Manor’s racing director Dave Ryan says the team is aiming for “respectability and competitiveness” in the 2016 F1 season.
The Banbury-based outfit unveiled its all-new MRT05 on the first day of winter testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with Pascal Wehrlein exiting the pit lane to complete its first lap.
Featuring a new red and blue livery, Manor will also field Rio Haryanto in F1 this season, making it an all-rookie driver line-up.
Following a difficult 2015, where the team ran an updated version of the previous year’s car, Manor is hoping technical partnerships with Mercedes and Williams will power the MRT05 to improved results.
"Respectability and competitiveness," Ryan said when asked what people should expect from Manor in 2016. "We are done with just turning up just to make everyone else look good and every single person in this team is looking forward to the first race in Melbourne in a few weeks’ time.
"We know we have to improve in every area and in no way do we underestimate the opposition, but we have assembled a great group of people, we have a fantastic technical partnership with Mercedes-Benz and Williams Advanced Engineering and now it’s up to us to deliver."
Replying to a question about how the team’s relationships with Mercedes and Williams are going, he explained: "Fantastically well. Our Mercedes HPP and Williams Advanced Engineering personnel have been installed in the factory for quite some time now and both of their headquarters are less than an hour away from our factory in Banbury.
"So we have all the resource and support we need pretty much on tap. It’s a really nice, easy relationship, with everyone working together very closely on our factory floor. The transition has been pretty seamless."
Discussion about this post