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Marussia/Manor GP CEO Graeme Lowdon has responded to suggestions from Force India’s Bob Fernley to the effect that the team did not provide any “substance” when asking to run its 2014 car this year – and has emphasised that the team is not giving up its hopes of being on the grid.
He said work is continuing on a 2015 car, and that confidentiality was the reason why no details of any new investors or owners had been revealed. He also denied that the team had been asked to provide a more detailed application to the Strategy Group.
It was announced a few days ago that the company would come out of administration on February 19, via a process known as a CVA.
“It has been a very good step to finally get the CVA process underway this week,” said Lowdon in a statement that was headlined ‘Manor F1 Team.’. “This is the first external sign that we have been able to make of all the hard work that has taken place privately over the past four months to get us to our current position.
“I was surprised to hear some of the comments made today, particularly regarding an application we were said to have made to yesterday’s meeting, which I can confirm was not the case. We did make a request on 17 December last year and we have been working since to satisfy the requirements subsequently communicated to us, specifically complying with all the Regulations, aside from the exempted articles.
“The comments also mentioned that issues of compliance were raised, that it was felt that our application lacked substance and contained no supporting documentation to reinforce the case for offering special dispensation. Again, we did not make any application to yesterday’s Strategy Group meeting and nor were we asked to.
“Instead, we are proceeding with our clear process regarding compliance and building our operation. We are doing everything possible to adhere to the process set out for us to return to the 2015 grid. This is a fantastic good news story for the whole sport and we just want to go racing.”
Meanwhile the statement added some details of how things have unfolded in recent weeks, and what the team believes will happen next. However, it made no mention of power unit/gearbox supplier Ferrari:
- On 17 December 2014, the team made a request to the Strategy Group to consider allowing it to use a 2014 race car, modified to meet certain 2015 regulations, for part of the 2015 season. Following analysis, the team highlighted that this would need some form of dispensation on only a small number of clauses in the Regulations.
– Subsequent to this application, the team was informed on 5 January 2015, that the Strategy Group felt that two teams – Marussia and Caterham – should be permitted to race a 2014 car in the 2015 championship. The letter stated that the Strategy Group agreed that the car should comply with all of the 2015 technical regulations, with the exception of four articles, those articles being Articles 3.7.9, 15.4.3, 15.4.4 and 16.2. The team can confirm that the modifications to its 2014 car would meet this stipulation.
– A change to the Regulations at this stage does require unanimous consent from all teams and following the initiation of the CVA process, the team is now actively engaged in achieving this. This process involves providing all relevant information to the teams to allow them to fully consider its request.
– As the press release from FRP Advisory of 4 February states, given the confidential nature of the negotiations underway, neither they nor the team are able to provide further details regarding the team’s new investors, however those investors have either met with or spoken to the key F1 bodies.
– The team has been busy preparing its 2014 cars such that they comply with the stipulations of the Strategy Group and at the same time it is pressing on with the development of its 2015 car to ensure it can supersede the 2014 car as soon as possible.
– The team has a significant number of staff already working on both its 2014 and 2015 cars. It also has the benefit of being able to recruit further staff very quickly from the rich pool of experienced and talented F1 personnel who were left unemployed following the closure of Marussia and Caterham and due to job cuts made by other teams in the sport.
God I think I love this little team.
Force India's 2015 car won't be ready for the next test, what's more they won't even be taking either Hulkenberg or Perez to use the 2014 car... but, Mercedes test driver Pascal Wehrlein instead.
Sounds like Force India are trying their best to take the "Resident F1 Clusterfuck" title away from Caterham.
Sounds like Force India are trying their best to take the "Resident F1 Clusterfuck" title away from Caterham.
It looks like we could be in for a really competive year.
There's little doubt that Mercedes start as firm favourites, the mileage they've put in during testing and the confidence displayed in not hunting lap-times is indeed onomious.
It's widely considered that against all expectation, Ferrari have made a big step forward. They've consistently been at (or near) the top of the times and the car visibly looks much better behaved than last years. If this carries through, Vettel and Kimi are too good not to take good advantage. Wins could well be on the cards.
Red Bull are infinitely more reliable than this time last year, which bodes well. It's difficult to envisage Newey penning a poor car, so I remain convinced that the chassis will be right up there but it seems that they're already whinging about the Renault engine. There are 'fears' that they've been leapfrogged by Ferrari and maybe others. There are conflicting reports about the handling of the similarly powered Toro Rosso, but I think we can expect similar form as the last few years for them.
Williams are hard to read right now. They've stead fastly stuck to their program and eschewed all lap time hunting. The driver's comments are positive, and track side observations suggest that they've improved upon some of weakness of the FW36. I'm not sure we can expect them to be Merc's closest challengers but they're definitely holding their cards close to the chest and there's this old Skool Williams vibe of quiet confidence going on.
Lotus, have settled down well with Mercedes, and like Ferrari seem to have made a solid step forward. It's difficult to read exactly where they are, but they've definitely recovered well from last year.
Sauber haven't been quite as impressive this week, but it's hard to imagine that they'll follow up last year with anouter 'nil point'.
McLaren Honda... Could be a really sweet car... But it doesn't last long enough to show it.
Force India, can't comment too much as we still haven't seen the new car yet.. But at least they're now testing.
Manor, who knows, it's not going to easy, but dammit I hope they at least cobble a car together to give it a go.
There's little doubt that Mercedes start as firm favourites, the mileage they've put in during testing and the confidence displayed in not hunting lap-times is indeed onomious.
It's widely considered that against all expectation, Ferrari have made a big step forward. They've consistently been at (or near) the top of the times and the car visibly looks much better behaved than last years. If this carries through, Vettel and Kimi are too good not to take good advantage. Wins could well be on the cards.
Red Bull are infinitely more reliable than this time last year, which bodes well. It's difficult to envisage Newey penning a poor car, so I remain convinced that the chassis will be right up there but it seems that they're already whinging about the Renault engine. There are 'fears' that they've been leapfrogged by Ferrari and maybe others. There are conflicting reports about the handling of the similarly powered Toro Rosso, but I think we can expect similar form as the last few years for them.
Williams are hard to read right now. They've stead fastly stuck to their program and eschewed all lap time hunting. The driver's comments are positive, and track side observations suggest that they've improved upon some of weakness of the FW36. I'm not sure we can expect them to be Merc's closest challengers but they're definitely holding their cards close to the chest and there's this old Skool Williams vibe of quiet confidence going on.
Lotus, have settled down well with Mercedes, and like Ferrari seem to have made a solid step forward. It's difficult to read exactly where they are, but they've definitely recovered well from last year.
Sauber haven't been quite as impressive this week, but it's hard to imagine that they'll follow up last year with anouter 'nil point'.
McLaren Honda... Could be a really sweet car... But it doesn't last long enough to show it.
Force India, can't comment too much as we still haven't seen the new car yet.. But at least they're now testing.
Manor, who knows, it's not going to easy, but dammit I hope they at least cobble a car together to give it a go.
gav Wrote:
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> Alonso has been airlifted to hospital after
> crashing between turns 3 and 4. Apparently he is
> "OK and concious".
>
> Lots are speculating some sort of illness caused
> the loss of control and Vettel has reportedly
> said: "The speed was slow - maybe 150kph. Then he
> turned right into the wall. It looked strange."
It does look weird. Maybe he could've blacked out going round turn 3? His head looks quite far forward in the cockpit in the shots taken during the crash. With no obvious sudden deceleration to cause that, another possibility is that he wasn't fully conscious at that moment.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Alonso has been airlifted to hospital after
> crashing between turns 3 and 4. Apparently he is
> "OK and concious".
>
> Lots are speculating some sort of illness caused
> the loss of control and Vettel has reportedly
> said: "The speed was slow - maybe 150kph. Then he
> turned right into the wall. It looked strange."
It does look weird. Maybe he could've blacked out going round turn 3? His head looks quite far forward in the cockpit in the shots taken during the crash. With no obvious sudden deceleration to cause that, another possibility is that he wasn't fully conscious at that moment.
Quote
J i m
There's little doubt that Mercedes start as firm favourites, the mileage they've put in during testing and the confidence displayed in not hunting lap-times is indeed onomious.
Rosberg's just done a 1:24.5 on the mediums... which according to Autosport would equate roughly to a 1:22.5 if he were on the super softs...
gav Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > There's little doubt that Mercedes start as firm
> favourites, the mileage they've put in during
> testing and the confidence displayed in not
> hunting lap-times is indeed onomious.
>
>
> Rosberg's just done a 1:24.5 on the mediums...
> which according to Autosport would equate roughly
> to a 1:22.5 if he were on the super softs...
Like I said... "onomious".
Strange stuff going on with Alonso :S
-------------------------------------------------------
> > There's little doubt that Mercedes start as firm
> favourites, the mileage they've put in during
> testing and the confidence displayed in not
> hunting lap-times is indeed onomious.
>
>
> Rosberg's just done a 1:24.5 on the mediums...
> which according to Autosport would equate roughly
> to a 1:22.5 if he were on the super softs...
Like I said... "onomious".
Strange stuff going on with Alonso :S
He's come out of hospital this afternoon. 
The unconfirmed reports last night said Alonso still had some headaches and back pain, so he had chose to stay in hospital for the time being.
The crash was horrible. ALL of the energy was transferred through the chassis, as the none of the crumple zone were able to absorb any. The right-rear suspension was damaged, but didn't collapse entirely - other than that, the immoveable concrete wall connected with the immovable car (energy through suspension to chassis and gearbox) and ultimately Alonso. He took nearly the full force of hitting the wall. It wasn't a spectacular accident, but that in itself was the problem, as obviously bits and pieces deforming and falling off absorbs the energy and helps protect the driver - barely anything did though.
I guess it was a freak accident. The suspension isn't designed to withstand those contacts and would normally deform, and while carbon fibre is immensely strong in the loads it's designed to tolerate, it can be extremely unpredictable when it's stressed in ways it's not designed for. Sadly, this was the issue - the suspension largely stood up to the impact. It wasn't a hard hit, but the car took none of the damage.
McLaren said the gust of wind was likely a contributing factor to pushing Alonso wide onto the astroturf, as they run around the outside of that corner from halfway around, so it was probably driver error with wind being a help, same as apparently helped Carlos Sainz do the same.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2015 04:20PM by gav.
The unconfirmed reports last night said Alonso still had some headaches and back pain, so he had chose to stay in hospital for the time being.
The crash was horrible. ALL of the energy was transferred through the chassis, as the none of the crumple zone were able to absorb any. The right-rear suspension was damaged, but didn't collapse entirely - other than that, the immoveable concrete wall connected with the immovable car (energy through suspension to chassis and gearbox) and ultimately Alonso. He took nearly the full force of hitting the wall. It wasn't a spectacular accident, but that in itself was the problem, as obviously bits and pieces deforming and falling off absorbs the energy and helps protect the driver - barely anything did though.
I guess it was a freak accident. The suspension isn't designed to withstand those contacts and would normally deform, and while carbon fibre is immensely strong in the loads it's designed to tolerate, it can be extremely unpredictable when it's stressed in ways it's not designed for. Sadly, this was the issue - the suspension largely stood up to the impact. It wasn't a hard hit, but the car took none of the damage.
McLaren said the gust of wind was likely a contributing factor to pushing Alonso wide onto the astroturf, as they run around the outside of that corner from halfway around, so it was probably driver error with wind being a help, same as apparently helped Carlos Sainz do the same.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2015 04:20PM by gav.
I've been using the term "slapped" the wall. Speculating right-rear first (given most of the visual damage was to the right-rear) at perhaps 10-20 degrees to the wall, which then brought the front around to slap against the wall. I've no idea if that happened of course (does anyone know anything other than McLaren, perhaps Vettel and probably the FIA?), but it's the only way my head allows me to imagine a relatively heavy hit for the driver without necessarily causing more obvious damage to the car.
The sheer numbers flaunting conspiracy theories on some forums and flat refusing to acknowledge the possibility of rational reasoning have been staggering. It looked very odd, but when you break it up into individual bits and start thinking you can begin to understand it was probably just a very unfortunate set of circumstances and given recent events they were simply taking every precaution.
Sadly that seemed beyond so many people - some established members of the sport too. For example Gary Hartstein lost a lot of my respect this morning, and I'm not claiming to know more than him of course, but he ought to know better and he will know full well that concussions can be complex and have variations of severity and basic recovery times beyond what Alonso has had.
McLaren could have been more open about things from the off (rather than merely "OK and concious"
, which has only fuelled further theories, but some people need to step back and have good, hard look at themselves.
The sheer numbers flaunting conspiracy theories on some forums and flat refusing to acknowledge the possibility of rational reasoning have been staggering. It looked very odd, but when you break it up into individual bits and start thinking you can begin to understand it was probably just a very unfortunate set of circumstances and given recent events they were simply taking every precaution.
Sadly that seemed beyond so many people - some established members of the sport too. For example Gary Hartstein lost a lot of my respect this morning, and I'm not claiming to know more than him of course, but he ought to know better and he will know full well that concussions can be complex and have variations of severity and basic recovery times beyond what Alonso has had.
McLaren could have been more open about things from the off (rather than merely "OK and concious"
, which has only fuelled further theories, but some people need to step back and have good, hard look at themselves.There definitely seems to be something odd over the whole Alonso accident, Ron Dennis has come out and said that there are no injuries, not even a concussion and yet he's been sidelined from testing and some people are doubting him for even Melbourne. It's all just very strange. But at least with the current condition of the car he's not exactly missing anything. At this rate I'd be surprised if they didn't break down during qualifying at Melbourne.
Mind you.. This time last year Red Bull could barley string two laps together and still got one car home on the podium at Melbourne. So only a fool would write them off.
Williams have finally dropped the sandbags and Massa has blitzed the previous fastest lap of the Barcelona testing by a healthy margin and using one grade harder of tyre compound to boot. I think Mercedes are probably a step or two ahead, but it looks like Williams could indeed make good on their 2014 form and carry it through.
Mind you.. This time last year Red Bull could barley string two laps together and still got one car home on the podium at Melbourne. So only a fool would write them off.
Williams have finally dropped the sandbags and Massa has blitzed the previous fastest lap of the Barcelona testing by a healthy margin and using one grade harder of tyre compound to boot. I think Mercedes are probably a step or two ahead, but it looks like Williams could indeed make good on their 2014 form and carry it through.
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