Sir Richard Branson is ready to stamp his Midas touch on Formula One's latest underdog and turn it into a winner.

Entrepreneur Branson on Tuesday unveiled the latest addition to his portfolio as Virgin Racing will feature in the sport from 2010.

The Virgin brand has simply put its name to Manor GP, one of four new teams due to enter F1 from next year.

However, the weight of the name has already reaped significant dividends as the team also unveiled 10 sponsors, with more to come ahead of the new season.

It means Virgin Racing is already fully funded for next season, admittedly operating on the smallest budget of the 13 teams at £40million.

Nevertheless, Branson is fully expecting Virgin Racing to blossom in time.

Branson, who last year played his part in Brawn GP's success, has invested what he describes as "some money", while he also has an equity in the team.

"What I discovered last year is there are a billion people who watch Formula One, and they are mostly fanatical," said Branson.

"The Virgin brand is maybe one of the top 20 brands in the world, and for us to be involved in F1 is good for the brand.

"Formula One is a sexy beast, and we hope we are going to make it a little bit sexier. It's fun, exciting, and those attributes apply to the Virgin brand.

"We love supporting an underdog, but we like that underdog to have some pretty good qualities.

"Last year it was (Ross) Brawn, and this year it's Nick Wirth (the car's designer and team's technical director).

"Since we've come into the industry, we've chosen two pretty good people to become involved with."

Branson, though, naturally enjoyed the connection with Brawn GP as the team went on to win the drivers' title through Jenson Button, as well as the constructors' championship.

It will be a very different story for Branson next season as he will be watching a car likely to be languishing at the back of the grid.

The 59-year-old is, however, not expecting miracles and is very much prepared to be patient.

"I can you assure we've been used to struggling as we have built up businesses in the past," added Branson.

"We like to be a winner in the end, although we're certainly not expecting to get as lucky next year as we were this year.

"But I think we've every chance of doing respectably well, and that this is the start of building something over the coming years.

"The team has laid down its expectations, and we're not expecting to go and win races in the first season. There isn't any massive pressure from me.

"They will do the best job they can, and hopefully race by race they can claw their way up and by the second season be in the top half, and maybe the third season be in the top five."

Branson and Virgin Racing are committed to F1 for the next three years at least, the current length of the new Concorde Agreement, with the hope of remaining involved for many years beyond that.

That was eventually signed by all the teams following a turbulent period over the summer when rumours were abound of a breakaway series.

It was one of the many negative stories of 2009 surrounding F1, but despite the sport's penchant for shooting itself in the foot, Branson was far from deterred.

"I bumped into Bernie (Ecclestone) one day when he was looking glum about something," smiled Branson.

"I said to him, 'Come on, this is manna from heaven for you. The bad publicity is not doing the sport any harm.'

"I don't think the stories did it any harm, maybe a little - but it at least made your jobs (the media) more interesting."

Further explaining his reasoning for investing, Branson said: "Last year with Brawn, they started the season as a David and ended it as a Goliath.

"So we searched around for another great team, another David team. We have one and we will see how it goes."

The team also confirmed Lucas di Grassi as team-mate to Timo Glock, ending four years in GP2 and after two seasons as test and reserve driver with Renault.