[Team] Marussia - what next?

[ScotsBrutesFan]

If that's supposed to be a legal document, even allowing for English not being the first language of the government. I would have expected it to have the correct punctuation.

[djinvicta]

Wonder if they know Manor Grand Prix Racing Ltd is currently under a CVA? (Company Voluntary Arrangement with creditors). Net worth on last accounts -£60 million.

[p-matt]

It seems to me that the main candidates for these seats are Stevens, Rossi, Haryanto and Wehrlein.
Haryanto and Stevens bring the most money but arguably is the weakest driver lineup of the 4.

Worth noting too that Stevens and Rossi are the only two who definitely have no issues with Superlicences. Neither Haryanto nor Wehrlein have enough points

[el_cat]

Originally Posted by p-matt

It seems to me that the main candidates for these seats are Stevens, Rossi, Haryanto and Wehrlein.
Haryanto and Stevens bring the most money but arguably is the weakest driver lineup of the 4.

Worth noting too that Stevens and Rossi are the only two who definitely have no issues with Superlicences. Neither Haryanto nor Wehrlein have enough points

And here demonstrates the problem of creating a Superlicence rule that throws the baby out with the bathwater. No disrespect to Stevens or Rossi - who I'd both class as capable drivers who aren't out of place in F1 - but there is no way that a driver like Wehrlein should be in any danger of not getting a license.

The Haryanto situation is a little less clear cut, as he hasn't quite got the same CV behind him. That said, he showed he can perform at Rossi's level this year in GP2.

[bella]

i don't know, it's been interesting to see mercedes all of a sudden pull their fingers out and start putting wehrlein in relevant cars and getting him the dtm title he needed to have the credibility outside of the mercedes setup. it seems as though the superlicence requirements has forced their hand this season.

not much comment to make about haryanto, it's very clear that to have an anywhere near valid opinion of a lot of the gp2 and formula renault 3.5 guys you need to have worked with them. but i suspect that nikki katz' comment about him finally deciding to relocate this season and his results demonstrating the benefits is a good indicator that he's going to get better.

shame it took him this long to realise that though. the south americans have been all about the european life from their mid-teens for decades, hence most of them speak more languages than you can shake a stick at.

[chunterer]

Bella is very near the mark. The 2 series (GP2 and 3.5) do throw up wildly varying from from a lot of the fancied drivers which from the outside may seem like inexperience but maybe due to other factors that are not obviously apparent.

I guess only team managers, race engineers and the drivers themselves can tell us.

[justracing]

Just wondering if anyone has any news about John Booth/Graeme Lowden, real racing guys both of them.

[Moneyseeker]

Originally Posted by justracing

Just wondering if anyone has any news about John Booth/Graeme Lowden, real racing guys both of them.

Only rumours of a Manor LMP project in WEC at some point.

[old man]

I heard that the team required €24 million from the drivers and so with Haryanto putting in €15 million that leaves €9 million as the price of the second seat, or £6.6 million

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by old man

I heard that the team required €24 million from the drivers and so with Haryanto putting in €15 million that leaves €9 million as the price of the second seat, or £6.6 million

Unless of course they sell Friday seats... or maybe that's an extra revenue stream... €300k per Friday session was reported somewhere as the price to play.. which might make it a free ride for someone

[p-matt]

I'm not sure Haryanto has the 15m secured. Wehrlein is looking increasingly out of the running, so that leaves Stevens and Rossi, and I doubt they have 24m between them

[BSchneiderFan]

It's understandable but a shame that Mercedes aren't willing to put up enough cash to secure the seat for Wehrlein. It might be handy to have him F1-trained if Rosberg leaves the team in the near future.

[old man]

Originally Posted by BSchneiderFan

It's understandable but a shame that Mercedes aren't willing to put up enough cash to secure the seat for Wehrlein. It might be handy to have him F1-trained if Rosberg leaves the team in the near future.

Seems Toto reads 10/10ths, does this Wehrlein news make Manor the Mercedes junior team? (See Autosport)

It will be interesting to see who gets the other seat

[BSchneiderFan]

Really good news for Manor and for Wehrlein. He clearly deserves to be in Formula 1. Hope Stevens holds on to the other seat - he's been quietly impressive in difficult circumstances.

[S griffin]

Happy to see Wehrlein, hopefully he can lift the team. We'll see who gets the second seat

[BSchneiderFan]

Either of Stevens and Rossi have done enough to deserve it. Which means nothing, of course.

[bella]

rossi has been in the press making positive noises about how his negotiations are going, fwiw.

personally i'd have preferred to see ocon in that manor seat but mercedes have spent a while preening wehrlein for f1 so it makes sense.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Moneyseeker

Only rumours of a Manor LMP project in WEC at some point.

It's now a reality.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122735

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by BSchneiderFan

Either of Stevens and Rossi have done enough to deserve it. Which means nothing, of course.

I don't think Stevens has done enough at all. Rossi outclassed him with no testing in his handful of outings last year.

I'm still confused as to why Merhi didn't go better against Will. Roberto is/was supposed to be one to watch.

Maybe Mercedes dropped him from their junior prog for a reason...

[S griffin]

Merhi got better as the season went on. Didn't he drop the F.Renault campaign at some point?

[BSchneiderFan]

Originally Posted by bella

rossi has been in the press making positive noises about how his negotiations are going, fwiw.

An American driver as well as an American team in F1 would do no harm when COTA is struggling to keep hold of the US GP.

[ECW Dan Selby]

Originally Posted by chunterer

I don't think Stevens has done enough at all. Rossi outclassed him with no testing in his handful of outings last year.

I'm still confused as to why Merhi didn't go better against Will. Roberto is/was supposed to be one to watch.

Maybe Mercedes dropped him from their junior prog for a reason...

I think you may have just answered your own question, mate

I don't think anyone expected anything from Will, by and large, but the fact he seemed to get the better of Mehri more often than not, spoke some volume.

Solid drives, not spectacular.

Selby

[djinvicta]

I don't see how you can be spectacular in their cars. Best bit I ever saw was Jules wheel banging round Rascasse at Monaco for a well deserved point.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by ECW Dan Selby

I think you may have just answered your own question, mate

I don't think anyone expected anything from Will, by and large, but the fact he seemed to get the better of Mehri more often than not, spoke some volume.

Solid drives, not spectacular.

Selby

I think it's more likely that the second car was just fodder unless someone with a bit of money turned up to drive it!

[p-matt]

Will has gone very quiet, which makes me think it's between Rossi and Haryanto. And probably down to if Haryanto can stump up the cash or not