Shitty Silverstone

Before yesterday’s British Grand Prix, the Manor Mercedes garage had a bet to see who would retire from the race, partly due to a certain variance gamble. In the spirit of Easter, the driver to retire would be forced to wear bunny ears and mouth for the entire day. Needless to say, the team was not expecting both drivers to retire.

The team decided to play a risk with 4 Variance. This turned out to be a double-edged sword when Felipe Massa qualified 5th and Pastor Maldonado in 18th. Maldonado fell behind quickly and on lap 30, things turned sour when he aquaplaned and collided with a lapping Nico Hulkenberg in turn 6. In rainy conditions, Massa struggled to find grip, being forced to switch to wets shortly before lap 23. Nine laps later, he beached the car in the mud – also in turn 6.

Next week, the Model F1 World Championship begins the second half of the season at Germany.

Midseason Report

As we enter the halfway point of the season, Manor currently sits 6th in the World Constructors Championship, 10 points behind Lotus and 40 points ahead of McLaren. In the World Drivers Championship, Massa is in 10th with 34 points, while Maldonado is 12th with 26; the ham of the Manor sandwich is Lotus’ Giedo van der Garde, 3 points behind Massa and 5 points ahead of Maldonado.

Head-to-head, Massa holds the edge over Maldonado, though team manager splendidtree had hoped for a reliability bump from Maldonado. Overall, though, the team has a 60% finishing percentage, which is reasonable for team expectations.

Team principal macus16 is pleased with the current results, stating: “I am incredibly happy how the start has gone – not only have we more than likely secured the battle of band C, we’ve constantly fought in the top 10 and secured enough 5th place finishes to start our very own conspiracy theory.”