Timo Glock profile

Not so very long ago, Timo Glock was driving for the big-budget Toyota team and taking podium finishes alongside the Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari drivers.

That ended with the Japanese giant's withdrawal at the end of 2009, and the German grasped the only career lifeline available to him at the time - with the new Virgin team.

Team: Virgin Team-mate: Charles Pic Nationality: German Born: 18/03/82, Lindenfels Grand prix debut: Canada 2004 Two seasons of bitter struggle later, it is to Glock's credit that not only has he rarely let his frustrations show, but his reputation within F1 remains solid.

There were times in 2011 when Glock seemed a little below his best - pre-season, not many would have predicted that the admittedly capable Belgian pay-driver Jerome d'Ambrosio would out-qualify him five times.

But a wholesale technical reshuffle through 2011, overseen by the vastly experienced former Renault engineering director Pat Symonds, has raised hopes of a stronger future for Virgin.

In Glock, they have a driver who can be relied upon to do justice to the car.

View the original article here