Manor's Sporting Director, Graeme Lowdon has confirmed that he is to leave the team.

Rumours of Lowdon, and team principal (and founder) John Booth leaving Manor began over the Mexico GP weekend, and though the team refused to comment on the claims it didn't deny them either. Indeed, when asked on the grid in Mexico if there was any truth in the speculation, Booth hurriedly changed the subject.

Speaking at Interlagos however, Lowdon confirmed that the forthcoming race in Abu Dhabi will be his last with the team.

"Abu Dhabi's going to my last race with the team," he told reporters, "but rather than focus on the reasons, I would prefer to focus on the fact that the most important task this year was to make sure that the team continued racing.

"We had to stop before the end of last season," her continued, referring to a financial crisis twelve months ago that almost saw the team go under, "we weren't in Abu Dhabi last year, and that required an awful lot of hard work and an awful lot of commitment as well.

"This has been a pretty difficult season," he admitted, having paid tribute to the various entities that had helped the team survive including Bernie Ecclestone, Jean Todt and Ferrari, "but that's secondary to the fact that the team continues, and that's the most important thing."

It was this time last year, following the departure of (then) owner Andrei Cheglakov, that Marussia seemed doomed as it and Caterham went into administration. However, whilst the Leafield outfit eventually went under, Manor was to rise, phoenix-like, from Marussia's ashes.

Rescue came in the shape of OVO energy boss, Stephen Fitzpatrick, and it is believed that 'differences of opinion' between Booth, Lowdon and Fitzpatrick and his team have led to a rift culminating in the departures.

While the deal that sees the team get its hands on Mercedes engines for 2016 was made whilst Booth was at the helm, Lowdon confirmed that the team will still use the German power units.

Over time there has been talk of potential new bidders for the team, and only this week Tavo Hellmund, the driving force behind the return of F1 to the United States and Mexico, and a close friend of Bernie Ecclestone, admitted that he and a group of investors was considering buying the team.

Booth founded Manor Motorsport in 1990, the outfit enjoying success in various series including British F3, F3 Euro Series and Formula Renault 2.0, winning titles in the series with the likes of Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton.

The team entered F1 in 2010 as Virgin, lured by the planned budget restrictions that would go some way to levelling the playing field.

As we head towards 2016, with two of those three teams having already fallen by the F1 wayside, the FIA is still struggling to introduce some sort of cost cap.

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