Manor F1 - Leave them be

Yesterday, Sky Sports F1 reported that Manor Marussia F1 will pay unsecured creditors 1.3p for every pound owed. So the team had a total debt of £35 million, which makes it...well I can't do the maths but you get what I mean, essentially its 1.3p (that's p for pence) times 35 million...I think. Now, the whole point of this blog post isn't to talk about maths, but to talk about something that has really irritated me. A lot people are now going around saying that, because of this, the creditors will not get payed back in full, or even close to it, so therefore Manor Marussia do not deserve to race and should fold.

I very much feel that people should do a bit of research before saying such things. First off, had the team gone into liquidation and therefore follow the fate of Caterham, then the creditors would have received even less then they are getting now. The creditors were consulted before the team came out of administration in February and all of them, McLaren and Ferrari included, agreed that they should be revived. So therefore, the creditors are all comfortable with the situation. Secondly, blaming the team for the fact the creditors get such a small amount of money is completely ludicrous. This is just how process of the Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) works, this being done by the teams administrators and not by Manor. If someone is to blame, it is Nikolai Fomenko, who set up the now defunct Maurssia Motors car company and took a major shareholding in the Manor team ahead of the 2012 season. Manor is now entirely separate from him and his company. I even heard rumors that Nikolai himself will have to pay up a lot of the money, due to it mainly being his doing the team found themselves in the mess they were in near the end of 2014.

My point is this...if you have a problem with their comeback, blame Nikolai for allowing this to happen. Manor are just following the process of the CVA and its creditors are more than happy for that to happen, its how it works. Another thing that irked me was the comments some people made of  'some F1 fans jumping on the underdog bandwagon, its all bulls**t'. Manor are underdogs, they proved that last year with Jules Bianchi's points at Monaco. The team has a dedicated fan base, a lot of whom have supported the team since its Virgin days when they first entered the sport and have gained even more fans in the past two or three years. Let them support the team as actually, yes, they are underdogs, they did what no one thought possible, and that was to be only one of the three 2010 hopefuls to score points. A lot of people had given up hope on any of the three teams achieving this feat. 

My message in this rather ranty (and my first post really showing how I feel on a topic) post is this...leave Manor alone, let them follow the CVA, there is no other way for them to return. Be angry at Nikolai, and the administrators if you have to be, and allow the teams fans to support them. I say good luck to them! For without one guy, they wouldn't even be here. Until next time folks. Ciao.

#ForzaJules