The Marussia F1 Team (subsequently Manor Marussia F1 Team) was a Formula One racing team and constructor which was based in Banbury, Oxfordshire and then later Dinnington, South Yorkshire in the United Kingdom and competed with a Russian licence from to and a British licence in . The team was operated by Manor Motorsport (formerly Marussia Manor Racing), which was previously a subsidiary of Marussia Motors, a now defunct sports car manufacturer which was based in Moscow. The team originally started racing in under the "Virgin Racing" name; the following year Virgin adopted Marussia as a title sponsor becoming "Marussia Virgin Racing" until being fully rebranded as the "Marussia F1 Team" for .
The Marussia team scored its first championship points at the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix, where its leading driver, Jules Bianchi, finished ninth, and in doing so Marussia became the first Russian-licensed constructor to score world championship points.
Following a serious crash and injuries sustained by Bianchi at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, the team raced for the first time with a single car at the inaugural 2014 Russian Grand Prix. On 26 October 2014, news reports emerged that the Marussia team would not participate at the 2014 United States Grand Prix due to financial reasons and that, on 7 October 2014, the team filed a notice in the London High Court intending to go into administration. The appointed administrator released an official statement on 27 October 2014 and the team was still included in FIA's provisional entry list for the 2015 Formula One season but as the "Manor F1 Team". On 7 November 2014, however, the administrator announced that the team had ceased trading.
On 19 January 2015, the administrators of Marussia announced that the auction of its cars and assets had been cancelled so as to allow a possible buy-out to take place. The team collapsed owing around £60m, two of the companies out of pocket being Marussia's former competitors McLaren and Ferrari. The team exited administration on 19 February 2015, and was re-established as the Manor Marussia F1 Team after a CVA had been signed and new investment was secured to rescue the team. Former Sainsbury's CEO Justin King was reportedly the team's main backer. The team retained Marussia as its constructor name throughout the 2015 season, also adopting British nationality. In 2016, the team announced a name change to "Manor Racing". Manor lasted the 2016 season and used Mercedes-Benz power units.
History
Background
In 2009, Manor Grand Prix were awarded an entry into Formula One for the season, as a tie-up between successful junior racing team Manor Motorsport and Wirth Research. Before the end of that year, these entities became known as Virgin Racing, after Richard Branson's Virgin Group of companies who had bought the title sponsorship rights. Marussia were one of the team's partners for its debut season, where it finished in twelfth and last place in the Constructors' Championship. In November 2010, Marussia Motors purchased a controlling stake in the team, and the team became known as 'Marussia Virgin Racing' for the season. Following a disappointing start to the 2011 season, the team parted company with Wirth Research and entered a partnership with McLaren Applied Technologies ahead of the 2012 season. With this came a relocation from the original base in Dinnington, to the old Wirth premises in Banbury in Great Britain. Meanwhile, the team again finished the year bottom of the Constructors' Championship. In November 2011, it applied to the Formula One commission to formally change their constructor name for the 2012 season from Virgin to Marussia, to reflect their new ownership. Permission was granted before being formally ratified at a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council.
2012 season
On 31 December 2011, Marussia Virgin Racing announced they were now called Marussia F1 Team. Virgin, who had previously been the title sponsor for the team, announced that they would be staying with the team and feature its logos staying on the 2012 car. The team had announced in July 2011 that Timo Glock had signed a new three-year contract with the team. Glock would be joined for the 2012 season by GP2 Series graduate Charles Pic, who spent two days testing with the team at the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi.