Richard Branson, the man at the helm of Virgin racing, has revealed that he opted to go with a completely new team such as Manor, rather than continue on with Brawn, which is now Mercedes, after they won the 2009 drivers and constructors championship.

"The temptation might have been to write a big cheque to Brawn and stick with it for another season," Branson was quoted as saying on Autosport. "But when a team's won, you can't really do any better than winning. So we thought it was better to look for a new team and support that."

While Mercedes is the odds on favourite to win the 2010 championship as well, the new Virgin racing outfit has a long way to go as they prepare to debut in the pinnacle of Motorsports, however Branson is not fazed by the challenge that lies ahead, or have any visions of grandeur.

"We're not expecting the same sort of good fortune that we had last year. We fully accept that we're going to have to build the team over the coming years. But it's going to be exciting to try and do that.”

The team will be headed up by former Toyota driver Timo Glock and rookie racer Lucas di Grassi and according to Branson, to have Glock sign on to race for them when he had other offers for a quite a lot of money and turned down tried and tested cars, is nothing short of a tremendous endorsement for the new team.