Just Racing ceased trading on Friday, effectively ending the Manor team. The staff were sent home and told they will be made redundant by the close of business on Tuesday after the payment of January salaries.

According to the BBC’s Andrew Benson: “It is not necessarily the end of Manor – a buyer could potentially still purchase the remnants of the team. But even if that were to happen, the move makes it much harder for Manor to make it to the start of the season in Australia on 26 March.”

My colleague Joe Saward who runs the excellent joeblogsf1 has been following the saga from its inception: “There have been many different stories circulating about what has been going on at Manor in recent months and there have been many different interpretations of the problems.

“It has been assumed (by me and others) that the key was money, but the truth seems to be that the stumbling blocks were more complicated than that. Firstly, the owners wanted to hold on to part of the team, secondly there were questions over indemnities relating to potential liabilities, notably the possibility of legal action from the Bianchi Family and thirdly, there was a massive hole in the 2017 budget, even before Manor was knocked back to 11th in the Constructors’ Championship by Sauber in Brazil.

“This is what I have been able to ascertain, although no-one wants to go on record about the different stories, so we must take them on that basis.”