07/11/2014
NEWS STORY
Administrators have announced that the Marussia team has ceased trading, with the loss of 200 jobs.
Despite interest in the team from various potential investors, a 12:00 (GMT) deadline passed with no funds being transferred, thereby leaving administrators FRP Advisory with no option but to wind up the Banbury outfit.
"While the team made significant progress during its relatively short period of operation, operating a F1 team requires significant ongoing investment," said Geoff Rowley, joint administrator, and partner at FRP Advisory, in a statement
"The group was put into administration last month following a shortfall in on-going funding and the administration process provided a moratorium to allow for attempts to secure a long term viable solution for the Company within in a very limited time-frame.
"Sadly no solution could be achieved to allow for the business to continue in its current form. We would like to thank all the staff for their support during this difficult process.
"As joint administrators our immediate focus will be to assist staff who have lost their jobs and provide them with the necessary support to submit timely claims to the Redundancy Payments Service.
"The team will not be participating in the two further rounds of the 2014 championship remaining, in Sao Paulo and Abu Dhabi. The joint administrators will continue with their statutory duties to realise the assets of the business in the best interests of all the creditors.
"It goes without saying that it is deeply regrettable that a business with such a great following in British and world motorsport has had to cease trading and close its doors."
Earlier this week, the team, albeit as Manor, was included in the provisional entry list for 2015 issued by the FIA.
With the team missing Abu Dhabi, thereby missing more than the two traces it is allowed to miss under the regulations, the Banbury outfit is effectively eliminated from the 2014 standings and therefore misses out on the prize money earned by Jules Bianchi's points finish in Monaco.
Marussia entered F1 in 2010, along with Caterham and HRT, drawn by the promise of a $50m budget cap that would limit costs and level the playing field. However, the budget cap dream was stillborn, while the raft of new regulations for 2014 drove costs ever higher.
With initial support from Richard Branson, though this was really more about lending the Virgin name in order to attract sponsors, the team was subsequently taken over by Russian industry magnate Andrey Cheglakov who finally pulled the plug several weeks ago.
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