Category Archives: F1 News

Marussia/Manor’s move to a Company Voluntary Arrangement has been approved, which in effect means that the team can take the next steps towards returning to the grid.

Today had been earmarked a fortnight ago as the date for the move to a CVA.

The team is meanwhile pushing ahead with plans to have a 2015-legal car ready, in theory by the fourth race of the season at the latest.

A statement from administrators FRP Advisory said: “The joint administrators confirm the requisite approval by the Company’s creditors on 19 February 2015 to a Company Voluntary Arrangement, which allows for control of the Company to be passed back to the directors and the Company to exit from administration.

“The financial restructuring creates a platform for the Company to continue with its plans to participate once again within Formula 1.”

Joint administrator Geoff Rowley added: “We are pleased that the financial restructuring of the Company has been progressed after creditor approval of the CVA.

“With new investment and a continuity of the respected management, the business has the ideal platform from which it can accelerate the operational rebuilding already underway to get a team back racing. It has been a long process and we would like to thank everyone involved to reach this milestone.

“We shall complete our statutory duties as administrators with the necessary filings needed in order to formally exit the Company from administration over the next few days.”

The introduction of in-season power unit development in 2015 will create an extra headache for both the teams and the manufacturers, some of the sport’s key players admit.

This year the manufacturers will be allowed to use up engine development tokens during the season, rather than use them all before the season, as had been the FIA’s original intention.

The problem they now face is the timing of the introduction of any upgraded parts, as it has to be done with an eye on how much mileage the previous examples have done.

Last year, when there was no development other for reliability purposes, teams would not have a problem using elements at the last race that had been in circulation as early as Melbourne, as long as they still had mileage on them.

Now they risk a dip in performance if they are forced to go back to earlier parts. While mileage on older equipment could be used up on Fridays, juggling the elements around still presents a challenge, especially now drivers only have access to four power units before penalties kick in.

“If you do use tokens up through the year then the introduction of that will mean what you had previously, you won’t want to use,” said Mercedes engine head Andy Cowell when asked by this writer. “Which does complicate it. That’s one of the things to consider as you come up with ideas and decide what you want to do.”

Meanwhile McLaren’s Eric Boullier said: “Last year was already a little bit of a headache, it’s just going to be more complicated. It’s true that four engines, with an upgraded package in the middle, we have to be very cautious how we manage our laps, especially on Fridays.”

Qatar appears to have moved a step closer to hosting an F1 race, despite the Bahrain and Abu Dhabi events already having a firm on the schedule.

The chief of the Qatari ASN (QMMF) Nasser bin Khalifa al-Attiyah, a rally driver who has been the FIA Vice-President for sport in the Middle East since December 2013, says that a contract is about to be completed for a third race in the region. It had been thought that Bahrain would exercise its veto on an extra race being added.

“We are about to sign contracts to organise a Formula One race,” Al-Attiyah told agency AFP. “We have completed all the steps and there are only a few details before the official signature.”

He added that the race could be on the schedule as early as 2016, and that it was still not clear whether it would take place at the established Lusail MotoGP venue – he is its general manager – or on a new street track in capital Doha.

Qatar is already holding the 2022 FIFA World Cup, as well as the 2019 IAAF Athletics World Championships.

The brief debate over Marussia’s 2014 car was just a sideshow to the main business of yesterday’s F1 Strategy Group meeting, which was to look ahead at potential rule changes that are intended to increase the sport’s appeal.

All the big players were at the meeting, including Bernie Ecclestone, Jean Todt, Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda (Mercedes), Ron Dennis and Eric Boullier (McLaren), Sergio Marchionne and Maurizio Arrivabene (Ferrari), Christian Horner (Red Bull), Claire Williams (Williams) and Bob Fernley (Force India).

Although there were no definite conclusions and discussions will continue, F1 is still heading towards 1000bhp engines in 2017. The F1 Engine Group is exploring how a relaxation of the limits of fuel flow, and the maximum amount available for the race, can best be adjusted to that end.

Major changes to bodywork and the introduction of wider rear tyres remain in the table for 2016, and Bernie Ecclestone apparently said that Pirelli would be able to deal with the latter, despite earlier suggestions that the Italian company would prefer to wait.

One of the key focuses of the current research is what the cost implications are for the teams, given that any rules changes involve extra expense.

“That’s what they are looking at now,” said once source. “One of the failings that we’ve had before is that it’s always been engineering driven, and now it’s going to be an engineering desire, but cost driven. It’s 2017, the question is can it be brought forward to ’16?”

The F1 Strategy Group has rejected Marussia’s request to use its 2014 chassis this season, sources have confirmed.

Changes to the regulations related to front chassis height for 2015 mean that most of last season’s chassis are now illegal, including the Marussia.

Given the financial problems that forced the team into administration the team’s only chance to carry on in its current form would be to utilise last year’s chassis, which used a Ferrari power unit and gearbox. Even if Marussia had got permission today, one assumes that the £16m debt to Ferrari would have to be addressed before anything was supplied for 2015.

The Strategy Group includes Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Williams on a permanent basis, as well as the next best placed constructor, which this year is Force India. Each team has a vote, while the FIA has six votes and Formula One Management (in other words Bernie Ecclestone) has six votes.

In theory only proposals that emerge intact from the Strategy Group can go onto the F1 Commission, and then to the World Motor Sport Council for final approval.

It was announced earlier this week that Marussia had apparently found a way forward and that it was exiting administration as of February 19, but options now appear to be limited for John Booth and his colleagues.

By co-incidence the Caterham administrator announced today that the team’s cars and other assets are going to be auctioned, in effect confirming that the attempt to keep the team running as a going concern had been abandoned.

It remains to be seen whether or not this really is the end of the story for the two teams that both made their debuts at the start of 2010.