Manor Marussia F1: Fitzpatrick claims his love for Formula 1
Stephen Fitzpatrick, the buyer of the Manor-Marussia F1 team, explained the reasons that drove him to want to save the team so that it could participate in the 2015 Formula 1 season.
The new investor of the Manor Marussia F1 team, Stephen Fitzpatrick, also the founder and owner of the company Ovo Energy, has always wanted to own a Formula 1 team.
Passionate about the discipline, the British businessman did not want to see the Manor team disappear from the grid, as he told the English magazine Autosport: « Until last November, I was on the wrong side of the Formula 1 barrier. My most recent experience with Formula 1 was my presence at the Singapore Grand Prix with a friend. We were walking on the track after the race, looking at all the fans lined up on the pit lane and the garages. I thought to myself that we needed to find a way to get involved in the discipline. For a long time, I had the ambition to own a team and I hoped that Ovo Energy would be successful enough to allow me to do so; but I did not think it would happen as early as 2015. »
He also explains in more detail how he was able to save the team from a certain end: « I picked up my phone to contact the administrator, Geoff Rowley, before the last race in Abu Dhabi last season. At that moment, I was able to fully grasp the situation and the challenges the team was facing. It seemed fascinating, almost hopeless. It seemed like one of those situations where, with more time to understand everything, it could be a great opportunity. But it was too late. There was no realistic chance of reviving the team. It felt like a story too beautiful to let end that way. »
His relationships with team members, including Graeme Lowdon, quickly became fruitful and cordial. Very quickly, I established a very easy working relationship with Graeme. We had frank discussions about the challenges to be faced, suppliers, and the quality present within the team. We identified the priorities concerning the team’s creditors, Ferrari, as well as a set of 200 smaller creditors who supported the team. We tackled the challenges one by one, building relationships with creditors and suppliers, signing new arrangements with them, and getting the team out of administrative control. Then we had to manage registration with the FIA, the contract with FOM, and the engine supply and design contract. In ten days, we will be in Melbourne with a very solid platform and a clean business.
