Manor Marussia F1 Team is still evaluating whether or not to introduce a new car during the 2015 Formula 1 season, according to founder John Booth.
After collapsing three races before the end of the 2014 season as Marussia F1 Team, Manor returned to the grid this season with minimal updates and improvements to its old car.
The team failed to participate at the Australian Grand Prix, and only managed to get one of its cars running in Malaysia, but has since made great strides and displayed great reliability.
In light of the team’s progression, there have been doubts about the plans to introduce a 2015-spec car at the Belgian Grand Prix in August as originally planned.
Reserve driver Fabio Leimer hinted last month that the team had shelved these plans, but in an interview with the official F1 website, Booth said that the team was still considering its options.
“I think now we’ve got a fairly senior technical management team in place and I think it’s under consideration as to which is the best way forward,” Booth said.
“The end goal is to have the best possible result at the end of 2016 and into 2017. So we need to establish what’s going to be the best way of achieving that.”
Given the pace difference between Manor and the midfield, pouring time and resources into a new car may seem to be a fruitless exercise for the backmarker squad.
However, Booth explained how the upgrades that have been applied to the car in recent weeks have proved that developing the car is important.
“You only have to look at what affect the upgrades had at Silverstone,” he said. “Amazingly every single race we’ve closed the gap to the front, and considering how hard they are pushing at the front it’s amazing!
“So far it’s been done on good, sound engineering principles. The Silverstone upgrades were the first upgrades we’ve brought.”
Manor scored its best result in over a year at Silverstone last weekend as Roberto Merhi and Will Stevens finished 12th and 13th, and the team will be hoping to follow this up at the Hungarian Grand Prix at the end of the month.
