Australian GP: Manor Summoned to Explain Its Absence in Qualifying

Present in Melbourne but never able to race due to various technical problems, the Manor team did not succeed in participating in the Australian Grand Prix. A situation for which the FIA has requested explanations.

After the qualification session of the first race of the season, the stewards issued the following official communication: « The stewards require you to provide a written explanation as to why the team did not participate in the 2015 Australian Grand Prix qualifications after receiving a letter from the FIA on February 20. »

John Booth, the team principal, admitted to *Autosport* that Manor always thought racing in Melbourne would be difficult: « We knew there was only a slim chance of making the quali when we left. These modern cars are incredibly complex things. We had three weeks to design and make the car legal for 2015. We hardly had any time to fix the bugs and the electronics and have all the necessary infrastructure in place. I think we knew very well by 4:00 am this morning that we weren’t going to make it. »

Booth rejected the notion that Manor only came to Australia to ensure they receive bonuses related to their 2014 constructors’ ranking: « We are in the Formula 1 World Championship and we felt it was important to be there and try to race. I can understand why people might be cynical, but if that were the case, we wouldn’t have brought 30 tons of equipment, 40 people, fulfilled all our contracts with suppliers—whether it’s Pirelli, Ferrari, or others—with all our efforts to run around the circuit. »

For him, Manor will be ready to race in Malaysia: « We are far from where we were at the beginning of the week. We have a support system that is now working, and we can communicate with the cars. Even the information from the pit wall is working now. The progress made this week has been enormous, it just wasn’t enough. »