Virgin completed their third straight-line aero test of the season on Tuesday at the Italian circuit of Vairano, providing reserve driver Robert Wickens, a member of the team’s young driver programme, with his first experience in a Formula One car.

Wickens, currently leading the Formula Renault 3.5 championship, completed 210 kilometres in the MVR-02 in what was a solid day of testing for Virgin, enabling them to gather plenty of data with which to further develop the new aero package