Manor Racing

United Kingdom MRT-Mercedes[1]
Full name Manor Racing MRT
Base Banbury, Oxfordshire,
United Kingdom
Team principal(s) Stephen Fitzpatrick
(Team Owner)
Thomas Mayer
(CEO)
Dave Ryan
(Racing Director)
Technical Directors John McQuilliam
(Technical Director)[2]
Nicholas Tombazis
(Chief Aerodynamicist)
Luca Furbatto
(Chief Designer)
Pat Fry
(Engineering Consultant)
Website www.manorracing.com
Previous name Manor Marussia F1 Team
2016 Formula One season
Race drivers 31. France Esteban Ocon[3]
88. Indonesia Rio Haryanto[4]
94. Germany Pascal Wehrlein[5]
Test drivers United States Alexander Rossi (Reserve)
Indonesia Rio Haryanto (Reserve)
United Kingdom Jordan King (Development)
Chassis MRT05
Engine Mercedes PU106C Hybrid[6]
Tyres Pirelli
2017 Formula One season
Race drivers TBA
TBA
Chassis TBA
Engine Mercedes[7]
Tyres Pirelli
Formula One World Championship career
First entry 2016 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Races entered 21
Constructors'
Championships
0
Drivers'
Championships
0
Race victories 0
Podiums 0
Points 1
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 0
2016 position 11th (1 pt)

Manor Grand Prix Racing Limited, trading as Manor Racing MRT, is 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.

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 collapsed owing around £60m, two of the companies out of pocket being Marussia's former competitors McLaren and Ferrari. 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.[8] 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".[9]

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

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.[10][11]

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.[12] Permission was granted before being formally ratified at a meeting of the FIA World Motorsport Council.[13] The team competed as Marussia until 2014 when it collapsed mid-season. 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.

In January 2016, the team appointed former Ferrari chief designer Nicholas Tombazis as its chief aerodynamicist,[14] and recruited fellow former Ferarri employee Pat Fry as an engineering consultant.[15]

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.[4][5]

2016 season

On 22 February 2016, Manor launched their new car at the first test. The team has undergone a complete re-branding under the ownership of Fitzpatrick, and has seen the team colours change to orange, white and blue.[16]

During the first race of the season in Australia, Rio Haryanto retired due to a driveline 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 a race for the first time, in 17th.

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.[17]

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". 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.[3]

At the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix, Sauber gained two points, putting them ahead of Manor in the championship, which will cause the team a £30 million loss in prize money, if the team fail to gain another two points in Abu Dhabi. [18]

Before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, reports circulated, and Stephen Fitzpatrick confirmed that the team were in advanced talks with a new investor. [19]

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
Indonesia Rio Haryanto Ret 17 21 Ret 17 15 19 18 16 Ret 21 20
France Esteban Ocon 16 18 18 16 21 18 21 12 13
Germany Pascal Wehrlein 16 13 18 18 16 14 17 Ret 10 Ret 19 17 Ret Ret 16 15 22 17 Ret 15 14
Notes

References

  1. "Manor F1 chassis to be called MRT". adamcooperf1.com. 20 January 2016. Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  2. "Team". Manor Racing. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Ocon replaces Haryanto at Manor". Retrieved 2016-08-10.
  4. 1 2 "Manor sign rookie Haryanto to complete 2016 grid". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 18 February 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  5. 1 2 "Manor sign rookie Wehrlein to lead 2016 F1 attack". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 10 February 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  6. Galloway, James (1 October 2015). "Mercedes to supply Manor with engines from 2016 season". Sky Sports F1. BSkyB. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  7. Galloway, James (1 October 2015). "Mercedes to supply Manor with engines from 2016 season". Sky Sports F1. BSkyB. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  8. 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.
  9. Elizalde, Pablo (19 January 2016). "Manor reveals new team name, logo". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  10. Noble, Jonathan (11 November 2010). "Russian car maker takes stake in Virgin". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  11. 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.
  12. Noble, Jonathan (1 November 2011). "Virgin applies for name change to become Marussia". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  13. Cooper, Adam (3 November 2011). "Caterham, Lotus and Marussia name changes approved". Adam Cooper's F1 Blog. WordPress. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  14. "Nikolas Tombazis joins Manor F1 Team as Chief Aerodynamicist". Manor Racing. 18 January 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  15. Barretto, Lawrence (25 January 2016). "Ex-Ferrari F1 engineering director Pat Fry to Manor as consultant". autosport.com. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  16. Esler, William (22 February 2016). "Manor launch their 2016 F1 car, the MRT05". Sky Sports. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  17. Anderson, Ben; Parkes, Ian (3 July 2016). "Pascal Wehrlein doesn't know where pace for F1 points came from". Autosport. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  18. Ltd., Crash Media Group. "Manor not giving up on catching Sauber after Brazil pain | F1 News". Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  19. Ltd., Crash Media Group. "Manor boss 'agrees terms' with new investor | F1 News". Retrieved 2016-11-27.

External links

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