Manor Marussia F1 Team 2015

[Italiano]

I thought it was due to Ferrari having some spare unused 2014 PU's laying around. in other words, no good to anyone so they sell them cheap to Manor to keep the team afloat in the hope that one day Ferrari will get the money owed to them.

Do you reckon they would actually have leftovers? I know there's not a $$ shortage in Maranello, but... You never know though.

[Jonnycraig]

General question

Which is the front bulkhead of the chassis the FIA considers for measurement

1) is it the section just behind the fluid containers
or
2) is it the section where the torsion springs are mounted

If it is 1 - then it already looks like it is 50 mm lower than the rest

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFgxMjAw/ ... f/$_57.JPG

From previous years crash tests:

[Jonnycraig]

I just don't understand what the purpose is of cobbling together a car that has no chance of being anything but last, just in order to 'make the grid'.

Simple - if they make the grid, they get €90m.

Still, how much does the whole season + paying off the creditors cost?

I don't know, just seems pointless unless you have some chance of racing against someone.

Marussia had debt of €42m, but agreed a CVA with their creditors so Manor will only repay an unknown percentage of that debt.

Whether a team can survive on the prize money depends entirely on whether they intend to simply survive within their budget like Haas intend to, or spend wildly beyond their budget like so many others have.

I would guess that the idea is simply to collect the prize money, trundle around a few seconds off the back of the grid, collect the 2015 prize money, trundle around a few seconds off the back of the grid and repeat to fade.

Clearly like Sauber do, they will be looking for €10-15m per season from each driver as well.

[adrianjordan]

I thought it was due to Ferrari having some spare unused 2014 PU's laying around. in other words, no good to anyone so they sell them cheap to Manor to keep the team afloat in the hope that one day Ferrari will get the money owed to them.

Do you reckon they would actually have leftovers? I know there's not a $$ shortage in Maranello, but... You never know though.

They would have built a stock of spare engines just in case. Worst case scenario they would have had a spare for each car that used a Ferrari PU last season and possibly some addition ones on top of that...

Could get interesting though if Manor have a number of engine failures with only a finite supply...

[Cuky]

Maybe 2014 PU is just until they arrive with new car. I would think that once Ferrari homologates 2015 PU later in the season that as per rules they wouldn't be able to use2014 PU anymore

[cbbcisace]

If the car is in advance stages of its build, it's obviously passed any crash tests it needed? Am I right?

[Jonnycraig]

Stephen Fitzpatrick of OVO confirmed as the main investor. Rumours Magnusson will be the second driver.

[turbof1]

So atleast a significant investor. Seems Mr. Fitzpatrick wants to utilise the green marketing and energy recuperating as image branding for OVO. Looks very reasonable.

[Jonnycraig]

So atleast a significant investor. Seems Mr. Fitzpatrick wants to utilise the green marketing and energy recuperating as image branding for OVO. Looks very reasonable.

Problem is, OVO's last accounts showed a profit of £300k, and Fitzpatrick had to withdraw money from the business to buy his home, so it's hard to believe that he has the personal funds to support the team.

Equally it's reported he was planning to invest in Formula E, before the opportunity arose to get involved in F1. Considering the monumental difference in budgets, it doesnt strike as if he will be plowing the cash in.

[turbof1]

So atleast a significant investor. Seems Mr. Fitzpatrick wants to utilise the green marketing and energy recuperating as image branding for OVO. Looks very reasonable.

Problem is, OVO's last accounts showed a profit of £300k, and Fitzpatrick had to withdraw money from the business to buy his home, so it's hard to believe that he has the personal funds to support the team.

Equally it's reported he was planning to invest in Formula E, before the opportunity arose to get involved in F1. Considering the monumental difference in budgets, it doesnt strike as if he will be plowing the cash in.

I always take accounts in Great Brittain with a pitch of salt. Usually with firms of that size there are constructions involved that artificially lower profits in the account books to lower taxes owed to the government. If there is one thing you should never do, that is taking accounts at face value.

Neither would I be too concerned with the withdrawing money from his company. Could be he placed all of his wealth into the company. Again for the purpose to lower taxes.

Wouldn't be surpised if the team itself would becomes part of a structure of tax optimization.

[mikeerfol]

https://twitter.com/Rowlinson_F1/status ... 6880905216

[Facts Only]

Problem is, OVO's last accounts showed a profit of £300k, and Fitzpatrick had to withdraw money from the business to buy his home, so it's hard to believe that he has the personal funds to support the team.

Equally it's reported he was planning to invest in Formula E, before the opportunity arose to get involved in F1. Considering the monumental difference in budgets, it doesnt strike as if he will be plowing the cash in.

I always take accounts in Great Brittain with a pitch of salt. Usually with firms of that size there are constructions involved that artificially lower profits in the account books to lower taxes owed to the government. If there is one thing you should never do, that is taking accounts at face value.

Neither would I be too concerned with the withdrawing money from his company. Could be he placed all of his wealth into the company. Again for the purpose to lower taxes.

Wouldn't be surpised if the team itself would becomes part of a structure of tax optimization.

Well the team will be part of the marketing budget so costs of F1 will come out of the company before tax anyway so its eats into "profit" less than just running a team from your own pocket.

Also I have just noticed that corporation tax increases if your company makes more than £300k profit so its probably no coincidence that they only made £300K profit!

The house was likely bought with a directors loan, somebody probably worked out that is was cheaper than getting a personal mortgage.

The company may be hugely cash rich and Fitzpatrick would rather have an F1 team then give a load of money to the Tax Man, that's what I'd do!

[turbof1]

Exactly Facts Only. One should also look at the size and entry costs of the British energy market. OVO might be only a 'small' player on that market, given the enormous resources needed to be a viable supplier there we can still consider the company having enough capital to cover a small F1 team under the marketing budget.

It's much better then what we had with Caterham's anonimous investors.

[Jonnycraig]

So atleast a significant investor. Seems Mr. Fitzpatrick wants to utilise the green marketing and energy recuperating as image branding for OVO. Looks very reasonable.

Problem is, OVO's last accounts showed a profit of £300k, and Fitzpatrick had to withdraw money from the business to buy his home, so it's hard to believe that he has the personal funds to support the team.

Equally it's reported he was planning to invest in Formula E, before the opportunity arose to get involved in F1. Considering the monumental difference in budgets, it doesnt strike as if he will be plowing the cash in.

I always take accounts in Great Brittain with a pitch of salt. Usually with firms of that size there are constructions involved that artificially lower profits in the account books to lower taxes owed to the government. If there is one thing you should never do, that is taking accounts at face value.

Neither would I be too concerned with the withdrawing money from his company. Could be he placed all of his wealth into the company. Again for the purpose to lower taxes.

Wouldn't be surpised if the team itself would becomes part of a structure of tax optimization.

You are absolutely right of course, the rumours have him plowing in €50m of his private fortune though to fund the team and personally find it a bit implausible that he has amassed that much wealth in such a short period of time that he can risk.

[turbof1]

Those 50m could very well be sold shares. I don't know for sure since I frankly know very little of the company. I'll do my homework when I find a hole in my agenda later today!