Pretty clever, eh? Although its somewhat difficult
to do with there being two rival Manor factions currently - which contrary to
popular belief are owned by two totally different persons, or at least they
should be, even if not so on paper...
Although it seems a travesty that the
founders of the Minnowesqe Formula 1 Constructor Manor Grand Prix, wooed into
thy pinnacle 'O motorsports over six years ago by Sir maXXam, nee Mad Max
Mosley won't be on the grid this year to see the fruition of their hard fought
efforts. Nonetheless I'll guess that John Booth and Graeme Lowdon
will be there in spirit along with forging new paths of their own.
Since it still seems a bit odd that Manor
Grand Prix team founder John Booth and former CEO Graeme Lowdon
resigned somewhat abruptly last October from then Manor Marussia F1, albeit
finishing out the season before apparently telling its new owner he's Number
One!
As I-T would be Blasphemy to Mwah if John Booth has
also lost the legacy associated with his longtime established Manor Motorsport company,
as the newly constituted Manor Racing shouldn't be claiming A-L-L the past
single seater championships won before their apparent Takeover; Err Merger...
As Booth, now 61yr old, along with Lowdon
will see long established Manor Motorsport racing in the FIA's World Endurance
Championship's LMP2 category this year with Taiwan's Tor Graves
having inked a two year contract as lead driver of their customer Oreca-Nissan
chassis.
As the new Manor Sports Car team will race
against the likes of Extreme Speed Motorsports, (ESM) winners of this year's
Rolex 24, spearheaded by the lightning quick Pico Derani! SPM Racing's Nicolas Minassian, China's BAXI DC
Racing with Ho-Pin Tung at the controls and Mexico's RGR
Sport by Morand
with Bruno Senna - to name just a few of the
overall LMP2 competitors.
Meanwhile, the other Man in the picture, Stephen
Fitzpatrick, founder of OVO Energy, who saved Marussia
F1 from Administration with a $30m cash infusion last year, has rebranded the
past Manor Marussia F1 Team as simply Manor Racing, which ironically takes over
the name previously utilized by the Marussia Manor GP3 team that folded in the
fall of 2014.
Fitzpatrick,
for whom Booth and Lowdon clashed with, has
firmly rested control of the Formula 1 team which has now become a home for
ex-McLaren men Davey Ryan, Nicholas Tombazis and Pat Fry.
As Fry will work alongside fellow colleague
Dave Ryan, Manor's Sporting Director who left McLaren in 2009 after 35yrs upon becoming
the Scapegoat for Lewis Hamilton's foggy recollections to race stewards!
While Fry will also reunite working alongside
Nicholas Tombazis, who was chief designer at Scuderia Ferrari for all of
Michael Schumacher's world championships along with Kimi Raikkonen's, before the
pair were ousted from Maranello in 2014.
While Manor Racing's 2016 F1 challenger
certainly will be a step forward with the addition of the all-mighty Mercedes
Power Unit discarded by Renault's purchase of Lotus, along with the necessary
running gear, i.e.; gearbox and suspension components being supplied by Team
Willy', aka Williams F1.
As the
only thing missing from Manor Racing at the beginning of February was who'd
be piloting the cars? Or more directly, which aspiring Formula 1 Pilotes' are
bringing the biggest cheques? As Indonesia's Rio Haryanto seemed to be leading the pack with
his sizeable state funded dowry.
With Mercedes reserve driver and reigning DTM
champion Pascal Wehrlein appearing close on Haryanto's heels - Presumably with a
"Sweetheart" deal upon the team's supply of Mercs' as Wehrlein was
the Factory team's reserve driver.
America's Alexander Rossi and Britain's Will Stevens
who drove for Manor last year were also possible candidates - whilst apparently
last year's other racer, Spain's Roberto Merhi is looking elsewhere.
As whispers grew over Manor simply taking the
biggest cheque for their second seat, the final seat unoccupied on the 2016
Formula 1 grid. Manor Racing finally confirmed their driver selection just a
scant four days prior to the season's first
round of Formula 1's 2016 "Winter Olympics," nee winter testing being
held in Barcelona February 22-25 - with the second and final 4-Day test occurring
March 1-4.
As I haven't had a
chance to puruse Thy Web upon returning home from Up North Eh! In regards to
testing times...
While I'm very disappointed
that Manor took the cash over the experience, albeit limited time behind the
wheel of a Formula 1 chassis enjoyed by Alexander Rossi last year, who finished
two places ahead of Haryanto in GP2 last season...
