The backmarking Virgin Racing team will introduce a significant upgrade to their troublesome MVR-02 car for the Italian Grand Prix at the Monza circuit this weekend, in an effort to boost their somewhat unimpressive performance.
The upgrade was confirmed by team principal John Booth last week, and represents the final delivery of a mid-season upgrade originally scheduled for the British Grand Prix back in July.
The new parts will see the entire rear end of the car improved, with Booth confirming that everything from the car's floor to the engine cover will be changed.
Although it appears unlikely that the changes will help to significantly improve their fortunes, the team will be hoping that they can move clear of HRT at the back of the grid.
"It is engine cover, sidepods, exhaust, and rear floor," Booth told the Autosport website regarding the extent of the Monza changes.
"Obviously there will be a Monza wing as well, but this bodywork package will be on for the rest of the year. It will pull the whole back of the car in much tighter."
He insisted that the delayed upgrade has not affected their plans for next season, saying: "That has not really interrupted our 2012 progress because much of the design work [on the upgrade] was done.
"It was just a question of tidying it up and accommodating it."
The delay to the upgrade was a result of the team's mid-season technical changes, with the Dinnington-based squad ending their partnership with Nick Wirth's CFD design company.
Instead, the squad has drafted in former Renault technical chief Pat Symonds as a technical consultant to help improve their fortunes this year and into 2012.
The team has also negotiated a technical deal with McLaren from the start of 2012.
"We had an update in the pipeline for Silverstone, and we sidelined it because we did not think it was worth the effort at the timem," Booth rambled.
"But as Pat got to grips with the CFD evaluation of it, and looked into it a bit deeper, he thought it was well worth doing, so he pressed the button on that."
The next part of the team's technical overhaul will see them move to a new factory in Banbury, the former home of Wirth Research.
And Booth confirmed that the move was now scheduled to be completed for the end of the 2011 season in late November.
"The design team have got a nice new office down there; all the CAD stations are there, so it has been good to keep them running totally uninterrupted at a critical time," he smiled.
"The commercial team office is now finished, and they are moving this week. Then the race team will move in on the return from the Brazilian Grand Prix, so that makes it nice and clean - going straight to the new place."
The team will also hope that their new Monza upgrade will help to move them off the foot of the constructors championship.
After finishing last of all in 2010, Virgin are once again bottom of the standings this year, and will need to match or beat Tonio Liuzzi's 13th place in Canada for HRT over the final seven races to move up to 11th.
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