DECEMBER 2, 2002

...but loses Manwaring

Rupert Manwaring, the commercial director of Minardi, has departed the small Anglo-Italian team. It is believed that he will take up a new position at Lola in Huntingdon. The 46-year-old Englishman has been with Minardi since Paul Stoddart took over the team at the start of 2001.

Manwaring has been in F1 since he was a teenager when he started working at Surtees during his vacations. His first proper job in F1 was as a draughtsman at Surtees. When that team closed down he moved to Brabham and stayed for six years, ending up as assistant team manager to Herbie Blash. In 1984 he moved briefly to America to work for the Kraco CART team but he was quickly hired to join the Haas Lola FORCE team and he stayed until the team folded in 1986. He then joined Team Lotus and in 1989 became the team manager. A year later he was recruited by Tyrrell and spent four years running the team before deciding that he wanted to get into sponsorship-hunting and moved to become head of marketing at Tyrrell. He remained in that role until the team was bought by British American Tobacco after which he went with Harvey Postlethwaite to establish the Honda F1 team. After Postlethwaite's death Manwaring tried to start his own F1 team, the aim being to buy Arrows. The money did not materialise.

It is believed that Manwaring decided that he needed to stop travelling as he has been on the road non-stop for the last two years.