[Team] Marussia - what next?

[knighty]

Originally Posted by Moneyseeker

There were rumours that Saxo Bank might be backing KM aside from his usual backers, so he might be able to get the drive. I read that Manor want £10M per seat and Mercedes were at around £3M to £4M in their offer.

Agreed, I can imagine his manager which I believe is Mikka Hakkinen is royally tapping up all possible sponsors in order to pay for and land the Manor seat.....for me Rossi is just an un-known quantity still, for sure he is half decent and not a mug, but if Manor have any sense they will realise that Magnussen can score points due to good previous experience, I believe each point is worth circa 30 million so more than worth the risk, hence they can split their bets with both Magnussen and Stevens.

[cds_uk]

Originally Posted by bella

merhi's really good, but without knowing exactly why f1 isn't suiting him it's hard to back him.

Agree with you about Merhi, he is a fantastic driver and i hope that this season hasn't finished his single seater career, i would love to see him drop down to GP2 and do a Grosjean. Regarding his perfomances this season, as far as i can make out the general consensus is that with the car being bang on the weight limit and his size compared to Stevens he has been at a half second disadvantage from the start, that being said he has done a pretty decent job to get anywhere near Will at all let alone in front of him as the season has worn on.

[chunterer]

Yup, Merhi did a bloody good job really. Rossi must also have done as well?

Although I would think on pure ability the Spaniard had both of them licked.

Unfortunately it's hard for most people to see that.

[Hawkwood]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Unfortunately it's hard for most people to see that.

I think most people haven't seen it as he hasn't really shown it.

There is an asterisk or two to go along with that statement of course, but for the most part he hasn't really impressed this year.

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Yup, Merhi did a bloody good job really.

I haven't heard any express other than great disappointment in Merhi. Weight or no weight Will Sltevens is not exactly considered a top liner and Merhi has been thumped

[cds_uk]

Originally Posted by peebee2

I haven't heard any express other than great disappointment in Merhi. Weight or no weight Will Sltevens is not exactly considered a top liner and Merhi has been thumped

I know it is all about opinions but i really can't see how you think he has been thumped.

[steve_r]

Stevens beat Merhi in pretty much every qualy and race at the beginning of the season. I think Mehri has improved in the latter part of the season though, but not by much. Maybe others have seen something different to me....


Rossi on he other hand has come in and beat Stevens straight away.

[ECW Dan Selby]

Originally Posted by steve_r

Stevens beat Merhi in pretty much every qualy and race at the beginning of the season. I think Mehri has improved in the latter part of the season though, but not by much. Maybe others have seen something different to me....


Rossi on he other hand has come in and beat Stevens straight away.

Agreed.

I really didn't see much in Mehri this season at all. For Rossi, who is somewhat questionable at times, to come in an consistantly start beating Stevens straight away, then it probably tells you what you need to know!

Selby

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by ECW Dan Selby

Agreed.

I really didn't see much in Mehri this season at all. For Rossi, who is somewhat questionable at times, to come in an consistantly start beating Stevens straight away, then it probably tells you what you need to know!

Selby

Indeed, it probably tells me that Rossi got the support he needed to do the job because there's no way Rossi is more talented than Merhi.
I always got the impression Merhi did a fantastic job given the tools at his disposal and Stevens was getting the favourable treatment justifiably so if he was bringing more backing.

[steve_r]

Maybe. Perhaps Stevens had 10 good weekends when he was driving alongside Merhi and had 4 bad weekends the 4 times he was up against Rossi...

[S griffin]

Merhi took a while to get up to speed. When he did, he returned to the front in F.Renault 3.5 aswell

[wolfhound]

I see where Tavo Hellmund along with a group of American investors are looking at buying Manor.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/121747

That could be interesting. They want the deal completed by early next year or it won't happen. I am just trying to figure out why anybody would want to buy an F1 team in the current climate, as a lot of teams seam to be changing owners at the moment ( Lotus, Force India and now Manor) or new ones coming in.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

I see where Tavo Hellmund along with a group of American investors are looking at buying Manor.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/121747

That could be interesting. They want the deal completed by early next year or it won't happen. I am just trying to figure out why anybody would want to buy an F1 team in the current climate, as a lot of teams seam to be changing owners at the moment ( Lotus, Force India and now Manor) or new ones coming in.

http://www.pitpass.com/55153/Hellmund-eyeing-Manor

I know this is the reality, but I hate the mindset!

"It would never be our goal to compete with the manufacturer teams," admits Hellmund. "We're never going to spend $400 million a year like Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren. But we think you can run it respectably and not be in the red. I think you can fight for fifth."


Based on:

However, with an eye on the fact that in the coming years the smaller teams look likely to get a bigger share of the sport's income, he reveals that he is pondering making a bid


Good luck!

[Hawkwood]

Manor set for a name change now Booth and Lowdon have left?
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns32644.html

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Hawkwood

Manor set for a name change now Booth and Lowdon have left?
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns32644.html

That would seem to be eminently logical, as Manor Motorsport is a company founded by John Booth, and has been the entrant to many drivers in various classes of motor racing over the years.

[ECW Dan Selby]

Probably have another stupid situation where the name change will lag a year behind, because F1...

Selby

[bella]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

That would seem to be eminently logical, as Manor Motorsport is a company founded by John Booth, and has been the entrant to many drivers in various classes of motor racing over the years.

logical, but there's plenty of precedent for manor really being a bit of a franchise sort of name - manor competition (the shaws) split from manor motorsport and continued in formula renault 2.0 for several years - they merged with mp motorsport and are now manor mp motorsport. confused yet?

[Moneyseeker]

Lot of Manor GP vacancies advertised in Autosport this week, so must be investing more.

[knighty]

Originally Posted by Moneyseeker

Lot of Manor GP vacancies advertised in Autosport this week, so must be investing more.

looking at the amount of Manor job adverts on Autosport (11 off! link below) this would imply either Fitzpatrick is investing more......or 11 people have also left the team quickly.....many of the 11 positions are very big roles and to be recruiting them in late december 2015 really does note bode well for the 2016 season whatsoever......it would appear that Fitzpatrick has interfered in the team too much and people have voted with their feet and simply walked off to other teams.

Initially I thought Fitzpatrick was a racer and into F1, but the reality of the situation is he is just a venture-capitalist who is looking to quickly flip his investment for a healthy profit...... ker-ching.....he's just in it for the money, a real shame as it was looking like 2016 was going to be a massive year for Manor.....now it already looks like a tragedy with John Booth & Bob Bell walking off in apparent dismay of the Manor situation.

http://motorsport-jobs.autosport.com/job/616/manor-f1/vacancy/1227/various-vacancies

.

[steve_r]

Originally Posted by knighty

looking at the amount of Manor job adverts on Autosport (11 off! link below) this would imply either Fitzpatrick is investing more......or 11 people have also left the team quickly.....many of the 11 positions are very big roles and to be recruiting them in late december 2015 really does note bode well for the 2016 season whatsoever......it would appear that Fitzpatrick has interfered in the team too much and people have voted with their feet and simply walked off to other teams.

Initially I thought Fitzpatrick was a racer and into F1, but the reality of the situation is he is just a venture-capitalist who is looking to quickly flip his investment for a healthy profit...... ker-ching.....he's just in it for the money, a real shame as it was looking like 2016 was going to be a massive year for Manor.....now it already looks like a tragedy with John Booth & Bob Bell walking off in apparent dismay of the Manor situation.

http://motorsport-jobs.autosport.com...ious-vacancies

.

You might be right, but I do not see how you can jump to such a conclusion just off the back of the team advertising some job vacancies. Maybe they are increasing the number of staff in a concerted effort to move up the grid in the coming seasons.

We will find out soon enough.

[Neppatsrev Xam]

Rio Haryanto likely to be one of the Manor drivers in 2016

a letter from the Indonesian government to Manor has been leaked:

[Hawkwood]

Doesn't Jakarta have email?
Who does international business deals by post anymore?

Anyway, I like Haryanto, and I like having new people and nations on the grid, so I'm giving this a thumbs up.

[Neppatsrev Xam]

Originally Posted by Hawkwood

Doesn't Jakarta have email?
Who does international business deals by post anymore?

.

I think this was a fax

[Hawkwood]

Originally Posted by Neppatsrev Xam

I think this was a fax

What is this, the '70s?

[Nikki Katz]

It's taken harayanto a long time to get to where he is now, usually with backmarker teams but occasionally with a top drive. I did hear that 2015 was the first time he moved to be near his team instead of just appearing at the races, so possibly that's something to do with the upturn in form