No one in F1 "has a monopoly on greed it seems, after the sport inflicted a major blow on the chances of Marussia returning to the grid," according to Daniel Johnson of the London TELEGRAPH. Even the sport's "fellow strugglers put the knife in." Investors in Marussia saw their "hopes of special dispensation booted out by F1's all-powerful Strategy Group," and in particular Force India, the team which has so "stridently railed against this 'undemocratic' steering group and called for the smallest squads to be cut some slack." Marussia was "not given any." The team's hope to "run a modified version" of its 2014 car in the first part of the season, "before bringing in a model to comply fully with this year's regulations, was thrown out at a meeting in Paris on Thursday." Force India, which has "taken a battering from the sport's fans on social media," went on the defensive, describing Marussia's application as "speculative." But many suspected Marussia was "simply after" a £4M ($6M) share of Marussia's prize money for "coming ninth in last season's constructors' championship." Marussia's investors -- fronted by former Sainsbury's CEO Justin King -- did not realize "they were on the agenda for the Strategy Group meeting and were not given formal notice that their plan to revive Marussia, now known as Manor, had been rejected" (TELEGRAPH, 2/6). The BBC reported Marussia needed "unanimous agreement from the other teams as their
request amounted to a rule change -- and the cut-off point for those was
the end of June last year." Although sources said that Force India was "the only team to
veto the plan in the meeting, a number of other teams were also against
it." Thursday's meeting of the rule-making strategy group
"also came up with a series of proposals for making F1 cars look more
dramatic and harder to drive." These will be discussed by technical
chiefs later this month (BBC, 2/5).
DEFENDING THE DECISION: The PA's Ian Parkes reported Force India Deputy Team Principal Bob Fernley has accused Marussia of "a really poor show" in a bid to "claim a place
on the Formula One grid for this season." Fernley has confirmed he was the "first person asked to vote, and as soon as he said 'no,' the matter was drawn to a swift conclusion." The situation has resulted in a "sharp backlash from fans against the
Silverstone-based marque and Fernley, who have been accused of greed and
hypocrisy." Asked about the antipathy generated toward Force India, Fernley
said, "You've got to remember people are responding on an emotional
basis with no facts." Fernley claimed Manor's proposal "lacked any substance," and added, "Not a
single document was provided. We don't even know who the owners are. It
was a no-brainer." Fernley conceded the financial aspect was "a factor, but far from the overriding one at the end of the day." Fernley: "Would I appreciate another four of five million [U.S. dollars]? Yes, I would, but that didn't have any bearing on the decision" (PA, 2/6). In London, Paul Weaver wrote the irony is that in recent years Fernley has "operated as the unofficial
shop steward for the smaller teams struggling at the back of the grid." He said, "Over the past few months we have been at the forefront of
trying to help and save everybody. If there was the slightest hope here
we would have tried to help. But there was nothing. Absolutely nothing" (GUARDIAN, 2/6).
PRESSING AHEAD: The BBC's Andrew Benson reported bosses of the former Marussia F1 team are "pressing ahead with plans to race from the start of the 2015 season." The team, now again going by its original name of Manor, insisted it has "approval to start the season with a modified version" of its 2014 car. This plan "appeared to have been derailed after Force India vetoed the proposal at a meeting of leading teams." But Manor insisted it is "proceeding with steps previously laid out by Formula 1's bosses" (BBC, 2/6).
