Goodbye Manor

[N4D13]

So it's official - Mr Fitzpatrick didn't want to sell the team too cheaply, so they are closing down now. :(

To miss Manor and keep Kaltenborn's wretched Sauber...

[The Black Knight]

Real shame, all 2010 teams have now folded. F1 needs to find a way of helping these young smaller teams. It's a sad state of affairs that they have folded.

[AndyL]

All those years they spent 2-3 seconds a lap off the back of the field, and they go bust just as they had almost caught up. A shame Liberty's likely shake-up of revenue distribution will come too late for Manor.

[Starter]

Real shame, all 2010 teams have now folded. F1 needs to find a way of helping these young smaller teams. It's a sad state of affairs that they have folded.
That's where, hopefully, the new owner/operators will make some needed changes.

[Rollo]

Real shame, all 2010 teams have now folded. F1 needs to find a way of helping these young smaller teams. It's a sad state of affairs that they have folded.

Oh but it did.

It froze the engine rules, thus locking in Mercedes wins until the next major raft of engine changes. If nobody can compete, then it helps these young smaller teams... to die.

That I imagine is Mercedes' and Ferrari's intent, non?

[Starter]

You would think that the major teams would understand that without the spear carriers the opera is greatly diminished.

[Zeakiwi]

Less seats for the newer drivers or older drivers.

[The Black Knight]

Oh but it did.

It froze the engine rules, thus locking in Mercedes wins until the next major raft of engine changes. If nobody can compete, then it helps these young smaller teams... to die.

That I imagine is Mercedes' and Ferrari's intent, non?

The real issue I see is the lack of funding support that these small teams get. Manor did a fine job while in the sport given the limited resources that they have and I think it's a real shame on F1 that they had gone. Mercedes and Ferrari will only do what is in their best interests. It is in the interests of the sport for the new owners to now come to the aid of beleaguered teams such as Manor and provide them with funding.

I was actually hoping they would provide them with some capital given that it is in the interests of the sport as a whole to have these teams survive. Smaller teams have been the proving ground for many top drivers, take Alonso in a Minardi.

Once the distribution of funds from the sport is more even I think these teams will have a much better chance of surviving. That and it might entice other teams such as Lamborghini to enter the sport.

[emporer_k]

What's truly sad is that the battle for survival seems to be an almost ever-present threat to one or other of F1's smaller teams.

As others have already mentioned, I truly hope that Liberty can introduce a fairer distribution of central revenue so that the minnows can have a big enough slice of the cake that they could if well managed not only be sure of surviving from one season to the next, but also be able to attempt to build the teams up and try and move up the order.

[zako85]

My understanding is that any team needs approximately 100 million of USD simply to build a very basic car that passes the regulations, buy then engines, and then show up to 20+ races. Most of the cost is actually in showing up to all those races. There isn't much room left to build a competitive car, hire competent staff or drivers. If you're a backmarker team, what do you do to raise so much money? It's almost impossible. Please give us 100 million USD so we remain a backmarker team? Who is going to stand for that?

The next problem is that F1 has too many races in too many continents. In my opinion, 20 races a year is way too much not only for the competitors but even fans. The teams sometimes need to rush their staff and equipment across continents within a matter of days, and when they arrive they have to pay a whole lot of fees to compete in the races.

[Bagwan]

It seems very sad , indeed , when one considers all the talk of F1 morphing into a friendlier place for teams and promoters alike , that Manor has fallen from the grid .
The former owner wanting to keep some equity must have had something to do with what he saw as the future for the series .
That fact , apparently , was what scuttled the attempts to save the team , according to Saward .

I guess you can't blame the guy , if he had been convinced he could actually have made a few bucks as an owner , and arrived only to find a big pit into which he could throw his money .
And , then , to have the series sold , with coming promise of possible financial relief , and be forced to sign it all away at a hard loss ?

I can imagine his mindset , wanting to keep a piece .

Hopefully , losing them will inspire the new lease holders to fix this .
Something must be wrong when the loss of one point can kill a team .
It should scare the crap out of everyone .
I hope it does .

[steveaki13]

Sad to see them go. Sad that F1 is almost impossible for smaller teams to enter

[Zico]

MEP's have voted for an enquiry into F1 due to how the funds are unfairly distributed between the teams.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38971214


What does this actually mean? Can they enforce a change?

[Owain]

The next problem is that F1 has too many races in too many continents. In my opinion, 20 races a year is way too much not only for the competitors but even fans. The teams sometimes need to rush their staff and equipment across continents within a matter of days, and when they arrive they have to pay a whole lot of fees to compete in the races.

Indeed, especially as many of those races are in countries with no history of motorsport, no fan base, no automotive industry, no history of providing drivers, and - frankly - no right to be in F1 other than that they paid for the kudos of having a race. This trend of the 2000s drove me nuts, and is part of the reason my 30-year passion for F1 has declined in recent years. I even gave up watching the 2015 season several races from the end (shock-horror!).

How many countries with a long F1 heritage have lost their races in order to make way for Tilke tracks with empty grandstands? Argentina, Holland, Portugal, South Africa, San Marino ... it's nice to see Mexico back, though.

As for the demise of the 2010 teams, there was a lot of talk at the time about the Brabham name coming back, as well as Lotus. I was strongly in favour of this, but considering that they've all folded (with the Lotus name being tossed around in a way that it never deserved), I'm quite glad they didn't after all.