Graeme Lowdon interview: Manor building for the future

In some sports - tennis, football, ice hockey and so forth - you have a winner and a loser. When it comes to motor racing, the situation is less clear cut, because although you have a race winner, the rest of the field are never described as losers.

Nevertheless, there tends to be a pecking order and in Formula One at the moment, Manor is occupying the bottom rung of that particular ladder. After a fraught time just getting back into the sport in time for the Australian GP, digging itself out of administration at the last minute, it’s time to build for the future.

With that in mind, the team recently announced the arrival of Bob Bell, former technical director at Mercedes F1 and Luca Furbato, former technical director at Scuderia Toro Rosso.

“Bob’s going to be involved in advising the senior management regarding an overall technical strategy and the ‘big picture’ stuff moving forward, as opposed to detail work,” the team CEO, Graeme Lowdon told F1i in Montreal.

When it comes to a simple who-does-what in the team’s Yorkshire base, the answer is not so clear cut, partly down to the fact it is running a 2014 car and Ferrari power unit package.

“We faced some interesting scenarios that you would not consider normal in operating our race team in preparation for the 2015 championship,” continued Lowdon. “Given a blank sheet of paper you wouldn’t choose that path. Therefore the various roles and tasks that are having to be done are a little bit unusual in terms of dealing with an older car. It means we are out sync with design, manufacturing and production cycles.

“John McQuilliam (technical director) has done a brilliant job with what are not the normal set of challenges you’d expect to face.”

"We are out sync with design, manufacturing and production cycles"

While Bell and Furbato are the headline-making names, there are plenty of new starters joining the organisation as it seeks to increase numbers and strengthen in various areas, with the target to return to the team’s optimal working size from last season.

“We have to look at the bigger picture, making key technical decisions that include power unit partnerships. So there’s no shortage of things to do. Sometimes in that scenario the detail can overtake the strategy.

“Bob and Luca had their first day earlier last week so they are still getting to know everyone. Luca brings a huge amount of experience as well and he has fitted in straight away with everybody. Each time we get an addition to the technical team it frees others to be more productive in all areas. People forget the headcount just a few months ago was about one! We are heading back for the way we were before.”

Clearly, none of this expansion could happen without the right funding and that comes from two sources, one of which is the team’s ninth place in the 2014 constructors’ championship.

“We now have a higher percentage of dependable income through prize money,” revealed the Manor CEO. “We always said the team’s achievement in securing that prize money was the key in ensuring that the investment proposition was attractive for a new investor.”

That would seem to have been the case for new sponsors with the red and white cars carrying some new logos during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend.

The majority of teams have to rely on driver dollars these days and that’s true of Manor, “but it’s much less than some other team’s I’d say,” Lowdon insists. “Steven Fitzpatrick (the new owner) has given us the stable platform to go forward.”

When the team returned to the grid, there was talk of introducing a new 2015 spec car at some point in the season and Lowdon believes the new technical appointments will be involved in that decision.

“Every week there are more factors fed in that effects what is the best thing for us to do as a team, including what the other teams are doing and there is nothing set in stone at the moment in terms of an update. We’re not ruling anything out. We’re extremely pleased the team is back on track, but there’s a lot of potential to come, even if it’s masked at the minute.”

After an unstable start to the year, Manor looks to be laying down some new foundations which it hopes will provide a more solid platform for the coming seasons.

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