, which seemed like a difficult task, but we managed it. I am ending the year with a feeling of ‘mission accomplished’” . Hispania managed to pick up some 15th places in Singapore and Japan, and along with Virgin's unreliability at

10005-502: The second day, he completed eleven laps before the car's front wing failed; the team had to abandon the day's running due to a shortage of spare parts. Virgin modified the front wing mounting of the VR-01 ahead of the third day's running in Jerez, where di Grassi ran the Virgin for the first time. The following test was plagued by weather conditions and the car suffered a hydraulic problem on the first test day and Glock only managed 10 laps. On

10120-594: The show Finding Your Roots , Branson was shown to have 3.9% South Asian (Indian) DNA, likely through intermarriage. Later, he stated that one of his great-great-great-grandmothers was an Indian named Ariya. Branson was educated at Scaitcliffe School , a prep school in Surrey , before briefly attending Cliff View House School in Sussex . He attended Stowe School , a private school in Buckinghamshire until

10235-556: The signing of a deal under which a new space tourism company, Virgin Galactic , will license the technology behind SpaceShipOne —funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and designed by aeronautical engineer Burt Rutan —to take paying passengers into suborbital outer space . Virgin Galactic plans to make flights available to the public with tickets priced at US$ 200,000 using the Scaled Composites White Knight Two . The spacecraft, SpaceShipTwo ,

10350-812: The son of Edward James Branson (1918–2011), a barrister , and his wife Evette Huntley Branson ( née  Flindt ; 1924–2021), a former ballet dancer and air hostess. He has two younger sisters, Lindy and Vanessa . His grandfather, Sir George Arthur Harwin Branson , was a judge of the High Court of Justice and a Privy Councillor . Branson's great-great-great-grandfather, John Edward Branson, left England for India in 1793; John Edward's father, Harry Wilkins Branson, later joined his son in Madras . Starting from 1793, four generations of Branson's family lived in India, mostly at Cuddalore , in modern-day Tamil Nadu . On

10465-439: The spun Alonso on the first lap. On lap 5, Schumacher attempted to pass di Grassi for 19th position but di Grassi managed to retake the position from Schumacher by driving around the outside of Ascari corner, but Schumacher got ahead of di Grassi on the pit straight. di Grassi drove to his garage to retire with an issue with his car's hydraulics on lap 29, while on the 45th lap, Glock made a pit stop and his mechanics retired him from

10580-578: The start and not finishing 12th in Korea meant Hispania Racing finished ahead of them in the constructors championship, despite having a much slower car. Glock and Di Grassi only managed two 14th-place finishes between them compared to the Hispania drivers' three. Di Grassi ultimately didn’t have the pace to match Glock, although at times he wasn’t using the same equipment. He was replaced by Jerome d'Ambrosio for 2011. On 16 December 2009, Tony Fernandes , owner of Air Asia and Lotus F1 Racing accepted

10695-517: The start of the European season. Mercedes abandoned the use of an airbox mounted atop the engine cowling, in favour of a rigid vertical rollbar and two pronounced air intakes directly behind the driver's cockpit. Virgin 's solution to their problem of having a too-small fuel tank was to bring a longer chassis to accommodate a larger fuel tank and a brand-new fuel feed system that would allow them to run as light as possible during qualifying. The VR-01

10810-579: The team being renamed Virgin Racing . In 2010, Virgin Hotels was launched under the Virgin Group. In February 2018, Branson announced the first Virgin hotel in the UK would open in Edinburgh. Branson and Tony Fernandes , owner of Air Asia and Lotus F1 Racing , had a bet for the 2010 F1 season where the losing team's boss should work on the winner's airline during a charity flight dressed as

10925-430: The unresolved Schumacher-Button scrap seeing the former World Champion home before the defending champion. Massa finished sixth, followed by Sutil, Kubica, and Barrichello and Alguersuari, who were a lap down. Jarno Trulli 's Lotus was the first of the new teams to finish the race, whilst Virgin Racing notched up their first double-finish of the season, despite Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi driving different versions of

11040-415: The wake of controversy that arose from accusations that their generic Marlboro "barcode" decal contained subliminal advertising, Ferrari removed all traces of it from their car for the weekend. Elsewhere, Hispania signed former Jaguar driver Christian Klien as a test driver, running him in the place of Karun Chandhok for the first practice session. Klien's FIA Super Licence – the licence that allows

11155-412: The wall that tore the front wing off. Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari stopped on the circuit with just a few minutes remaining in the session, with the recovery truck hitting a bridge as it returned the stricken car to the pits. The session was topped by Sebastian Vettel , followed closely by teammate Mark Webber and Schumacher once again setting the third-fastest time. Alonso improved to fourth, while

11270-483: The winner's race distance, his accident gifting second place to Alonso and allowing the fading Vettel back onto the podium for third. Vitantonio Liuzzi suffered a similar fate to Hamilton when his engine gave up on the same lap, the Italian stopping on the circuit. Mark Webber crossed the finish line first, becoming the tenth driver in ten Spanish Grands Prix to win from pole. Alonso finished second, with Vettel third and

11385-423: Was also given a "shark fin" engine cowling. However, owing to the volcanic eruptions in Iceland that had disrupted air travel across Europe at the time of the previous race , only one chassis was able to make it to Barcelona, to be used by Timo Glock . Following several dramatic engine problems that had affected both them and their customer teams, Ferrari were given permission by the FIA to modify their engines. In

11500-610: Was announced in May 2018 that the contract would be terminated early by the government. VTEC ceased operating on 23 June 2018 and operations passed to a government-owned operator, London North Eastern Railway . In November 2015, Branson announced the addition of Moskito Island to the Virgin Limited Edition portfolio. This resort, The Branson Estate on Moskito Island, offers 11 bedrooms for 22 guests. In 2017, Virgin Group invested in Hyperloop One , developing

11615-487: Was building and selling wooden tissue boxes and wastepaper bins. In London, he started off squatting from 1967 to 1968. Branson is an atheist . He said in a 2011 interview with CNN's Piers Morgan that he believes in evolution and the importance of humanitarian efforts but not in the existence of God. "I would love to believe," he said. "It's very comforting to believe". After failed attempts to grow and sell both Christmas trees and budgerigars , Branson launched

11730-497: Was classified as they had completed >90% of the race distance. [REDACTED] Media related to Virgin VR-01 at Wikimedia Commons Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, and as of 2016 controlled 5 companies remaining of once more than 400. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneur at

11845-468: Was credited as "Jeff Mutton". The track consisted of samples of animal noises recorded at his aunt Claire Hoares' farm in Norfolk, set to a drum-machine-produced track and reached number 42 in the UK charts in 1982. In 1983, Now That's What I Call Music! emerged from Virgin Records offices as a unique compilation series, distinct in its originality. Collaborating with EMI , Peter Jamieson orchestrated

11960-534: Was eighth for Ferrari, sandwiched between the Renaults of Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov . Heikki Kovalainen was once again the fastest of the new teams, his Lotus T127 finishing four seconds slower than Hamilton and less than two behind the Williams of Nico Hülkenberg . Hülkenberg would later provide drama in the second session, when an off-track excursion at the exit of Campsa resulted in an impact with

12075-488: Was extensive enough to warrant the team changing his gearbox, earning himself a five-place grid penalty. Similar penalties were applied to both Virgin Racing cars after the team failed to notify the FIA of changes to their gear ratios before the deadline, and to Hispania's Karun Chandhok , who replaced his gearbox. Qualifying was a race to see who would place third on the grid as the Red Bulls of Webber and Vettel setting

12190-519: Was fined £271 million over the allegations. Virgin Atlantic was given immunity for tipping off the authorities and received no fine—a controversial decision the Office of Fair Trading defended as being in the public interest. On 9 February 2007, Branson announced the setting up of a new global science and technology prize—The Virgin Earth Challenge —in the belief that history has shown that prizes of this nature encourage technological advancements for

12305-472: Was handed di Grassi's car in the first Singapore practice session. d’Ambrosio ended the session just over 0.2 seconds behind Glock At the Japanese Grand Prix, di Grassi out qualified Glock, but had a heavy accident on the way to the grid, leaving the track at the entrance to 130R, fishtailing wildly and spinning out across the run-off area and hitting the wall. Glock, on the other hand, finished

12420-463: Was incident-free, save for Sauber 's Pedro de la Rosa falling victim to a gearbox failure. Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button topped the timing sheets for McLaren , with Michael Schumacher experiencing a resurgence to finish third after a poor opening to his 2010 campaign. The German later admitted that the team's updates to the W01 had inspired more confidence in him. Local favourite Fernando Alonso

12535-507: Was introduced to Nick back in March 09 when the budget cap concept was introduced, There was going to be 30m pounds TV money, that was going to be the cost of the season and it all sounded like a great idea." The team was meeting prospective sponsors for 2010 at Silverstone at the 2009 British Grand Prix weekend on the very day that F1 threatened to implode amid commercial acrimony and the threat of breakaway championships. Against that landscape

12650-483: Was light contact between Robert Kubica and Kamui Kobayashi which sent both falling down the order. Nico Rosberg in the second Mercedes was forced to take evasive action and ran onto the grass. Kobayashi's BMW Sauber team-mate Pedro de la Rosa had a similar altercation with Sébastien Buemi that resulted in a puncture for the Spaniard, while Buemi was demoted to last on the road. The incident would later morph into

12765-509: Was made in order to integrate compatible areas of the two businesses. Whilst Branson had owned three-quarters of Virgin Mobile, he would now get paid £8.5 million per annum for the use of the Virgin brand name. He does not own any part of Virgin Media. In 2006, Branson formed Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation, an entertainment company focused on creating new stories and characters for

12880-463: Was once again dominated by Red Bull, with Webber to the fore. Hamilton edged out local hero Alonso for third on the grid, while Button narrowly missed out on putting his MP4-25 alongside his team-mate. Schumacher slotted into sixth place, followed by Kubica, Nico Rosberg , Felipe Massa and Kobayashi. Ferrari were later fined US$ 20,000 (in keeping with the sport's strict financial penalty rule) for an unsafe release that saw Alonso deployed directly into

12995-461: Was replaced by Avanti West Coast . In September 2014, Branson announced his investment in drone company 3D Robotics stating, "It's amazing to see what a little flying object with a GoPro attached can do. Before they came along the alternative was an expensive helicopter and crew. I'm really excited about the potential 3D Robotics sees in drones. They can do a lot of good in the world, and I hope this affordable technology will give many more people

13110-562: Was the first release for Virgin Records and became a chart-topping best-seller. Virgin signed controversial bands such as the Sex Pistols , which other companies were reluctant to sign. Virgin Records would go on to sign other artists including the Rolling Stones , Peter Gabriel , XTC , Japan , UB40 , Steve Winwood and Paula Abdul , and to become the world's largest independent record label. It also won praise for exposing

13225-624: Was the last driver to finish the race. At Monaco , the Virgin's qualified behind the Lotus' but ahead of the HRT's. Glock and di Grassi tried to defend from Alonso, with di Grassi claiming plenty of TV coverage in the opening stages with Alonso waving his hand at di Grassi's driving up turn 1 and 2. It took 3 laps for Alonso to pass. On lap 22, Glock retired with a broken track rod, and di Grassi retired on lap 25 due to his right-rear wheel becoming loose at his pit stop. At Turkey Virgin managed to procure

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