This is an interesting piece of news. I thought that the constructor definition of FOTA does not allow a team to run a chassis that is based on intellectual property rights of a competitor. I wonder how Wirth was planning to go around this limitation. It appears that Virgin may be buying the right to use their chassis design on an annual basis from Wirth. With that construction any constructor who is separated from a race team by a company shell fire wall would be in a position to sell last year's chassis design. This could be an interesting cost saver for Red Bull's Toro Rosso as well.F1today.nl wrote:Virgin debuted early this year in Formula 1. Designer Nick Wirth designed the car without using a wind tunnel, partly to save costs. Wirth is convinced that this will be the future and that his chassis can be successful in Formula 1. Virgin was eagerly looking forward to the outcome of the FIA meeting during which the sport's governing body took a decision on the thirteenth team for the 2011 season. Sources in the paddock notified F1Today.nl that Virgin had advanced talks with Durango/Villeneuve on the sale of its 2010 chassis. Durango/Villeneuve had jointly tried to enter F1 next year as the thirteenth team. After the FIA had decided not to admit a thirteenth team, Virgin will incur a budget shortfall for 2011.