Manor F1 in the middle of the pack in 2016?
Next season, Manor Marussia will have a Mercedes engine and a gearbox provided by Williams. These partnerships encourage optimism in Toto Wolff, who sees his new clients joining the midfield as early as next year.
After narrowly avoiding complete bankruptcy, Manor Marussia is having an inevitably difficult 2015 season. A Ferrari V6 from the previous season, outdated aerodynamics, constrained budgets, and a pair of novice drivers hardly allow the small British team to rise from the bottom of the grid.
However, for the next season, optimism is the order of the day for Manor. The team will indeed have a Mercedes engine dating from 2016 and a gearbox along with other technical elements thanks to a partnership with Williams.
Toto Wolff, the director of Mercedes, thus insists on the potential of his future clients: « I think they are capable of stepping up. With the extra time they have been able to benefit from this season and the lessons they have learned this year, along with our engine and the contributions from Williams, they are certainly capable of progressing to the middle of the pack. » detailed the Austrian to Autosport.
Far from encountering the same issues as Manor while leading the most powerful F1 team, Toto Wolff is nonetheless admiring of the tenacity of the grid’s underdog: “It’s quite impressive to see how Manor managed to bounce back from such a difficult situation, and it certainly shows how serious they are. With the structure they’ve set up for next year, with the technical collaboration from Williams, it was simple for us to provide them with the engine.”
Toto Wolff also has the idea to place Pascal Wehrlein, Mercedes’ hopeful and recent DTM champion, at Manor. However, his recent statements have not been very optimistic about this.
Certainly flattered by the compliments of his counterpart, John Booth, the director of Team Manor, clearly showed temperance and caution: “We remain a team of only 100 people and we are close to reaching the limits of our wind tunnel,” John Booth reminded F1i.com. “The wind tunnel work is going really well at the factory, so we are very excited. Combining all this with the engine and gearbox is quite exciting for next year,” he specified.
At the beginning of the season, Manor had to skip the pre-season tests. John Booth hopes with all his heart that this will not be the case in 2016, but he seems not yet fully convinced: « With only two pre-season tests next year, it is important to participate. We have new partners with Mercedes and Williams, so we will build these relationships and have to work all together ».
