Nick Wirth's studio at Wirth Research doubled its CFD capacity to develop the MVR-02, building on the same philosophy that had underpinned the VR-01. The decision not to use a Kinetic Energy Recovery System was deliberate: chief designer Wirth argued that the gains from KERS did not justify the development expense for a team at this level of competition. Instead, resources were redirected toward improving the car's hydraulics and gearbox, both of which had been persistent sources of unreliability in 2010.
A packaging requirement that had caused problems the year before — the VR-01 had to be redesigned after its fuel tank proved too small to complete high-consumption races — was addressed by retaining the same overall length as the original chassis while accommodating a full-size tank. A detail touch connecting the car to Marussia's road-car line was an air intake on the nose cone modelled after the one on the Marussia B2 road car.
In June 2011 the team announced the end of its technical relationship with Wirth and Wirth Research, citing a disappointing start to the season. The parting brought the CFD-only design experiment to a close.
The MVR-02 entered the 2011 Australian Grand Prix and occupied the penultimate row of the grid alongside the HRT cars. Glock suffered a mechanical failure that required a lengthy garage stop, dropping him below the 90% distance threshold and leaving him unclassified; d'Ambrosio finished 16th on track and moved up to 14th after the disqualification of both Sauber cars.
The season followed a familiar pattern: the two Marussias regularly qualified 21st and 22nd, ahead of the two HRTs, and race results tracked closely to qualifying positions. At the Turkish Grand Prix, Glock received an "extreme" aerodynamic upgrade while d'Ambrosio waited until Spain. Despite Glock having the update, d'Ambrosio was faster throughout the Turkish weekend, then received a five-place grid penalty for ignoring yellow flags in Friday practice; Glock's car was found to have a mechanical fault on the grid and he took no start, leaving d'Ambrosio to drive home 20th on his own.
Canada produced the team's best double result of the year, both cars finishing 14th and 15th. The Monaco Grand Prix provided d'Ambrosio's best showing — 15th after a dramatic race in which Glock retired with suspension failure on lap 30.
At the Belgian Grand Prix, both cars were elevated off the back row when d'Ambrosio's home race qualifying happened in mixed conditions. He was 20th within the 107% rule and went on to finish 17th, ahead of Glock in 18th. In Japan the MVR-02s beat the HRTs in qualifying and race alike, also benefiting from the retirement of Sébastien Buemi's Toro Rosso. At the Indian Grand Prix — the circuit's first Formula One race — d'Ambrosio qualified inside the 107% time while Glock was nearly two seconds outside it; Glock was permitted to start on the basis of his practice sessions but retired after two laps following contact with Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber.
The final race under the Virgin name was the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix. D'Ambrosio qualified ahead of Glock but both lined up at the back; Glock retired first, while d'Ambrosio finished 19th ahead of both HRTs.
The MVR-02 was the last Formula One car designed exclusively with computational fluid dynamics, closing a brief experiment that began with the 2010 VR-01. Its competitive record — consistently ahead of HRT but unable to challenge Caterham — defined the floor of Formula One performance during this period. The wholesale change of design philosophy for 2012, with wind tunnel testing reinstated and Pat Symonds brought in as technical advisor, implicitly acknowledged the limits of the CFD-only approach. The car also marked the final season before the team officially became Marussia F1, completing the transition from the Virgin branding under which it had entered the sport.