The Manor F1 Team will not face any kind of punishment or sanction following an investigation by the FIA into the reasons why the team did not take to the track during qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.
Neither Will Stevens nor Roberto Merhi were able to take to the track during the Australian Grand Prix weekend due to software issues with the modified 2014 Marussia car they were set to use for the first time.
The team argued successfully that it had done all they could have done to get on track in Australia, but simply ran out of time, and even breaking curfew would not have given them enough time to sort out of the software problems.
Article 13.2 of Formula 1’s sporting regulations state that teams must show they aim to ‘participate in every event with the number of cars and drivers entered’.
The stewards decided that because the Manor team had arrived in Australia with equipment and personnel and put their cars through scrutineering, they had done everything within their power to get on track.
“The stewards accepted that the team explained it had used all reasonable endeavours to ensure that its cars were able to compete in active competition, therefore the stewards take no further action during the event,” read the FIA statement.
The team are hopeful of getting on track for the first practice session in Sepang when the Malaysian Grand Prix gets underway in just under two weeks time.
