Virgin Poised to Ditch Brawn for Grand Prix Newcomers Manor
Virgin will quit Brawn to sponsor Manor but the deal may have been agreed before Manor were admitted to Formula One
Virgin will quit Jenson Button's championship-leading Brawn GP team and seems likely to sponsor the Manor Grand Prix start-up that will be making its Formula One debut next season. A leaked email sent by Alan Donnelly, the official representative of Max Mosley, the president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), suggests that the deal was agreed in principle in the month before Manor won a place in the 2010 championship ahead of Lola and Prodrive.
The email said: "Virgin have signed to be investment partners with a share holding of around 20%." Manor, however, said Virgin had no equity stake in their team.
Richard Branson stated on Sunday that Brawn's success on the grid meant he had been priced out of an association with the team in 2010. He stated then that "we may have to look somewhere else with a smaller team" but there is now evidence that a deal had already been struck. Virgin insisted it was keeping its options open and would "update on their position on next year's grand prix series" later this year. It did not respond yesterday to questions about whether it had received any prior guarantees that Manor would be accepted on to the Formula One grid. But since Manor refused to make public even its intention to bid for a place it would be intriguing if it had achieved Branson's in-principle endorsement so early.
The development is also likely to bring fresh focus on Donnelly, who has been accused by the Formula One Teams Association of a conflict of interest in his role as the chief of the stewards. He offered to facilitate meetings between a member of the Saudi royal family and a delegation from the team and its proposed sponsor. "I will be in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and look forward to seeing you at our planned meeting . . . with representatives of Manor and Virgin," wrote Donnelly in his email, sent to the Saudi royal.
"However if you would like a pre-meeting with me privately on Sunday then please let me know." Attached to the email was a sponsorship and investment agreement Donnelly said he was in Saudi Arabia on official FIA business, holding meetings with its sports ministry, potential investors in new circuits and the Saudi Motorsport Federation. "I also met potential investors in Formula One," he said. "It would be odd for an FIA representative to refuse to assist in any of these projects."
The email said: "Virgin have signed to be investment partners with a share holding of around 20%." Manor, however, said Virgin had no equity stake in their team.
Richard Branson stated on Sunday that Brawn's success on the grid meant he had been priced out of an association with the team in 2010. He stated then that "we may have to look somewhere else with a smaller team" but there is now evidence that a deal had already been struck. Virgin insisted it was keeping its options open and would "update on their position on next year's grand prix series" later this year. It did not respond yesterday to questions about whether it had received any prior guarantees that Manor would be accepted on to the Formula One grid. But since Manor refused to make public even its intention to bid for a place it would be intriguing if it had achieved Branson's in-principle endorsement so early.
The development is also likely to bring fresh focus on Donnelly, who has been accused by the Formula One Teams Association of a conflict of interest in his role as the chief of the stewards. He offered to facilitate meetings between a member of the Saudi royal family and a delegation from the team and its proposed sponsor. "I will be in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and look forward to seeing you at our planned meeting . . . with representatives of Manor and Virgin," wrote Donnelly in his email, sent to the Saudi royal.
"However if you would like a pre-meeting with me privately on Sunday then please let me know." Attached to the email was a sponsorship and investment agreement Donnelly said he was in Saudi Arabia on official FIA business, holding meetings with its sports ministry, potential investors in new circuits and the Saudi Motorsport Federation. "I also met potential investors in Formula One," he said. "It would be odd for an FIA representative to refuse to assist in any of these projects."
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