The energy entrepreneur backing Manor Racing put the "struggling" Formula 1 team into administration, "despite providing a letter of intent only three months ago promising to support the company for at least another year," according to Alex Ralph of the LONDON TIMES. More than 200 jobs are at risk after FRP Advisory "was appointed administrators to Just Racing Services, the team’s operating company, by Manor directors." Stephen Fitzpatrick, 39, an F1 fan and the founder and CEO of Ovo Energy, "had been in talks with potential investors for much of last year" and had agreed to terms of a sale to an Asian consortium in December. However, "the talks broke down." Administrators are "now in a race to find new investment and to save jobs" with the grand prix season due to start in Melbourne on March 26 and preseason testing next month. In a message to employees at the team’s factory in Banbury, Fitzpatrick said, "Not wishing to repeat events of the past, we resolved in 2015 not to start any season that we did not know for certain we could complete, so we have taken the difficult decision to put the team’s operating company into administration" (LONDON TIMES, 1/7). REUTERS' Alan Baldwin reported Manor Grand Prix Racing Ltd., the sister company which "holds the rights to participate in the championship, is not in administration." Joint administrator Geoff Rowley said, "During recent months, the senior management team has worked tirelessly to bring new investment to the team to secure its long term future, but regrettably has been unable to do so within the time available." The team employs 212 staff at its Banbury HQ. Rowley said that "all were paid in full to the end of December and no redundancies had been made" (REUTERS, 1/6). The BBC's Andrew Benson reported a source said that "several buyers had been lined up over the past few weeks and two had gone as far as conducting a due diligence process." But "none of them provided the funds necessary to buy the team, nor was there any proof they had the money to run it." Manor "suffered a blow" at the end of last season when Sauber moved ahead of it into 10th place in the constructors' championship "thanks to the ninth place achieved by Felipe Nasr at the penultimate race of the year in Brazil." Fitzpatrick said, "For much of the season we were on track. But the dramatic race in Brazil ended our hopes of [finishing 10th] and ultimately brought into doubt the team's ability to race in 2017" (BBC, 1/6).
