Finish Line in Sight as Manor Folds

[Bethonie Waring]

It’s unlikely Manor will make it to the grid in Australia after the administrator has failed to find a buyer. The team could still be rescued if a buyer is found for the remnants of the team.

It’s been over 20 days since Just Racing Services, which operates Manor, went into administration and, after a number of last ditch attempts to save the company and the team, Just Racing has ceased trading.

Staff will be paid their January salaries, but will be made redundant by the close of business on Tuesday (January 31st).

Manor the last of three teams that joined Formula One back in 2010. What was then Virgin Racing was attracted, like the other two teams, by the promise of a budget cap that was supposed to be introduced. The £40 million cap never came into place, causing budget problems for all three teams.

The team has already been saved from death once, when it went into administration in October 2014. It was saved at last minute, but no rescue has been found this time around.

There is still hope. The 2015 buyer was found on the eve of the 2015 season and, though it is unlikely, there’s still time for a buyer to keep the team alive for the 2017 season.

For more Formula One news and discussions head over to the RaceDepartment Formula One sub forum and join in with your fellow community members.

Do you think Manor will find a buyer in time? Let us know in the comments below!

 

[monsieurjackb]

Sad news, but not surprising news unfortunately

 

[aka2k]

It's a mystery for me how those teams survive being so awfully bad. Perhaps F1 should be more open, with more teams, but with different categories more or less like Le Mans. That way would make a lot more sense to have a team like Manor in the F1. The way it is right now those teams are just padding.

 

[Gringo]

Shame that Bernie wasn't booted out a year earlier. They seemed a good team and good for the sport.

Edit: They did finish respectfully compared to the competition in a lot of races.

 

[Colin O Callaghan]

So sad, F1 should not be losing teams if it is to get audience's back, its just making the whole thing look ridiculous, they need a big change and a kick up the arse, they should have 3 or 4 teams joining to beef it up and have new contenders, not the opposite. They need to do something fast.

 

[fortyfivekev]

Sad for the people working there. Twenty cars is not a great field now. You don't notice it so much watching on TV as they only cover the front few cars anyway but if you are at the track the lack of cars defiinitely sucks.

 

[dbracedesign]

Sad

 

[grahamw]

You make a very good point Colin I think the budget cap might have been one way to keep teams on smaller budget's in the game and surely if they encouraged a budget cap they would produce a better competition. It would be a shame to see the whole sport become even more budget driven with big teams only.

When Haas joined it showed a possible way forward as they had history in other motorsport which might be the future but only if their are some rule led controls. I think they need under the new stewardship to look at the whole business model and may be look at how other sports are working to try and increase competition.

The TV deal for example with Premiership football has brought much needed financial support to smaller teams which other wise would have sunk.

May be there is a rich Chinese business man who fancies a team or what about a US backed team that can build and source everything in the US or may be that is what Haas is all about longer term so what about people like Roger Penske (you never know stupider ideas have happened).

What about thinking outside the box and companies like Apple, Google, Facebook and hundreds of others could certainly afford it and would be a massive opportunity for marketing at a whole new level these are the sort of ideas that have to be considered if you want a sport to not just die through lack of funding.

When you think about it this is exactly what Red Bull have done they had no experience in the motor racing world when they started but now the Red Bull sports brand is every where so lets not discount any ideas.

 

[BoogerMac]

F1 has an identity problem. Do they want to be richest racing series or the best? Hard to be both.

To be the richest, there is no parody from year to year...so fans check out other things. This is the current state of F1 To be the best, you have to promote great racing from top-to-bottom and always have multiple teams competing for the title. This is the current state of NASCAR. Both have the pros and cons.

May be there is a rich Chinese business man who fancies a team or what about a US backed team that can build and source everything in the US or may be that is what Haas is all about longer term so what about people like Roger Penske (you never know stupider ideas have happened).

You may not be far off regarding Haas and their direction. The Haas NASCAR outfit is switching to Ford (from Chevy) for the 2017 season. Some believe this is the start of a much larger partnership. So, could Ford end up trying to build an F1 engine specifically for Haas F1? Does Ford have the potential to manufacture a sufficient F1 chassis? There's a lot of speculation...and for good reason.

 

[COTA Fett]

I read that Manor had received exemption to run the 2016 chassis. I took that as the omen that even if they secured funding this year, it would only put a bandage on a severe hemorrhage.

 

[Colin Knowles]

3 car teams needed by 2018 imo

Bernie just had a big fat cheque cleared at the bank too, so could have invested which would have made things very interesting

 

[arniesan]

Bernie is not at fault really; F1 has just gone the same way as football, cricket, rugby union, tennis, golf...you name a sport and it is now under the control of mainly Rupert Murdoch or the likes.
It is no longer about the racing, it is all about shareholders etc...Bernie saw what was happening and took his billions; can you really blame him.
But this is about Manor and the other smaller poorer teams; they have always been a part of the sport and imo they are the roots of of F1/GP; they have always had an interest by the true fans...who was not cheering on Damon Hill in the Arrows, leading the race by a massive amount and who did not groan when he broke down a couple or three laps from the winning flag...yeh, more exciting than watching the current best team doing a 1/2 at most races.
Bring back the Cosworths ( great, successful and cheap engines) put 'em in all the cars and if the likes of Ferrari etc don't like it; well they can sod off.
Let's have a grid full of Mavericks and some proper racing.

Dream on.

 

[MrRandom287]

Great... Now I'm going to have to find another team to follow....

 

[John_GTL]

It's a mystery for me how those teams survive being so awfully bad. Perhaps F1 should be more open, with more teams, but with different categories more or less like Le Mans. That way would make a lot more sense to have a team like Manor in the F1. The way it is right now those teams are just padding.

Awfully bad? Really? They were only lapped once in most of this years races, a few races they were a couple of laps down only. I still remember not that long ago when 2 laps down was normal for the midfield, let alone the bottom group.

 

[Terry Rock]

Some of F1's most serious problems center around funds distribution.
No team can afford to pay massive entry fees...then get nothing at the end of the season.
Television and live audiences... along with the sponsors pay big money to see all of the teams.
The smaller teams need more air-time as well.
That'll attract more sponsors to help cover what they can't make up in prize money.
It's why we are all a bit sad and concerned when any team leaves the grid.
You can't just give the big teams bonus money for simply showing up...while sending the small teams home at the end of each season with nothing.
Give prize money based on results but help the smaller teams with technology assistance as well.

 

[Erwin Greven]

The funds of the TV or any broadcasts should be divided equally. All the teams make the show. Not only the front runners.

 

[stbreaker]

Definitely sad to see the grid shrinking again. They seemed to be improving at a nice clip this season as a result of their technical partnerships.

Also, a bit ironic for Nasr. The last ditch points he scored for Sauber basically killed the only team which had a seat to keep him in F1. Really demonstrates how the prize system is not working

 

[XiRi]

RIP F1 2016 Career Mode car

The new improvements won't come in and won't be fitted for FP1, and we will never get to "check them out"

 

[theiceman7]

Did anyone else have a gut-wrenching feeling when Felipe Nasr scored those crucial 2 points in Brazil last year? Don't get me wrong, I like Sauber as they are backmarkers as well, but I knew the result would have some implications such as less prize money for Manor. I honestly thought Manor were set after Pascal brought home a top ten earlier in the year. That was the result of the season for me!

It's really a shame. Manor had junior Mercedes drivers. They had Mercedes engines. I really thought this team was getting set to move up the grid this year; or, at least, Manor had a good chance of competing with Renault and Haas, and even McLaren.

 

[InsaneOzzie]

We can only hope that the new owners recognise the financial issues with the smaller teams and do something about it asap.

It's just not viable for low budget teams to compete, the prize allocation system has failed, don't understand why the top multi million dollar factory teams reap most the prize money, not like they need it, especially since Merc and Ferrari make a shite load leasing engines. IMO the higher you finish as a team, the less you get from the money pool. The top teams would still apply themselves as the lure of wining the WDC & the constructors champ would keep them competitive.

The other way to promote more interest, remove the expensive hybrid systems and return to basic EFI engines, reduce & cap R&D and restrict the aero packages to a minimum. Another possible avenue would be to create a budget F1 chassis that all teams have to use (like Aussie V8's etc) might close the gaps in the field too, I know I know, F1 is about the different manufacturers producing their own chassis etc, but it's not working out as this article points out. To save F1 they need to think outside the F1 box, as history just keeps repeating year after year within the sport, and a change is as good as a holiday, so they say.

Cheers