GPWizard F1 Forum
F1 News & Discussions => F1 Teams => Topic started by: cosworth151 on November 12, 2015, 12:36:38 PM
-
Tavo Hellmund is looking at a buyout of Manor Marussia. Time is a factor, though. He told the Austin American-Statesman newspaper: "I think if we get to late January or February, it may be too late, and my partners and I would probably lose interest."
From no American teams to two in one season.
http://www.racer.com/f1/item/123555-american-led-group-eyeing-manor-bid
-
That would be great. :good: :good:
-
Good luck with that. The current owner's already managed to turn away two potential sales and upset pretty much his entire team with his antics.
-
They'd have to make him an offer that he couldn't refuse. I hope that someone does, because I am not sure that the current owner has the team's best interests at heart.
-
I have always rooted for the underdog, though it seems that the underdog actually enjoys this position, it is amazing that these guys still carry on.
Where does their inspiration come from?
-
Good luck with that. The current owner's already managed to turn away two potential sales and upset pretty much his entire team with his antics.
If you mean by that he has caused the original owners Booth and Lowdon to quit I'd say that may be no bad thing. Although the pair are true racers they still took Manor team to bankruptcy - leading the new owner to put up the ackers to save it. I'd say that gives him the right to choose the future direction for better or worse.
If all Booth and Lowdon were looking for was someone to keep the lights on whilst they sought to sell on to bigger backers maybe they should have put up more of their own resources into the revived 2015 team.
Good luck to Fitzpatrick he stands just as much chance of keeping Manor, or whatever it may be called in future, on the grid as the previous managers and funders. Especially with the Merc engine giving a possible speed boost over Sauber, STR and maybe even Red Bull.
-
Good luck with that. The current owner's already managed to turn away two potential sales and upset pretty much his entire team with his antics.
If you mean by that he has caused the original owners Booth and Lowdon to quit I'd say that may be no bad thing.
Booth and Lowden have not been potential purchasers of Manor at any point since they sold controlling shares to Virgin back in late 2009. Nor do I count two people, even key ones like John and Graeme, as "pretty much the entire team".
Even if Stephen had decided that Graeme and John needed to be removed from the squad (a decision that doesn't convince me, but then I lack a lot of the necessary information to make a final determination on that), it would have been possible to do the removal in a manner that made sense. Taking the initiative would have worked, as would requesting resignations rather closer to the initial buyout than was attempted. Even providing a coherent explanation would have helped. It seemed that Stephen did not have a plan for this, and some of the actions that apparently led up to it (including a non-referenced request for Renault engines at a time when another part of the team was well on the way to negotiating better and cheaper Mercedes units) would be expected to be independently upsetting to the team in general. It's even been suggested that it was those behaviours that led to Graeme and John's resignations, rather than anything the duo did making their positions untenable.
Manor had two potential buyers during the 2015 season. According to Motorsport.com, they were put off by the current owner's behaviour. If it is the current owner's ambition to put the team on a secure long-term footing (its medium-term future should be secure), a sale will be needed - and if the current owner's plans encompass a sale (which has been suggested), then this is the sort of time to be doing it, when the team is at its most valuable.
Stephen Fitzpatrick has the right to run Manor as he sees fit within the boundaries of the law - he is, after all, its owner. He does not have the right to be immune from criticism (or praise) when observers and fans think it is due.