Manor collapse 'a failure of the F1 system' - Minardi

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Former Formula One team owner Giancarlo Minardi has said that the collapse of the Manor team last month shows that the current system of operating the sport has failed.

Manor went into administration on January 6, and the team was formally wound up at the end of the month. Losing prize money for tenth place in the 2016 constructors championship to Sauber was widely blamed for the team's demise.

"When a team leaves F1 it is a failure of the whole system," Minardi told Autosport magazine this week.

The Italian explained that the 1.6-litre V6 engines introduced in 2014 had caused big problems for teams trying to complete in the sport.

"In recent years F1 chose the road of technology, in other words to make Formula 1 the maximum expression of technology with the introduction of the power unit, and this has led to a big increase in costs," he said.

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The 69-year-old added that the technology would have been better suited to endurance racing.

"Formula One is sprint racing, wheel-to-wheel battles between drivers," added Miniardi, whose team was active in the sport for 20 years from 1985, giving an early opening to future stars including Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso before being bought by Red Bull and relabelled Toro Rosso.

Minardi added that he wanted teams to have more track time rather than relying on simulators and to allow teams to develop their cars and engines without applying artificial limits.

"I would encourage decreasing the number of the staff within a team," he added. "We should prohibit the use of remote teams of engineers, engineer teams who work at the headquarters simultaneously with those at the track.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.