Thursday evening the Manor F1 racing team announced it has entered into administration, eventually following the other ‘new’ F1 teams of HRT and Caterham (was Team Lotus).
And yet, the partners of FRP Advisory, joint administrators of Just Racing Services LTD (Manor) are hopeful of finding new investors and rescue 200 jobs.
Geoff Rowley and Phil Armstrong, partners of FRP Advisory, were appointed on Friday 6th January and straight away confirmed that no redundancies were yet planned at Manor. Encouragingly, all staff received their December pay cheques.
“The team has made significant progress under its new ownership since the start of 2015, the highlight of which included securing a constructors championship point in the preceding F1 season, but the position remains that operating a F1 team requires significant ongoing investment,” said Rowley.
“During recent months, the senior management team has worked tirelessly to bring new investment to the team to secure its long term future, but regrettably has been unable to do so within the time available. Therefore, they have been left with no alternative but to place JRSL into administration.
“The joint administrators are currently assessing options for the group. The 2017 season commences on 26 March in Melbourne, Australia, and the team’s participation will depend on the outcome of the administration process and any related negotiations with interested parties in what is a very limited window of opportunity.”
“The ongoing staff position will however be dependent on whether new investment can be secured in the limited time available and the joint administrators will continue to review the ongoing financial position,” he added.
The fact that active investment seeking has been continued is encouraging to say the least, but this process has been ongoing for Manor all year. We can but hope for the little team from Oxfordshire.
Ron Dennis, Tavo Helmund, Carlos Slim? I can only take the 2nd serious. But he (as opposed to the other 2) doesn’t have the money to pull this off. Haryanto’s family already stated that Rio wouldn’t race this year, Nasr’s sponsor quit and Guttierez? He just had an unlucky year..
If Tavo can line up Ron and Carlos then he stands a chance. But even then, 2017 can only be a year of carrying the red lantern once more for reasons of lack of development $$$.
Why would Dennis essentially work for someone else? If Dennis is going to be part of bid for Manor he’s going to be the principal, not window dressing to make a bid from Helmond look legit. Slim gets nothing out of the deal other than having a useless Mexican driver in F1. His involvement as a Ferrari sponsor gains him more than owning a last place team. The other issue is Ecclestone only wants a 10 team field and would like to see Manor disappear.
My opinion is that it’s either Dennis or someone with a similar profile.
Where are all the damn stickers? All last year the Manor ran with virtually no logos on it. You can’t tell me that there wasn’t *some* price at which somebody would have paid to get a logo on the Manor. I think they have a marketing arm problem. Fill the damn livery up like NASCAR if you can’t get a single title sponsor.
If the administrators were saying that Manor have a viable car for this year then someone might be interested. So far no one has said anything about their car for 2017 and you would expect them to be talking up the chances for this year if they are serious about finding a buyer. If there is no tub and other parts to look at now then there is little hope of a rescue. I guess we will find out exactly what they have got soon enough if the administrators produce an auction catalogue of the saleable assets. With no evidence to the contrary it is probable that the 2017 car is mostly still on the drawing board and if so it is not looking good.
There is still a glimmer of hope that Rockin Ronnie will do some sought of miraculous deal with Asian business world backers in the coming 6 months and pull the proverbial frying pan out of the raging fire before it melts. Hopefully it involves a deal with Honda (unlikely) and Jenson after his sabbatical (also unlikely but adored in Asia, especially Japan).
Ron Dennis obviously still has the fire in his belly and now also has the sting of retribution prickling all over his skin. He’s certainly no fool and he knows full-well that the best deal possible to buy Manor would be on the table once the team is defunct and hopelessly lying idol in a Banbury workshop because the price will significantly drop once they stop racing!
You can’t deny the rumblings of Honda wanting to supply another team in 2018 (which Ron was instrumental in halting while it involved McLaren and would love to shove in McLaren’s face now by taking some of it’s attention away from them) and it won’t take a massive pay check to entice JB back IF the fire ignites in his belly again once he feels what he’s missing in the adrenalin department.
If the new formula goes to plan, the new F1 cars will be significantly more enticing to drive from this year forward. Something JB was crying out for over the past 4-5 years.
No tin top race car circulating around short tracks consisting of half dirt and half bitumen with treaded enduro tyres bolted onto it, or triathlon for that matter, is going to give him the incredibly intoxicating, highly addictive buzz which comes from doing 360 kmh and deftly yawing an open wheel rocket-on-wheels through Eau Rouge!!!
Fingers crossed … along with much more aggressive cars and races, we really do need some of those flamboyant, lovable rogue types of personalities back in F1. I won’t be surprised if the new formula entices people like Flavio and Ross Brawn back too … imagine Brawn (Designer / Team Manager), Flavio (Marketing), Ron (Owner / Ruthless General), JB and a young Honda-backed Asian charger fresh from Super Formula – all in the one team. WOW!
Sounds absolutely fanciful I know … so did the idea of BRAWN GP and JB winning a World Title or Mercedes Hybrid totally and utterly dominating F1 for 3 consecutive years after ‘stealing’ Lewis Hamilton from his ‘father-figure Ron’ and his ‘comfy home’ at McLaren F1.
Would you have bet on that scenario coming to fruition 5 years ago in 2012 when Merc were floundering around in the midfield with a so-so journeyman driver like Rosberg and Ol’ Man Schuey in his less-than-stellar ‘second coming’ in F1?
No? I didn’t either! Who in their right mind would have been that stupid and presumptuous?