Marussia F1 Auction | CA Global Partners
I agree it's sad. After the first Austin USGP, I was at the airport waiting and I sat at the table with them and had breakfast. Fantastic guys. I was actually jealous because we were all about the same age and they were flying all over the world doing what they loved. I hope they all land jobs somewhere even better.
Haas F1 is bidding on some of the assets: Gene Haas Is Bidding On Marussia's Assets For The Haas F1 Team
Pretty much everything was being bid on that I saw yesterday and today, even a lot of 100 red baseball marussia hats was going for about 300 pounds.
Hey, I've no idea how many $ the auction got them (anyone?), but seems Ferrari took it where the sun don't shine..... Seems quite a few others took it in the shorts too. Hopefully, all the workers got paid. Cheers, Ian Source is Autosport of course.
AMuS suggests Marussia staff is called back to report for duty (?). Some rumor is they might race from Manor racing factory. With what equippment? And presumably the 2014 car? "Kommt Marussia doch noch einmal auf die F1-Bühne zurück? Wie wir hören wurden die Angestellten des Teams zur Arbeit zurückbeordert. Das Team könnte künftig aus der Fabrik des britischen Rennteams Manor operieren. Die alte Fabrik wurde von Haas F1 übernommen."
"Mark Kleinman, the city editor for Sky News, revealed that heading the consortium looking to buy into Manor is Justin King, the former boss of the British supermarket chain Sainsbury's." As I recall his son races F3 - teams allegedly conspiring to prevent them running 2014 car as theoretically permitted by the rules Rival teams will stop Manor comeback? > F1 News > Grandprix.com
Sad indeed, but really nothing new.... They've always been 'selfish, me, me, me' types. If the following is true, and it is from Autosport, so I believe so, I'm more than a little disappointed in Force India. Talk about a stab in the back! They'd make maybe a handful of millions if the money due Marussia was split among the remainder, certainly not enough to keep them going. I'd really like to see them back.... Forza the minnows!.... Cheers, Ian http://m.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117622/marussia-insists-f1-return-is-viable
F1 needs minnows to survive. The 2015 season will be an ordeal if FI are toast, Fauxtus close shop after a few turns at Tabac and Sauber withers away at the tail end throughout the year with their admittedly conservative '15 platform. Although it is very late in the day I think Bernie should investigate the possibility of running another Clark Cup made up of teams securing premium 2014 cars modified with 2015 updates. A few years back, it (purportedly) worked well for Superfriends .... Possibly a few teams involved in Formula E would take the bait. PS: I know current rules do not allow....however I'm not a fan of three car teams and it seems inevitable we're heading in that direction. God help us if Mateschitz decides he's had enough after this season, I don't believe Haas will be much of a replacement. I also tend to believe Sir Frank will be looking for a buyer while he can capitalize on the team's recent return to form.
+1 Although, I actually like the look of the Sauber - Probably 'cos I'm a dinosaur, but to me it's "clean & simple", and there's a lot to be said for that IMO. Uncle Ron's "size zero" and this super tight packaging "craze" is no doubt good, but what happens when the temps go up?.... They may have to run bigger rear wings to get the D/F versus "size 0", but that may be a worthwhile trade off. And I'm pretty sure none of the skinny cars had the best top speed(s) either, at least last year. Indeed - An old Honda IIRC.... Having said that, I'm not a fan of a two tier championship - They're all big boys ( & girls ) and (should) know what they're getting in to. Palming off last years Merc to a minnow just seems wrong to me - You've got to be a *manufacturer*, damnit!..... Having said that, seems that our new buddy Gene H believes he's going to get all sorts of bits from Maranello and/or Dallara, so what do I know?.... Surely, they've all got to do their own tub at the very least (?) If they had, what, a hundred times the budget!? [Devils advocate] Some, both here and within the sport have postulated that an F1 budget is around 20-50 times what it costs to run a GP2 team - For what? To go a handful of seconds faster? And many even claim the GP2 guys even sound better right now - At less than 10% the cost!..... Why? IMO, and I've said it too many times, because it's *hard*.... If it was easy BMW, Toyota, Ford and a myriad of others wouldn't have quit. Audi, VW, whoever, would grow some balls and get involved - But it's easier to go and blow everyone away at Le Mans for a few years than to enter the piranha tank...... [Especially as if your entry sucks they change the rules for you! ] [/devils advocate] +1 A sad day if that happens. We can hark back to the "good old days" of 6 Ferraris, or whatever, on the grid. We can put our rose tinteds on and forget that only 2-3 cars finished on the lead lap. Only 8-10 cars even finishing!.... How would the great unwashed here like those days to return I wonder? I do wonder how long Mr M will stick around - He's now "been there, done that", and I can indeed see him moving on to other crazy stuff - Land speed records, space flight, I dunno, but he may well get bored having won 4 titles. Hopefully, Bernie can keep selling him! Beg to differ on Sir Frank though - It's not just in his blood, but seems to be in Claire's too - They will fight to keep going I feel. Colin had no one to keep it going OTOH - A true shame. Cheers, Ian
Image #53-55 shows a scale model of their 2015 car...so sad to see all that work and vision be piece-mealed out.
You've probably clipped the apex perfectly (apologies, can't help myself..) regarding Sir Frank. I completely forgot about his tumultuous relationship with Walter Wolf after he sold the team in 1976. They've had some lean years though, prior to receiving the Merc, he was on the edge of a few pointless seasons. If VW/Audi came calling now he could theoretically sell for full value, a reversal of the pennies on the dollar scenario after the 2011 through 2013 drought. He's a pragmatic man, with the right offer, I'm not certain he'd back away.
Was there ever interest from BMW in buying the team from Frank? Wikipedia says that relationship deteriorated publicly. What happened? Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk 2
Symbiotic Incompatibility . Frank didn't want to relinquish engineering data unless BMW increased their stake in Williams exponentially. BMW wasn't pleased with the terms or the limits imposed, especially after realizing their moment in the sun passed when Montoya and Ralf's Michelins were given a severe handicap by FIA. In any case, the manufacturer believed they'd have a cup on the mantle if not for the constructor and the rest is history, Peter Sauber was far more amenable relinquishing control to Thiessen.
+1 As usual, Isobel sums it up more accurately and eloquently than anyone! At the time, I recall the rumors that Sir Frank was just being "greedy" and the mighty BMW would get their way whether he liked it or not....... His refusal to capitulate pissed of Dr T and they went to Sauber instead. Mr Sauber, while seemingly a good guy, got top dollar for his outfit, and good luck to him - I suspect BMW overpaid, a lot, based partly on some misguided desire to usurp Frank. As I said, he, and seemingly Claire too, may be the last of the true "racers" left. Uncle Ron was one once, but he's gone all corporate. Mr M? Vijay? Lopez? Guys with more money than God, but a deep "racing is my life" commitment? Not so much..... Cheers, Ian
