F1: Manor agrees Ferrari engine deal

The Manor Formula 1 has agreed a deal to use old Ferrari engines this year, as work continues on trying to get back on to the grid.

Following the announcement that the former Marussia outfit is coming out of administration, the team's chiefs are continuing to put together the elements that they need for a return. A key hurdle to overcome was agreeing an engine deal, with Ferrari one of the main creditors left when Marussia collapsed last year. However, at the Barcelona F1 test, Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene revealed that verbal agreement had been reached for the Maranello outfit to supply year-old engines in 2015.

"We said to them yesterday that we are going to supply them with the 2014 engine," he said. "There is nothing in writing at the moment."

Although a vote by the F1 Strategy Group recently closed off the possibility of Manor using an updated 2014 car, the team is pushing on with a modified version to comply with this year's rules that could even be ready for the start of the season.

It is believed the team wants to race as early as it can with its interim model, before switching to a fully bespoke 2015 car during the early part of the campaign.

If Manor is able to return by the Bahrain Grand Prix, then it will qualify for around $46 million in commercial rights income that it earned last year when Jules Bianchi finished ninth at the Monaco GP.

Originally on Autosport.com