Manor F1 hinted last weekend their financial ruin was spared for another year despite dropping to last place in the constructors championship in 2016.
Sources suggest that the Mexican promoter Tavo Hellmund is the mystery backer hinted at in Abu Dhabi by Manor.
Hellmund is well known in the paddock and has had a major hand in returning F1 to Mexico. The ex racer also deals with the US GP in Austin and is a good friend with Mr E.
Indeed it seems Mr E’s well known self professed duty to keep a Brazilian in F1 has a part to play in the deal. Ever since the death of Senna, Ecclestone has given that particular nation special attention. Several occasions the second hand car salesman from East Anglia has made deals to ensure the South American country has had represented in F1 and 2017 will be no different.
Felipe Nasr’s tenure at Sauber has run its course but his career in F1 hasn’t fully been extinguished. Manor will likely run the Brazilian driver along with Hellmunds fellow countryman, Esteban Gutierrez.
Expect the Swedish flat-pack giant IKEA colour scheme to grace the cars at the back in 2017 should Nasr’s sponsor remain onboard.
The real story seems to be that Stephen Fitzpatrick, the owner of Manor, has had an offer made by Hellmund which was deemed to be too low for the value of the team. Unless Hellmund ups the ante, the current offer if accepted would see Fitzpatrick retain some of the shares, possibly along with Justin King. I wonder why he would want some ownership. Of course the reality is Nasr will never drive for Manor as that would mean Pascal Wehrlein would leave taking his cut-rate M-B engines with him, and any money Gutierrez brings will simply go to pay full price for engines from M-B or someone else. Nice try Judge.
A Couple of remarks.
Getting a discount on MB engines is of great value. Not having to pay wages to the factory driver that comes with those PU’s is of value to. As is the fact that big manufacturers only support drivers of considerable talent is of value.
But how big is the gift Mercedes bring to Manor? Mind you, guy’s like Ericsson and Nasr are thought to each bring to Sauber a sponsor budget greater than € 12 million (a modest estimate).
What was Mercedes paying their second driver this year? wasn’t it something like € 18M?
If so, would Mercedes give Manor a € 14M discount to let some youngster have a go in a back marker car? Don’t think so! The discount on a Mercedes PU is € 5M tops. There are a couple of drivers with bigger budgets available.
The trouble is that some sponsors might be willing to spend 8M on a team like Sauber (in its better days) but not on the likes of Manor, Caterham etc.
About the drivers mentioned in the article.
Nasr has lost his big sponsor Banco do Brasil. So no “IKEA colours”.
Guttierrez: does he still have some major backing after having been completely invisible for 4 (?) years.
*saviour
Posting via mobile phone isn’t always a good thing. Thank you.