Virgin breaks contract with technical partners and technical director Nick Wirth

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The Marussia Virgin Formula One team break contract with technical director Nick Wirth after a poor start to its second season in F1.

Wirth will leave his role as technical director, and the team has also terminated its three-year deal with WR Technology, or WRT, the Wirth-owned company that provides technical and design services.

The news comes after a special board meeting in Monaco during last weekend's Grand Prix, where consultant Pat Symonds--the former Renault F1 man engaged to take an overview of the project--gave a frank assessment of the team's current position.

WRT increased its computational fluid dynamics computing power in March, thanks to team partner CSC, and Wirth insisted that he be judged on the updates that first came online in Turkey.

However, they failed to produce an upturn in form. Supercar maker Marussia is keen to make upward progress, and there was pressure for change.

The divorce is complicated by the fact that Wirth has a shareholding in the team and is not just a contractor. He was not in Monaco for the meeting, but one source confirmed that he would not participate anyway in his role as a director because of a conflict of interest, as he was the meeting's subject.

Virgin has yet to reveal what its immediate plans are. It's believed that WRT will continue to supply the race team with parts, which are mostly made by third parties, for the next month.

The team owns all of the intellectual property and design drawings and will be free to deal direct with the same suppliers. It can also reclaim the CSC computing power and continue to use it, so getting through this season and creating a 2012 car from scratch might not be as daunting a task as it might at first seem.

Former Renault engineering chief Symonds is still under an FIA ban from a front-line role in F1 until the end of 2012 because of his role in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix race-fixing scandal. Despite the restrictions, he is free to continue in a consultancy role.

It's understood that, in the longer term, Marrusia has ambitious plans to create a proper technical facility in the U.K.

What has been disappointing is our pace. It's aero efficiency.

We're nowhere with it.