• Marussia

Marussia withdraws GP3 team from Sochi

Marussia has withdrawn its team from this weekend's round of the GP3 Championship - a feeder series for F1 - citing "commercial reasons" as being behind the decision.

The news will further dent the morale of a team already struggling to come to terms with the accident which left Jules Bianchi in a critical but stable condition.

Marussia Manor Racing, which competes in GP3, failed to make last week's deadline for shipping its equipment to Sochi and there are now doubts whether it will make the final round in Abu Dhabi next month.

Marussia said the decision was not "influenced in any way" by Bianchi's accident. The statement issued by it had a feeling of finality as it praised "the hard work and dedication of the Manor Motorsport staff, who run the racing operations of the Marussia Manor Racing GP3 team, as well as the efforts of Dean Stoneman, Patrick Kujala and Ryan Cullen, three very talented young drivers who have been a credit to the team during its 2014 campaign".

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