26/03/2015
NEWS STORY
Bernie Ecclestone says Manor's failure to turn a wheel in Australia will cost the team £2m in prize money.
The team, which went into administration last October with debts totalling £64m, was saved at the eleventh hour by Ovo Energy boss Stephen Fitzpatrick.
Arriving in Melbourne, the team, featuring a clearly depleted crew, set up its garage and even issued press releases after each session but never turned a wheel.
While the team insisted that the problem was due to a number of "glitches" including the fact that invaluable data had been lost when it went into administration, sceptics, including Pitpass, suggested that the team's presence in Australia was merely to keep it within the rules in terms of its 2014 prize money.
Incensed by the team's failure to run, a situation not helped by the loss of two star drivers - Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas - and the failure of two other drivers to make it to the grid, Bernie Ecclestone warned that Manor faced punishment even though Race Stewards in Melbourne accepted the team's excuse that it had used "all reasonable endeavours" to take part.
According to an article in the Independent by Christian Sylt, Ecclestone says the south Yorkshire team will be "docked almost £2m in prize money".
Finishing ninth in 2014, courtesy of the points won by Jules Bianchi in Monaco, points which John Booth admits "saved" the team, Manor is owed around £35.4m in prize-money which should be paid this year.
However, Ecclestone has chosen to deduct one-nineteenth of the prize money, around £1.9m, as there were 19 races last year - of which Marussias only contested 16.
Whilst a blow to Manor, rival teams will be delighted with the golden lining as Ecclestone reveals that "the money they should have got will get distributed amongst the teams that are racing".
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