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With all the claims, counter-claims, accusations, denials and statements floating about, Formula 1's 2015 entry procedure has - two months after the closing date and with exactly four weeks to go before the start of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix - descended into absolute farce, with none being any the wiser whether the grid will comprise 18, 20 or 22 cars as Marussia (Manor) continues to press its case.
Essentially the matter is simple: on the one hand there is an entity ('team' would be a misnomer, for it consists of a handful of personnel working on fundamentally 2014 cars in barebones, by F1 standards, facilities and with minimal equipment) fighting for its very survival; on the other it is up against F1's convoluted governance process.
As always in this complex business financial issues lie at the core. Compounding the situation is the vexing question of who the rightful owner of around $45million (£30million) is: the original team's administrators/creditors, F1's beneficiary teams, F1's commercial rights holder, or the entity itself, now entered under a different name to what went before.
