Analysis: Manor faces tough mission to make the grid in 2017 F1 season

Manor is facing an uphill struggle to get on the grid in 2017 after missing out on prizemoney as a result of losing tenth place in the 2016 constructors’ championship to Sauber.

The British team, which was saved from closure by energy businessman Stephen Fitzpatrick at the start of the 2015 season, held a one point lead over Sauber heading into the final two races of the season thanks to Pascal Wehrlein’s tenth place finish at the Austrian Grand Prix.

But Sauber’s Felipe Nasr finished ninth in the heavily weather-disrupted race in Brazil after staying on wet tyres for the duration of the event and putting on fresh ones during the red flag stoppages.

Industry sources say that the team is working on a variety of avenues to ensure that it is on the grid next year, but it's clearly hard yards.

Fitzpatrick told reporters in Abu Dhabi that a deal for the former Virgin Racing and Marussia squad had “agreed terms with an investor”.

There has been speculation since then that this could be Tavo Hellmund, the man behind bringing the Austin and Mexico races onto the F1 calendar.

But so far there has been no official confirmation of any final agreement in the weeks since the season finale, although Fitzpatrick has said that things are still on track.

Fitzpatrick described his reaction to the final twist in the battle for tenth place in the constructors’ championship as “one of real disappointment”, but he paid tribute to Sauber because of the close competition the two squads had enjoyed throughout 2016.

He said: “The first reaction I had was one of real disappointment for the team. I think they've worked incredibly hard for the last 18 months since the start of last season without much reward and it looked like we were heading for a tenth place finish, which was a big step forward for us.

“I [then] thought of the opposite feeling that must be going on in the Sauber garage and I thought that the guys in the Sauber team had been fantastic competitors for us all year, we'd enjoyed a great battle with them and I knew how much those points meant to the Sauber team and I was trying to imagine the joy they would be having and they worked so hard all season to bring it back in the end.”

Manor was unable to respond at the final event of the season in Abu Dhabi – a race that does not traditionally throw up the kind of unexpected results often seen at Interlagos – and the team is set to lost out on around £15m in FOM bonus money as a result.

After that race, the squad’s racing director, Dave Ryan, said: “We know we still have big strides to make, but it’s a challenge we are all looking forward to as we strive to move Manor up the grid in 2017.”

The team ran two Mercedes junior drivers in 2016 - Wehrlein and Esteban Ocon, who joined for the second half of the season – but it could be without both rising stars in 2017. Ocon has already been signed by Force India as a replacement for the Renault-bound Nico Hulkenberg, and Wehrlein may yet be confirmed as a replacement for Nico Rosberg at Mercedes.

Even if the triple world champion constructor opts not to sign the 22-year-old German driver, he could also switch to Sauber, as the two sides were discussing a potential deal for his services before Rosberg made his shock retirement announcement five days after sealing the 2016 drivers’ title in Abu Dhabi.