Manor · History

Manor Racing was a British Formula One team based in Dinnington, South Yorkshire. It joined the world championship in 2010 and ran its last race in 2016. It started out as Manor Grand Prix and raced as Virgin Racing, Marussia Virgin Racing, Marussia F1 Team, Manor Marussia F1 Team and Manor Racing MRT before closing in January 2017. Until 2015 it was run by John Booth, who had founded Manor Motorsport in 1990, and Graeme Lowdon.

Roots in the junior categories

Booth was a former single-seater champion. In 1990 he founded Manor Motorsport, which won British Formula Renault several times: Antônio Pizzonia took the title in its cars in 1999, followed by Kimi Räikkönen in 2000, Lewis Hamilton in 2003 and Oliver Jarvis in 2005. Räikkönen had already won the 1999 Winter Series. In British Formula Three the team won the championship with Marc Hynes in 1999 and with Pizzonia in 2000.

Virgin Racing, the 2010 and 2011 debut years

In 2009, Manor Grand Prix won an entry for the 2010 world championship as a joint venture between Manor Motorsport and Wirth Research. At the end of that year Virgin bought a shareholding and the naming rights. The team made its debut as Virgin Racing at the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix, with Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi and Cosworth engines. The VR-01 was designed entirely with computational fluid dynamics, with no wind tunnel. Its fuel tank was also too small for the most fuel-hungry circuits, so the FIA allowed a longer chassis, which was first used at the Spanish Grand Prix. Virgin finished twelfth and last in the constructors' standings, without a point. Its best result was fourteenth place, for example Di Grassi's finish in Malaysia.

On 11 November 2010, Marussia bought a controlling stake. In 2011 the team raced as Marussia Virgin Racing, with Glock and Jérôme d'Ambrosio driving the MVR-02. It again finished twelfth and without points.

Marussia F1 Team, 2012 to 2014

In 2012 the team was renamed Marussia F1 Team. It moved from Dinnington to Banbury, Oxfordshire, and signed a technical partnership with McLaren Applied Technologies. Charles Pic joined Glock, and the team finished eleventh in the constructors' standings. Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton arrived in 2013, still with Cosworth power, and Marussia finished tenth. In 2014 the team switched to Ferrari engines and kept the same drivers.

Monaco and Suzuka, 2014

At the Monaco Grand Prix in May 2014, Bianchi started from the back of the grid and finished ninth after a penalty. That gave the team its first world championship points, two of them, after more than four years without scoring. They lifted Marussia to ninth in the constructors' standings, its best finish, and earned it a share of prize money that helped it stay on the grid.

On 5 October 2014, at the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, Bianchi was badly injured in a crash. He died of his injuries in July 2015. On 7 October 2014 the team filed a notice of administration at the High Court in London. It missed the last three races of the year and held on to ninth place in the final standings.

Manor Marussia, the 2015 comeback

In February 2015 the team came out of administration. Businessman Stephen Fitzpatrick bought it and it moved back to Dinnington. It raced as Manor Marussia F1 Team, kept Marussia as its constructor name and used a previous-generation chassis and Ferrari engine. Will Stevens raced for the whole year. Roberto Merhi had the second seat, except for the five races that Alexander Rossi drove from the Singapore Grand Prix onwards. The team finished tenth without a point. Booth and Lowdon resigned over differences with Fitzpatrick and left at the end of 2015.

Manor Racing MRT and the closure, 2016 to 2017

In 2016 the team was called Manor Racing MRT. It used Mercedes engines in the MRT05 and signed Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto. At the Austrian Grand Prix, Wehrlein started twelfth and finished tenth, giving Manor its only point of 2016. Before the Belgian Grand Prix, Esteban Ocon replaced Haryanto and drove the remaining nine races. At the Brazilian Grand Prix, Sauber's points left Manor eleventh and last in the constructors' standings, which cost the team around £30 million in prize money.

The parent company went into administration on 6 January 2017. Administrators FRP Advisory held talks with several buyers but could not reach a deal. On 27 January 2017, Just Racing Services, the company that ran the team, stopped trading and sent its 212 staff home. The 2017 world championship began in Australia with ten teams.