Manor Racing back into administration

It was confirmed yesterday (6/1/17), that the operating company of the Manor Formula 1 team has gone into administration, casting doubt over its future on the eve of the new season.



Administrators FRP said there was "a very limited window of opportunity" to save the team before the start of the 2017 season in Australia on 26 March.

FRP said it was "assessing options" and that the process affected Manor's operating company Just Racing Services.

Manor Grand Prix Racing, which owns the rights to the team's participation in F1, is not in administration.

Manor Racing, who finished eleventh and last in the championship last season, have been in talks with new investors but so far no deal has been concluded.

Administrator Geoff Rowley said: "The team has made significant progress since the start of 2015, but the position remains that operating a F1 team requires significant ongoing investment.

A source said several buyers had been lined up over the past few weeks and two had gone as far as conducting a due diligence process.

But none of them provided the funds necessary to buy the team, nor was there any proof they had the money to run it.

Steven Fitzpatrick, the boss of the energy company Ovo, decided to put the team into administration on Thursday night.

Not the first time the team has been in administration, the team has been administration back in late 2014 when the team was called Marussia collapsed with debts over £35million, when Fitzpatrick bought them at the eleventh hour just before the 2015 season.



I very feel sorry for the staff at the team at this moment of time, with a strong possibility that they may lose their jobs.

The main problems with Formula 1 the reason the Manor team are placed in administration for a few reasons, one reason the payout to the Concorde Agreement that makes payout to small teams less money to those teams, with Manor finishing eleventh in the 2016 standings they lost £10 million compared to 2015 when they finished in tenth place.

Another is that the cost of the power-units this season, in 2013, the V8 engines cost between £8-10 million per season to the teams; compare to 2016 V6 turbo hybrid engines have doubled now costing between £15-20 million per season.

And final reason we are in this situation is budget for the team, in an article from last month, Manor Racing was spending £85 million for the 2016 F1 season and the least spending team in F1 compare to 2004 when Minardi was least spending team in F1 with a budget of £24 million, that is almost four times the budget from 2004.

Will we see this team at Melbourne in two months time? who knows. But, let's hope Manor Racing find new owners, who do have the money to compete in Formula 1 because it will be a shame we lost an underdog team in F1. Because, the fans do love underdog teams; teams like Jordan and Minardi to name a few we loved in the past.