Naturally I was quite surprised by the news
last Friday announcing that Manor Marussia Team Principal John Booth and
Sporting Director Graeme
Lowdon were resigning from the team, which I
sincerely hope will not be catastrophic for the team's future success.
As Manor Marussia seemingly looked pointed
the right way with the announcement of Mercedes Power Units and Williams
running gear and suspension components for next year.
As Mercedes Toto Wolff rightly points out,
Manor is Booth and Booth is Manor, for which things must have really soured for
the team's founder and driving force to walk away from his own racing team!
As I sincerely hope that current owner
Stephen Fitzpatrick won't be as short-sighted as the Bankers who bought
Hispania F1. Y'all remember Hispania F1 right? After the Thespian Capital
"Bankers" promptly ran it into the ground.
As scuttlebutt suggests that Booth &
Lowdon had lost faith in Fitzpatrick's abilities to fund the team long-term,
reputedly having turned down two lucrative new investors wishing to invest
multi-millions, somewhere nears $100m? As both Booth & Lowdon worked thru
the Mexican GP weekend and reportedly will stay on at Manor thru the end of the
season...
Now comes word that respected Technical Director
Bob Bell who's been a Manor Marussia consultant since June 1st has resigned, while Grizzled Journo' Joe Saward
has speculated will the exodus of Manor staff continue with the proximity of
Haas F1's European base just down the road...
