The company that operates Manor F1 has gone into administration, the US equivalent of bankruptcy in the United States. At this rate it appears Manor will not be on the grid come Australia in the March. While Manor wasn’t a major player in F1 this is a genuinely sad moment.
Manor was the ultimate back marker team, the team with a ton of heart but not much to show for it. A scrappy little outfit where drivers went to get their start before moving onto bigger and better things. There was always part of your heart though that pulled for the little guys.
When Jules Bianchi scored the first points for Manor then Marussia at the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix where he brought the car home 9th and gave the team 2 points. When you saw them celebrating that like they won the World Championship you couldn’t help but smile and be a fan. The little guys with no money did it. They scored point, regardless of what happened with the rest of the field, they did it and on the grandest stage.
Later that season when Jules crashed in Japan you sat on your couch at 3am hoping he’d pop out, questioning how this could happen. Sure he was a back marker that didn’t get much TV time but he was a person, a son, a great story and had a future as bright as anyone. Gone.
In 2016 now as Manor F1, they did it again. Pascal Wehrlein scored a point for the team in the Austrian Grand Prix. Huge for that team, they scored a point and now were in place for FOM prize money at the end of the year. That was until Sauber scored points in Brazil and ultimately put Manor out, thus no prize money. It’s a lot like being relegated, unfortunately there isn’t a lower series to save them.
Manor F1 is a lot like Dale from The Walking Dead, you don’t notice them often but every now and then they do something great and you’re reminded how much you like them. Then one day they’re gone and you’re left questioning why they had to leave. This time it wasn’t because Carl is a self centered millennial.
Some names came through the Manor/Marussia ranks. Esteban Ocon and Pascal Wehrlein both move onto “better” seats following the 2016 season. Ocon heads to Force India, Wehrlein to Sauber after being mentioned for the vacant Nico Rosberg seat. Another name to pilot a Manor, Alexander Rossi. The 2016 Indy 500 Winner raced for Manor in 2015 with a career best finish of 12th, the same career best as Ocon.
Manor could still be saved though, a potential buyer could save them from administration. It will be a sad day if the scrappy UK outfit that brought some fun to F1 Twitter is no longer.
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