 | |
| Full name | Manor Racing MRT |
|---|---|
| Base | Banbury,Oxfordshire, United Kingdom |
| Noted staff | Stephen Fitzpatrick Abdulla Boulsein Thomas Mayer Dave Ryan John McQuilliam Nikolas Tombazis Luca Furbatto Pat Fry |
| Noted drivers |  Rio Haryanto Esteban Ocon Pascal Wehrlein |
| Previous name | Manor Marussia F1 Team |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| First entry | 2016 Australian Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix |
| Races entered | 21 |
| Engines | Mercedes |
| Constructors' Championships | 0 |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Race victories | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Points | 1 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
Manor Grand Prix Racing Limited, trading asManor Racing MRT orPertamina Manor Racing MRT, was a BritishFormula One racing team and constructor based inBanbury,Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom. The outfit competed from 2010 to 2016: the team originally started racing in2010 under the "Virgin Racing" name; the following year Virgin adoptedMarussia as a title sponsor, the team became "Marussia Virgin Racing" until being rebranded as the "Marussia F1 Team" for2012.
Following their collapse in November 2014, the team exitedadministration in February 2015, and was re-established as the "Manor Marussia F1 Team" after new investment was secured; it was later announced that the businessmanStephen Fitzpatrick had purchased the team.[1] The team retained "Marussia" as itsconstructor name throughout the 2015 season, also adopting a British licence. In January 2016, the team announced it would be renamed to "Manor Racing".[2] The team competed under the constructor nameMRT which stood for Manor Racing Team.
The team closed in March 2017, before the start of the season, after attempts to sell the team to a new owner did not come to fruition.[3][4]
In 2009, Manor Grand Prix were awarded an entry into Formula One for the2010 season, as a tie-up between successful junior racing teamManor Motorsport andWirth Research. Before the end of that year, these entities became known as Virgin Racing, afterRichard Branson'sVirgin Group of companies who had bought the title sponsorship rights. Marussia were one of the team's partners for its debut season, where it finished in twelfth and last place in the Constructors' Championship. In November 2010, Marussia Motors purchased a controlling stake in the team, and the team became known as 'Marussia Virgin Racing' for the2011 season.[5][6]
Following a disappointing start to the 2011 season, the team parted company withWirth Research and entered a partnership withMcLaren Applied Technologies ahead of the 2012 season. With this came a relocation from the original base inDinnington, to the old Wirth premises in Banbury in Great Britain. Meanwhile, the team again finished the year bottom of the Constructors' Championship. In November 2011, it applied to the Formula One commission to formally change their constructor name for the2012 season from Virgin to Marussia, to reflect their new ownership becoming Marussia F1 Team in the process.[7] Permission was granted before being formally ratified at a meeting of theFIAWorld Motor Sport Council.[8] The team competed as Marussia until2014 when it collapsed mid-season.
In May 2015, the team announced the arrival ofLuca Furbatto as Chief Designer.Bob Bell also joined as Consultant.
A deal to save the team was put together ahead of the2015 season, with Manor operating the team independently of Marussia, though the team kept the Marussia name to secure prize money from the 2014 season. After running an outdated chassis and power unit throughout 2015, the team rebranded itself as Manor Racing MRT for2016 and signed a deal to use Mercedes engines.
In December 2015, Dave Ryan was appointed Team Principal for the team and two further appointments followed in January 2016, the team appointed formerFerrari chief designerNikolas Tombazis as its chief aerodynamicist,[9] and recruited fellow former Ferrari employeePat Fry as an engineering consultant.[10]
In February 2016, Manor confirmed thatPascal Wehrlein,2015 DTM champion andMercedes junior driver, andRio Haryanto would race for the team in 2016.[11][12]
On 22 February 2016, Manor launched their new car at the first test. The team had undergone a complete re-branding under the ownership of Fitzpatrick, and had seen the team colours change to red, white and blue.[13]
During the first race of the season inAustralia,Rio Haryanto retired due to a drivetrain problem, whilePascal Wehrlein finished in sixteenth place. At the next race, inBahrain, Wehrlein was one place away from reaching Q2 for the first time in his career, qualifying sixteenth. Haryanto finished the race, a career first, in 17th place.
At theAustrian Grand Prix, Wehrlein achieved a 12th place qualifying position, the highest achieved by the team. Wehrlein also scored the team's first ever point and its best result to date by finishing 10th in the race.[14]
The team's reserve driver,Alexander Rossi, won theIndianapolis 500.
Before the2016 Belgian Grand Prix,Rio Haryanto was demoted to reserve driver due to "his failure to meet his contractual obligations", due to his sponsors being unable to fulfill their financial commitments. For the remaining nine races of the season, he was replaced byEsteban Ocon, who had made frequent appearances testing for bothRenault andMercedes and who was considered to be a promising young talent.[15]
At the end of theBrazilian Grand Prix, which was held in adverse conditions,Sauber gained two points, putting them ahead of Manor in the championship, costing the team £30 million in prize money.[16]
Before theAbu Dhabi Grand Prix, it was confirmed byStephen Fitzpatrick that the team were in advanced talks with a new investor.[17] However, in early January 2017 the team's parent company was put under administration after the investment talks failed, putting their participation in the 2017 season into doubt.[3] Although they paid their 2017 entry fee, since their participation did not materialise, the entry fee was returned by theFIA at the end of 2017.[4]
(key) (results inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Name | Chassis | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | Points | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Manor Racing MRT | MRT05 | Mercedes PU106C Hybrid 1.6V6t | P | AUS | BHR | CHN | RUS | ESP | MON | CAN | EUR | AUT | GBR | HUN | GER | BEL | ITA | SIN | MAL | JPN | USA | MEX | BRA | ABU | 1 | 11th | |
| Rio Haryanto | Ret | 17 | 21 | Ret | 17 | 15 | 19 | 18 | 16 | Ret | 21 | 20 | ||||||||||||||||
 Esteban Ocon | 16 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 21 | 18 | 21 | 12 | 13 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Pascal Wehrlein | 16 | 13 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 14 | 17 | Ret | 10 | Ret | 19 | 17 | Ret | Ret | 16 | 15 | 22 | 17 | Ret | 15 | 14 | |||||||
| Sources:[18][19] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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