Manor Marussia F1 has announced the recruitment of Luca Furbatto in the role of Head of Design, working under Technical Director John McQuilliam. Furbatto is a mechanical engineering graduate of the celebrated Politecnico di Torino, who has been involved in F1 since 1998 when he joined British American Racing as an assistant test engineer. He moved on to work as an assistant race engineer in 1999 and then moved to Cologne to join the Toyota F1 team for a year before joining McLaren as head of stress analysis and materials. he stayed at McLaren from the start of 2001 until the end of 2011, ending up as an assistant project leader on the MP4-26, under Paddy Lowe. He moved to Scuderia Toro Rosso as chief designer for 2012 and oversaw the design of the TR7, TR8 and TR9 projects. The Faenza team has since strengthened its design team with the recruitment of Mercedes designer Andy LeFleming.
Manor has also recently hired Gianluca Pisanello as its Chief Engineer. Pisanello was formerly Head of Engineering Operationsat Caterham F1 and prior to that was employed by the Toyota F1 team.
The team has also taken on Bob Bell as a technical consultant for 2015. He is a long-established name in F1 having spent 15 years at McLaren before becoming Technical Director at Renault F1 in 2003. The team won the 2005 and 2006 World Championships under his leadership and he became acting Team Principal after the disastrous Singapore scandal in 2009. He was then appointed managing-director but left the team after a year to join Mercedes, where he was technical director until the arrival of Paddy Lowe. The word is that Bell will lead the Lotus team if it is acquired by Renault. There are many stories that this is about to happen and that Bell will be put in charge, but the deal is still under discussion.
The recruitments are a solid sign that Manor may not be very competitive at the moment but has big ambitions for the future.
Interesting to read about the Renault/Lotus possible purchase gaining momentum. Who knows? In this day and age Renault may even be able to continue with the Mercedes engine if the deal goes through.😉
Bob Bell who was destined for a lofty position at Ferrari once upon a time, now ends up sentenced to exile on the island of marussia? what is the story there … did he break wind while dining with the top boys?
I think he genuinely didn’t want to go to Italy.
Well, Pat Symonds did OK on the back of his time there…
so there is still mileage in the renault buying back the enstone team story ? personally I hope so , especially with bob bell at the helm
obviously I am aware that the 2005/6 championships were won in the days of specially tailored michelin tyres , but bell still had to exploit that advantage and compete with ferrari who were in a similar position with bridgestone ; so he clearly knows what he is doing and with resources from renault I would expect them to be in the van again
Doesn’t sound like a team that would welcome customer cars, for themselves or other teams, with open arms.
I would also gather that this means that stories stating that they are about to fold are not true.
The question is really how long can they maintain without sponsorship.
Could Renault throw a curve ball and buy Manor?
I doubt it
its interesting that the rumour is circulating on the net. Could get is far cheaper than trying to get Lotus back with a merc engine?
Good news for Graeme and crew. As a Brit, maybe I have a natural propensity to support the underdog but as soon as Ecclestone came out and said they should not be racing it just reinforced my support. I suspect there are many like me and surely they (Manor) should be a good value candidate for sponsorship. I can understand that it may be frustrating for the faster teams to have to lap them early in the race but as admitted lately they are lapping well within their comfort zones so – tough.
Am not as informed as many on here but were there not rumours of a new PU supplier ?
There is always the remote hope that they will come up with a Brawn type breakthrough/innovation that will propel them up the grid.
Real boy’s own stuff !
Don’t hold your breath. Manor is sitting on Honda development money like Brawn was before their big year.
Finally, if I was John or Graeme I would poach Suzie Wolffe with the offer of a drive and cynically race her alongside Stevens and then approach Richard Branson and see if he would like to get involved again. Has to be better than a 50/50 chance he would take a punt.
The problem with Branson is that he didn’t actually spend very much money on the team. He got the Virgin name on the car really, really cheaply then bailed when it was time to actually spend something. So if they want to name the team Virgin and get $2 million for that they should, as you suggest, give it a try.
He didn’t spend anything…
I used to know someone, sadly gone now, who ran a shoot that Richard and his Dad were members of in the early 1970’s, when Richard was starting out his career as a music entrepreneur….my old friend liked Richard’s Dad but couldn’t stand Sir Rich himself……thought he was all style and no substance….may have been right, but he certainly has made a $ or two since then….I saw someone wrote that Todt Jnr was being lined up for the 2016 F1 team that the FIA want. Does this mean that customer cars are on the way Joe? There’s no way the FIA could get a new F1 team in with the short time left before next year!
Amazing. And he was dealing with Ross Brawn who is no fool. Was always on the grid at the right time to milk every bit of publicity. He out-fom-ed fom.
Every time they pointed a camera, up popped that hairy grin with the big teeth and the peroxide wig.
I guess only Bernie could have played this chappie and won.
He paid two hundred grand.
Hi Joe do you think the Renault Lotus deal will signal the end of RBR ?,i wonder if any of there engineers are thinking of a change in teams at the moment.
No, why would it?
I can only assume because RBR gets its engines as a works deal and that might end if Renault own a team outright?
Yep that’s what i was getting at ,i can’t see RBR going back to be just a customer for its PU ,with Audi saying no where do they go ?
*Susie Wolffe
Joe,
Any idea on whether Renault would consider retaining Pastor and his petro-dollars if they took over Lotus, or would they look to someone with a possible french connection (JEV perhaps)?
Joe, thanks for keeping us informed through your blog as usual. How much do you think these new people can help the team? HRT had Geoff Willis who then went to Mercedes where I’m sure he helped a lot. However, HRT saw no progress with him (almost). So do you think that the money that needs to be invested is more important to the team than staff?
So much for Manor as a willing recipient of customer car status?
And if Renault buys out Lotus, where does that leave Red Bull as one of the “Big 4” in the customer car supplier scheme of things? I had assumed Renault would buy out Red Bull.
i don;t think anyone ensemble is into the idea, except GP2 teams
I don’t know enough about the people concerned to say that this is a game changer but am glad that it appears to show a long term commitment to F1 on the team’s part.
I agree with above, the game changer would be a long term major sponsor/backer with some real $$$ to commit to the team.
Given all the negative press lately around F1, this is a bit of a feel good news item!
Good for them that will be one in the eye for B.E’s disparaging attitude .
So, which is it to be, Manor or Lotus? He can’t do both can he?
Yes, he can. He can do Manor in 2015, give them the benefit of his knowledge and then go to Lotus next year
At present, Manor for this year only… he’s a consultant for them, not employee.
Good news!
I just hope Manor get some sponsorship in place for next year.
Are we still likely to see a new improved chassis with the 2015 Ferrari Power Unit and Power train in Belguim?
Could be an interesting end to the season for them if they do manage to launch it.
No risk that they’ll be able pick up the ‘extra’ Mercedes PU deal in 2016 if Lotus switches back to Renault i suppose?
Manor is building for the future ? And what future might that be pray tell ? No matter who they hire or what 2nd rate also ran talent they manage to bring on board Manor/Marussia is missing the one key ingredient needed to guarantee their future .
Money ! To put it simply . They have none to speak of . No sponsors of any note on the horizon . No major benefactors willing to part with a bank load of cash . Nothing . Therefore guaranteeing the only future Manor/Marussia in reality has or will ever have ;
Is no future what so ever .
You need to pay more attention…
Are you by any chance related to one of the team managers who were after Manor’s prize money at the start of the season? I have a bet that there will be one team who don’t complete the season and it’s not Manor…..
Great news. Love the plucky little team going against the odds, run by real racers, and giving it a real go. Good luck to all at Manor.
Very interest in hearing that there a possibility of Renault buying back Team Enstone/Lotus. I hope it happens but only if Renault are 100% committed.
If it did happen would n’t it hasten either the exit of Red Bull from F1 or maybe the more likely scenario, the switch of engine to a new supplier?
I cannot see RBR being a customer team which they inevitably will become if Renault have a works team.