The end for Manor
The mission to survive was not successful: the administrators were unable to find a buyer capable of ensuring Manor's continuity. The redundancy process will begin on Tuesday.
At the beginning of January, the sad news arrived that Manor had been placed under administration, but with the tiny hope of quickly finding a buyer to ensure the survival of the team.
Two weeks later, hope still seemed to be in the air as an offer from an Asian consortium was submitted, but with a very short deadline to ensure the team could be on the Melbourne grid. This hope had led the current shareholders to secure funds to pay salaries until the end of the month.
Unfortunately, it seems that the two parties were unable to reach an agreement, and the administrators had no choice but to file for the team’s bankruptcy, as they confirmed in a statement: « Unfortunately, since the appointment of the administrators, no investment could be secured during the short period available to ensure the group’s continuity in its present form. Without a viable operational or financial structure to sustain the group, the administrators have now decided to cease JRSL and have unfortunately had to send all employees home today, January 27. »
JRSL here refers to the name Just Racing Services Limited, which is the name of the entity that holds all the team’s assets. It is therefore this entity that employed 212 people, whose dismissal process will be implemented quickly: « Even though the 212 employees will be paid until Tuesday, January 31, all but a few should be laid off by the end of January. »
But JRSL is not the entity that holds the entry rights for F1, which belong to Manor Grand Prix Racing Limited. This entity has not been placed under administration and can therefore continue to exist. A potential solution could be for a new investor to come forward to acquire the entry rights.
This means, however, that Stephen Fitzpatrick, the current shareholder, has lost any opportunity to recover his investment through the sale of the company and will therefore have to settle for selling the team’s assets individually.
It is in this sad context that Joao Correia, one of the engineers working on the project, chose to publish a photo of the aerodynamic model of the MR05, which will therefore never see the light of day. This is indeed a sign that the entire development of the car had been well underway since Manor’s future was to be secured by the famous point from the Austrian Grand Prix. This was the case until the Brazilian Grand Prix…
With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr
