Virgin Racing driver Timo Glock has poured cold water on the idea that the Virgin Racing team can make the top ten of the constructors championship now, bar some sort of "crazy wet race" in the final stages of the season.
The 'epic' battle for tenth place in the constructors standings, and the extra prize money that comes with it, has been raging all season between the three newbie teams.
Although none of them have scored points, nor looked like scoring points, the ranking between them is based on the best race result secured. On that front, Heikki Kovalainen's 13th place in the Australian Grand Prix currently puts Lotus in 10th place.
And with the Virgin and HRT team running out of races to try and secure a better result to get them ahead of Lotus in the standings, Glock has admitted that the top ten finish the team targeted at the start of the year was now looking unlikely.
"It will be very difficult," he muttered to the German Auto Motor und Sport publication on Wednesday.
He added: "Maybe if there's a crazy wet race or something like that. Otherwise I don't see any chance."
The team attempted to secure a twelfth place finish to elevate them over Lotus at the recent Singapore race. But though a strategy gamble left Glock running 11th on the road for a while, he eventually slipped back to 17th and then retired.
But Virgin boss Richard Branson remains confident about the team's chances of success. The airline owner famously entered into a pre-season bet with fellow aviation businessman Tony Fernandes where the losing team owner would serve a shift as a stewardess on their opponent's airline.
"I think Tony will be fetching as a Virgin stewardess," Branson grinned during the Singapore weekend, "I think he is making an outfit for me as well."
Meanwhile, Glock called for a return of the safety car rule that saw lapped cars waved through the traffic and allowed to rejoin at the back of the pack.
The practice of waving lapped cars through was stopped due to the extra time it took to complete, as well as safety issues over having cars conducing another lap around to the back of the safety car queue during a caution period.
But after the lapped Virgins caused problems during the second restart at the Singapore race last weekend, when they lined up in the middle of the field, Glock suggested the old rule should return.
"I don't understand why we're not waved through," he whined, "Then the race at the front is not ruined and we can also keep driving our races."
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