Indonesian government offers Manor £10m for Haryanto seat

Julien Billiotte 11/12/2015 at 18:10

The Indonesian government is ready to pay Manor €15 million (£10.8m) to see GP2 Series race winner Rio Haryanto land an F1 seat at the small British outfit for the 2016 season.

Indonesia's Youth and Sport minister Imam Nahrawi wrote a letter to Manor owner Stephen Fitzpatrick making, pictures of which were then tweeted. The offer reads as follows:

“Regarding to our discussions with Rio Haryanto and his management, we are pleased to confirm that the Ministry of Youth and Sport of The Republic of Indonesia will guarantee a payment of 15 (fifteen) Million Euro for Rio Haryanto to compete the 2016 Formula 1 World Championship with the Manor Formula 1 team.

“The payments will be made in return for “branding space on the race cars and drivers’ race wear plus a host of promotional activities to promote Indonesia and associated companies”.

Haryanto is coming off a strong GP2 campaign – though it was already his fourth in the series –, as he claimed three wins en route to fourth in the final standings with Campos Racing. The 22-year-old’s latest F1 outing came courtesy of Manor at the recent one-day Pirelli tyre test in Abu Dhabi.

Haryanto has been linked with the former Virgin and Marussia squad since it entered the sport in 2010. His maiden F1 run took place at Yas Marina Circuit that year, while he also drove during the 2012 young driver test at Silverstone.