The clock is ticking for Manor F1 Team with about a week left for benefactors or investors to step in and save the team from oblivion, and with it claim a place on the 2017 Formula 1 World Championship grid.
Just Racing Services Ltd, the company that race the team, went into administration last week.
Reports suggest that their 2017 car is ready to go into production at the team HQ in Banbury (UK), but the administrators have blocked any further expenditure on the 2017 which has left the project om ice.
The deadline for Manor to survive is said to be 20 January, if no saviour steps up to the plate then the team is set to go the way of the two teams that accompanied the outfit into the sport in 2010, namely Hispania Racing Team and Caterham.
Manor looked set for a financial windfall for finishing tenth in the world championship last year, but their dreams were shattered when Sauber outscored them thanks to Felipe Nasr’s ninth place finish in Brazil, the penultimate race of the season.
Dropping to eleventh in the constructors’ championship cost the team over $10-million in prize money, which was the proverbial first nail in their coffin.
Manor owner Stephen Fitzpatrick said, “It was imperative that the team finish in 10th place or better in 2016. For much of the season we were on track. But the dramatic race in Brazil ended our hopes of this result and ultimately brought into doubt the team’s ability to race in 2017.”
The back-marker outfit has been ‘for sale’ for some months and at one point well connected American businessman and F1 race promoter Tavo Hellmund appeared set to buy the team but an agreement failed to materialise.
Ousted McLaren boss Ron Dennis has also been mentioned as a possible buyer of the stricken team.
Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247
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