John Booth | |
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| Born | John Alfred Booth (1954-12-18)18 December 1954 (age 71) Rotherham, England |
| Known for | Manor Motorsport &Virgin/Marussia F1 Team, Director of Racing atToro Rosso |
John Alfred Booth (born 18 December 1954 inRotherham, England) is the former Director of Racing atScuderia Toro Rosso. He is the former team principal of theVirgin/MarussiaFormula One team. He was initially the team's sporting director, but took over the role of team principal fromAlex Tai less than one month after the team's launch.[1]
Booth was a racing driver during the 1980s, with a family-run team, racing inFormula Ford and British Formula 3.
Named after the Anston Manor House where he lived, Booth created theManor Motorsport team in 1990 when he sold the family butchers business. Over 20 years Manor's record of success includes some 171 race wins and 19 championship titles in series such asBritish Formula 3,Formula Renault andFormula Three Euroseries. Among the drivers who have gone on to greater things having raced with Manor Motorsport are:Lewis Hamilton,Kimi Räikkönen,Paul di Resta,Jason Plato,Oliver Jarvis andAntônio Pizzonia.
On 12 June 2009 it was announced Manor's application to participate in the2010 Formula One season had been accepted - the original intention having been to race in GP2, but the entry list was full. Their F1 team was originally calledManor Grand Prix, but the name was later changed toVirgin Racing, with backing fromVirgin Group and later still to the Marussia F1 Team, following Russian sports car manufacturerMarussia acquiring a controlling interest in the team. Booth had said that the F3 team will continue to run, despite his focus shifting to the F1 team. However, Manor have pulled out of the Euroseries, to compete in the new-for-2010GP3 Series. On 30 October 2015, media announced the resignation of both Booth andChief Executive OfficerGraeme Lowdon from the team at the end of2015, citing differences with team ownerStephen Fitzpatrick. An official statement by any party has not been made.[2] Afterwards, Booth and Lowdon announced they would form a team in theWorld Endurance Championship, also known as Manor Motorsport,[3] with former Manor driversWill Stevens andTor Graves.[4]
In April 2016, it was announced that Booth had joinedToro Rosso as Director of Racing.[5] He later confirmed his departure from the team in April 2018.[6]
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