2015 Season Review: Manor

The 2015 season saw the Manor team move down from ninth place to tenth place in the Constructors Championship. The 2014 season saw the team clinch ninth place in the Constructors Championship in front of their rivals Caterham and Sauber after Jules Bianchi's ninth place finish at Monaco Grand Prix secured the place.

However, tragedy struck at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix when Bianchi crashed during the race and suffered serious head injuries that resulted in the young Frenchman fighting for his life, which he sadly lost in July after a long battle.

Alongside this, it was announced at the United States Grand Prix that the team were entering administration and were seeking new buyers to try and save the team for the future.

But it was then announced at the end of January that the Marussia (now known as Manor) team had been saved from administration with new buyers and permission to run a 2014 car with a Ferrari 2015 engine for the season ahead.

Even though it would be hard for the Manor team to maintain their place in the Constructors Championship this season; the fact that they competed this year shows just how determined and passionate the team are to staying in Formula One in the near future.

This season saw Will Stevens finally getting his break into Formula One and Formula Renault star and rookie Roberto Merhi entering the Manor team and hoping to build a solid base for the team to move forward and progress further into the future. But the start of the season didn't go according to plan.

At the first race of the season in Melbourne, both Stevens and Merhi did not take part in the first race due to software issues hampering the car but they managed to resolve these issues in the next round in Malaysia where Stevens failed to finish the race but Merhi managed to finish in fifteenth place, three laps down on the leaders.

In the next few rounds, Manor managed to finish in China with fifteenth and sixteenth places, sixteenth and seventeenth places in Bahrain, seventeenth and eighteenth in places in Spain, sixteenth and seventeenth places in Monaco and a seventeenth place for Stevens with Merhi retiring from the race in Canada.

Before the summer break, Merhi headed the team to a fourteenth place finish at Austria as his team mate retired from the race, at their home Grand Prix in Silverstone both of the drivers managed to achieve their best results of the season with a twelfth place finish for Merhi and a thirteenth place finish for Stevens and a fifteenth and sixteenth place finish in Hungary.

As we headed back from the summer break, the Manor team kicked off the second half of the season with another fifteenth and sixteenth place finish at Spa and Monza. However before the Singapore Grand Prix, it was announced that GP2 runner up Alexander Rossi would be racing for the team at selected races for the remaining of the season; with Merhi making up the rest of the races.

With many not being surprised that Rossi would be racing for the Manor team ahead of Merhi, it was now viewed by many that Rossi has a perfect opportunity at last to show that he is more than capable of being in the sport and that he deserves a drive in the near future.

At Rossi's first Formula One race at Singapore, he made his mark in the sport by beating his team mate with a fourteenth place finish, with Stevens finishing just behind in fifteenth place. At the next race in Japan, Rossi once again managed to beat Stevens by finishing in eighteenth place with Stevens finishing in nineteenth place.

At the next race in Sochi, Merhi was back in the car and finished in twelfth place as Stevens finished two places behind in fourteenth place. With Rossi back in the car at his home race in Austin, Rossi finished the race in twelfth place as Stevens retired. Rossi continued to beat his team mate in the next race in Mexico with a fifteenth place finish; with Stevens one place behind and Stevens then gaining the upper hand in Brazil with a seventeeth place finish, one place ahead of Rossi in eighteenth.

But at the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, Stevens showed once again that he can beat Merhi by finishing in eighteenth place, ahead of Merhi in nineteenth place.

But in a season that many didn't expect Manor to be racing in, they have shown that they can finish a race and this only has to be a solid foundation for the team moving forward into the 2016 season where they will be switching from Ferrari power to Mercedes power.

But we have seen with their driver line up this season Manor finishing races and their drivers showing what they can do when everything can go as perfect as they can be in the position that they are in at the moment. For me, Stevens has shown that he can deliver on the track when it matters, can beat his team mates and I believe has done enough to secure a drive with the team next season.

With regards to Merhi and Rossi, both drivers are talented and have shown that they have the speed and momentum needed to finish consistently in Grand Prixs. But I believe that Rossi has shown us that he is a talent of the future and does deserve a drive in the sport; with a car that is capable of allowing him to achieve his potential and that Merhi has shown that he can deliver, but not enough to warrant an extension of his contract into next year.

Roberto Merhi 0 points / 19th in Driver's Championship
With Merhi being a rookie in the sport this season, many were expecting him to try and challenge his rookie team mate; even though Stevens has had experience in Formula One with Caterham at the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. But this season has seen a mixed bag for the Spaniard; with him either being beaten by his team mate (s) or beating his team mates (s).

In the first half of the season, Merhi did not start the Australian Grand Prix due to software problems hampering his Manor car. However, these issues were ironed out in the next round in Malaysia. Merhi started his season well with a fifteenth place finish at the Sepang circuit while his team mate retired.

However, he was outperformed by Stevens in Bahrain, Spain and he also retired in Canada. But Merhi outperformed his team mate in Monaco and Austria when his team mate retired, achieving his best performance of the year with a twelfth place at Silverstone and heading into the summer break finished ahead of Stevens in Hungary with a fifteenth place finish.

In the second half of the season, Merhi did beat his team mate in Spa but not in Monza; it was announced that Merhi would share driving duties with Alexander Rossi starting at the Singapore Grand Prix. When Merhi got back into the car in Sochi, he beat Stevens with a thirteenth place finish and at the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, he was beaten by his team mate once again.

After a mixed first year in Formula One, Merhi had to impress in 2015 if he wanted to stay with the Manor team for next season. Unfortunately for him, he is alongside two talented drivers who have chosen that if they have the machinery underneath them; they can beat him on the track.

Despite Merhi consistently bringing the car home, there have not been too many highs for him this season. Merhi's best finish of the season came at the British Grand Prix where he finished in twelfth place compared to his team mate at the same race whose best finish was thirteenth place.

Even though Merhi did bring the Manor team its best result of the season, I feel that he hasn't shown enough to justify staying with the team for the 2016 season and could see himself becoming quite possibly their test driver or being another test driver for another team and gaining more experience in the sport which could help him in the future.

Alexander Rossi 0 points / 20th in Driver's Championship

With Alexander coming into the season at the Singapore Grand Prix as well as balancing his commitments in GP2 (where he became runner up); he has shown in a short period of time that he can deliver on the track and also beat his team mate (s) in the process.

In Singapore, Rossi made his mark straight away by beating his team mate with a fourteenth place finish, then backing this result up with a eighteenth place finish in Suzuka and achieving a twelfth place finish (which is his best result of the season) just like Merhi did at Silverstone at his home race in Austin.
In his final two races of the year, Rossi ended the season with a fifteenth place finish in Mexico and an eighteenth place finish in Brazil; thereby showing the promise and the talent that many expected him to show in his short time driving for the Manor team and showing that he is more than capable of beating his team mates in equal machinery as well.

Will Stevens 0 points/ 21st in the Driver's Championship

This season saw Will Stevens continuing what he started with the Caterham team at the end of the final Grand Prix of the 2014 season at Abu Dhabi and finally at last getting an opportunity to show what he can do on the track.

During the course of the season, Stevens has been more of a match for his team mates while also being consistently reliable in getting the car home over the course of the season.

In the first half of the season, we saw Stevens not take part in Melbourne due to software issues and retiring from the Malaysian Grand Prix. But Stevens bounced back to beat his team mate in China, Bahrain, Spain and Canada even though he was beaten by his team mate in Monaco, Austria, Silverstone and Hungary
In the second half of the season, Stevens was beaten by Merhi in Spa but managed to beat him in the following race in Monza. With Rossi replacing Merhi at selected races in the final stages of the season, Stevens needed to maintain his composure and cool to show and build upon what he has already achieved this season.

At the next races in Singapore, Japan and Mexico, Stevens was outperformed by Rossi and in Russia by Merhi. Stevens then retired in Austin, but he showed in the final two races that he can outperform his team mates and ended his year in the best possible way that he could.

I will admit that even though Stevens has out qualified and outperformed Merhi mostly throughout the season consistently, he is a consistent and reliable pair of hands to bring the car home and he has improved during his first season in the sport but it still sadly it still might not be enough to stay within the team for another season, given the fact that Alexander Rossi and Mercedes protégé Pascal Wehrelin are the favourites at the moment for the seats; even though Stevens in my opinion has done more than enough to keep his seat for another year.

In conclusion, 2015 has proved to be the toughest season for the Manor team. They've experienced a roller coaster of a year with Jules Bianchi's ninth place finish in Monaco, Jules suffering his accident in Japan, entering and exiting administration and then finally Jules' tragic death in July.

But in their first season racing under the Manor name, they have shown despite not having the best start of the season that they can finish races consistently and reliably when the car is working and that their drivers have the ability to do this as well. And there's no doubt in my mind that Jules would have been so proud of what they have achieved.

With the Manor team switching to Mercedes power for 2016, this is another positive step forward for them and it can only be welcomed after everything that they have been through. But all I can say is that even though they will be disappointed to drop to tenth this season, the fact that they raced this season is enough despite what they have been through and that is testament to the passion, hardworking and determined personnel within the team and I hope to see them make steps forward heading into the 2016 season.

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa