Manor Racing

Manor Grand Prix Racing Limited, trading as Manor Racing MRT, was a British Formula One racing team and constructor based in Banbury, Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom. The team originally started racing in 2010 under the "Virgin Racing" name; the following year Virgin adopted Marussia as a title sponsor becoming "Marussia Virgin Racing" until being fully rebranded as the "Marussia F1 Team" for 2012.

MRT

Full name	Manor Racing MRT
Base	Banbury, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
Noted staff	Stephen Fitzpatrick Abdulla Boulsein Thomas Mayer Dave Ryan John McQuilliam Nikolas Tombazis Luca Furbatto Pat Fry
Noted drivers	Rio Haryanto Esteban Ocon Pascal Wehrlein
Previous name	Manor Marussia F1 Team
Formula One World Championship career
First entry	2016 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry	2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Races entered	21
Engines	Mercedes
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	0
Podiums	0
Points	1
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0

The team collapsed in November 2014 owing around £60m, two of the companies out of pocket being Marussia's former competitors McLaren and Ferrari. On 19 January 2015, the administrators of Marussia announced that the auction of its cars and assets had been cancelled so as to allow a possible buy out to take place. The team exited administration on 19 February 2015, and was re-established as the "Manor Marussia F1 Team" after a CVA had been signed and new investment was secured to rescue the team. It was later announced that OVO Energy Owner and CEO, Stephen Fitzpatrick had purchased the team.[1] The team retained "Marussia" as its constructor name throughout the 2015 season, also adopting a British licence. On 19 January 2016, the team announced it would be renamed to "Manor Racing".[2]

The team competed under the constructor name MRT which stands for Manor Racing Team.

On 6 January 2017, it was announced that Manor's parent company, Just Racing Services, had been placed into administration by administrators at FRP Advisory.[3] On 27 January, Just Racing Services collapsed after failing to find a buyer. The team closed before the start of the 2017 season, in March 2017 as any attempt to sell the team to a new owner did not come to fruition. Their 2017 entry fee was returned at the end of 2017.[4]

The team's collapse means all of the teams who joined the championship in 2010 have now disappeared from the grid. The arrival of Haas F1 in 2016 has subsequently displaced Manor and the other 2010 teams as the sport's latest entry.

History

Background

In 2009, Manor Grand Prix were awarded an entry into Formula One for the 2010 season, as a tie-up between successful junior racing team Manor Motorsport and Wirth Research. Before the end of that year, these entities became known as Virgin Racing, after Richard Branson's Virgin Group of companies who had bought the title sponsorship rights. Marussia were one of the team's partners for its debut season, where it finished in twelfth and last place in the Constructors' Championship. In November 2010, Marussia Motors purchased a controlling stake in the team, and the team became known as 'Marussia Virgin Racing' for the 2011 season.[5][6]

Following a disappointing start to the 2011 season, the team parted company with Wirth Research and entered a partnership with McLaren Applied Technologies ahead of the 2012 season. With this came a relocation from the original base in Dinnington, to the old Wirth premises in Banbury in Great Britain. Meanwhile, the team again finished the year bottom of the Constructors' Championship. In November 2011, it applied to the Formula One commission to formally change their constructor name for the 2012 season from Virgin to Marussia, to reflect their new ownership becoming Marussia F1 Team in the process.[7] Permission was granted before being formally ratified at a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council.[8] The team competed as Marussia until 2014 when it collapsed mid-season.

In May 2015 the team announced the arrival of Luca Furbatto as Chief Designer. Bob Bell also joined as Consultant.

A deal to save the team was put together ahead of the 2015 season, with Manor operating the team independently of Marussia, though the team kept the Marussia name to secure prize money from the 2014 season. After running an outdated chassis and power unit throughout 2015, the team rebranded itself as Manor Racing MRT for 2016 and signed a deal to use Mercedes engines.

On December 2015 Dave Ryan was appointed Team Principal for the team and two further appointments followed in January 2016, the team appointed former Ferrari chief designer Nikolas Tombazis as its chief aerodynamicist,[9] and recruited fellow former Ferrari employee Pat Fry as an engineering consultant.[10]

In February 2016, Manor confirmed that Pascal Wehrlein, 2015 DTM champion and Mercedes junior driver, and Rio Haryanto would race for the team in 2016.[11][12]

2016 season

Pascal Wehrlein during the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix

On 22 February 2016, Manor launched their new car at the first test. The team had undergone a complete re-branding under the ownership of Fitzpatrick, and had seen the team colours change to orange, white and blue.[13]

During the first race of the season in Australia, Rio Haryanto retired due to a drivetrain problem, while Pascal Wehrlein finished in sixteenth place. At the next race, in Bahrain, Wehrlein was one place away from reaching Q2 for the first time in his career, qualifying sixteenth. Haryanto finished the race, a career first, in 17th place.

At the Austrian Grand Prix, Wehrlein achieved a 12th place qualifying position, the highest achieved by the team. Wehrlein also scored the team's first ever point and its best result to date by finishing 10th in the race.[14]

The team's reserve driver, Alexander Rossi, won the Indianapolis 500.

Before the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix, Rio Haryanto was demoted to reserve driver due to "his failure to meet his contractual obligations", due to his sponsors being unable to fulfill their financial commitments. For the remaining nine races of the season, he was replaced by Esteban Ocon, who had made frequent appearances testing for both Renault and Mercedes and who was considered to be a promising young talent.[15]

At the end of a Brazilian Grand Prix, which was held in adverse conditions, Sauber gained two points, putting them ahead of Manor in the championship, costing the team £30 million in prize money.[16]

Before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix reports circulated and were confirmed by Stephen Fitzpatrick, that the team were in advanced talks with a new investor.[17] However, in early January 2017 the team's parent company was put under administration after the investment talks failed, putting their participation in the 2017 season into doubt.[3] Although they paid their 2017 entry fee, since their participation did not materialise, the entry fee was returned by the FIA at the end of 2017.[4]

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Points	WCC
2016	MRT05	Mercedes PU106C Hybrid 1.6 V6 t	P		AUS	BHR	CHN	RUS	ESP	MON	CAN	EUR	AUT	GBR	HUN	GER	BEL	ITA	SIN	MAL	JPN	USA	MEX	BRA	ABU	1	11th
				Rio Haryanto	Ret	17	21	Ret	17	15	19	18	16	Ret	21	20
				Esteban Ocon													16	18	18	16	21	18	21	12	13
				Pascal Wehrlein	16	13	18	18	16	14	17	Ret	10	Ret	19	17	Ret	Ret	16	15	22	17	Ret	15	14

References

1. Johnson, Daniel (4 March 2015). "Manor owner Stephen Fitzpatrick throws in £30 million of his own money to save beleaguered team". The Telegraph. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
2. Elizalde, Pablo (19 January 2016). "Manor reveals new team name, logo". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
3. Benson, Andrew (6 January 2017). "Manor Racing enter administration and are on brink of collapse". BBC. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
4. "FIA Reimburses Manor Racing for 2017 F1 Entry Fee". FIA. 20 November 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
5. Noble, Jonathan (11 November 2010). "Russian car maker takes stake in Virgin". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
6. Holt, Sarah (11 November 2010). "Russian supercar firm Marussia takes over Virgin Racing". BBC Sport. Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi: BBC. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
7. Noble, Jonathan (1 November 2011). "Virgin applies for name change to become Marussia". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
8. Cooper, Adam (3 November 2011). "Caterham, Lotus and Marussia name changes approved". Adam Cooper's F1 Blog. WordPress. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
9. "Nikolas Tombazis joins Manor F1 Team as Chief Aerodynamicist". Manor Racing. 18 January 2016. Archived from the original on 3 May 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
10. Barretto, Lawrence (25 January 2016). "Ex-Ferrari F1 engineering director Pat Fry to Manor as consultant". autosport.com. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
11. "Manor sign rookie Haryanto to complete 2016 grid". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 18 February 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
12. "Manor sign rookie Wehrlein to lead 2016 F1 attack". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 10 February 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
13. Esler, William (22 February 2016). "Manor launch their 2016 F1 car, the MRT05". Sky Sports. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
14. Anderson, Ben; Parkes, Ian (3 July 2016). "Pascal Wehrlein doesn't know where pace for F1 points came from". Autosport. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
15. "Ocon replaces Haryanto at Manor". Retrieved 10 August 2016.
16. Ltd., Crash Media Group. "Manor not giving up on catching Sauber after Brazil pain | F1 News". Retrieved 27 November 2016.
17. Ltd., Crash Media Group. "Manor boss 'agrees terms' with new investor | F1 News". Retrieved 27 November 2016.

External links

• Official website