Manor Marussia Return in Malaysian GP Is Much Needed Good News for Formula 1
Formula One hasn't been the source of a lot of good news lately.
The ongoing financial difficulties facing half the grid, the sniping between Red Bull and Renault, Giedo van der Garde's contract fight with Sauber, Fernando Alonso's accident, the cancellation of the German Grand Prix...the news in recent months has been mostly of the bad variety.
But the sun emerged from behind the clouds on Friday as Manor completed their incredible, odds-defying journey back to the sport which appeared to have written them off.
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And the completely untested, modified 2014 MR03 looks good enough to snatch a place on the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix grid.
A little over two months ago, the likelihood that Manor—officially Manor Marussia—would play any part in the 2015 F1 season was somewhere between slim and non-existent. The team had entered administration toward the end of 2014, with debts reported by Sky Sports to be in excess of £60 million.
Many of their assets, including their Banbury headquarters, had been sold at auction in December. What was left of the racing team would be put under the hammer on January 21.
That Jules Bianchi had secured those two precious points in Monaco back in May, securing ninth place in the constructors' championship, no longer mattered. Manor were just days away from extinction.
But a glimmer of hope emerged less than 72 hours before that final auction was due to take place. James Allen reported talks with a serious investor had seen the sale postponed and boss John Booth was rating the team's chances of competing in Melbourne as "pretty high."
Efforts to get two cars ready for the start of the year were ramped up and, despite a brief hiccup in the form of a Strategy Group refusal to allow Manor to run their 2014 car, the team soldiered on.
Staff were re-hired, noses were redesigned and The Telegraph reported the man behind the rescue deal, entrepreneur Stephen Fitzpatrick, was putting £30 million of his own money into the team.
Better still, this formidable business brain would be backed up by another—former Sainsbury's chief executive officer Justin King, who'd be the team's interim chairman. With John Booth and Graeme Lowdon taking care of the racing side, Manor looked on the up.
But Australia brought with it new problems. Though their cars passed scrutineering, Manor were unable to fire them up and took no active part in the weekend. Software issues were blamed, and though the FIA accepted they had done all they could, commercial rights chief Bernie Ecclestone—the man holding the money—was less forgiving.
He told Reuters' Alan Baldwin the team would have to pay their own transport costs—normally covered by the sport. He also revealed to The Independent they would lose 1/19th of their prize money from 2014 for failing to take part.
Undaunted by this somewhat unfair treatment, Manor arrived in Malaysia, and within minutes of the start of first practice, Will Stevens was out completing the team's first lap of the year.
Neither he nor team-mate Roberto Merhi went very quickly, but Twitter was filled with fans delighted to see the team back in action.
"@SkySportsF1 @CroftyF1 seeing manor f1 team on the track really does define true good sportsmanship the manerella story #SkyF1 #goodluck
— Jessica Eccleston (@joyfulljess) March 27, 2015"
In the first session, Stevens and Merhi did 16 laps between them as they attempted to find their feet.
Neither had any experience in the car prior to the weekend and the modified 2014 machine was entirely untested; expectations were low. However, the two red and white cars circulated without major drama and the times slipped steadily downward.
Stevens, the senior team member with one grand prix start to his name, was quickest of the pair.
Second practice is usually the time for qualifying simulations and a chance to see what the cars are truly capable of. Manor were never going to trouble the top of the timesheet, but they'll still have been paying close attention to the session's fastest lap.
Just driving around is not enough—to secure a spot on Sunday's grid, the rules state Stevens and Merhi will need to set a time within 107 percent of the quickest time in the first part of qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton set the pace in second practice, a time of one minute, 39.790 seconds. The best Q1 time is likely to be around this figure, meaning a 107 percent time of 1:46.775.
Merhi spun off early in the session and failed to set a representative lap, but Stevens circulated in 1:45.704—meeting the requirement with a whole second to spare.
Despite running a modified version of their backmarking 2014 chassis, powered by an outdated Ferrari engine and driven by two men with almost no experience in F1, Manor—dead and buried two months ago—look set to qualify for and start the Malaysian Grand Prix.
As achievements go, this is a special one; as news stories go, it's pure and golden sunshine.
And those two brilliant, precious points scored by Jules Bianchi? Far from becoming meaningless, as we feared they would, we now know they saved the team. Booth told Auto Hebdo (h/t ESPN):
"Without him, without those two points he got in Monaco last year, we would not be here. In the end, that is what convinced the new investors about the potential of the team.
Being here now is our way of saying to Jules that the race is not over until the chequered flag has fallen. I don't know if our presence at the track is any help to his parents, but I hope it is, however small and insignificant. We are the first to emerge from the worst ordeal Manor has ever been through, and I have no doubt that Jules will succeed as well.
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Bianchi remains in hospital following his horrific accident at last season's Japanese Grand Prix. The presence of his racing number on the Manor engine cover serves as both a tribute and as thanks to a man without whom the team would not exist.
The old saying that no news is good news could have been an unofficial mantra of F1 in recent years. It seemed that every time news crops up, it was either neutral or negative; to say the sport's image has taken quite a bashing of late would be an understatement.
But through a mixture of self-belief, hard work and a never-say-die attitude, Manor have achieved the impossible, returned from the dead and splashed a big old dose of positivity all over the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend.
Yes, they're way off the pace, and they're not going to be racing anyone but themselves. But for now, their aim is just to survive and get by—and that's exactly what they are doing.
Well done guys, and welcome back.
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