article: For Will Stevens, it couldn't be further back. The 23-year-old from Essex is in his debut season in F1 with the struggling Manor team, revived at the 11th hour ahead of the 2015 season from the ashes of Marussia, who collapsed three races before the end of last year. It is hard to think of a more difficult place to try to learn your craft at the pinnacle of motorsport. Manor, still run by team boss John Booth and president Graeme Lowdon but now funded by investment from Stephen Fitzpatrick of energy firm Ovo, made it to the first race in Australia only by the skin of their teeth, but were so ill-prepared than they could not even get their cars out of the garage in Melbourne. Two weeks later in Malaysia, the team could run only one car at a time, and in qualifying that turned out to be that of Stevens' Spanish team-mate Roberto Mehri, who was five seconds slower than the next slowest car. In China last weekend, Stevens finally managed to do what he is there for and take part in the race. There was progress. Both cars finished the grand prix, and this time the fastest Manor - Stevens - was less than three seconds behind the McLaren-Hondas in qualifying. But given that Stevens, like many young drivers, has to pay for his drive, people may wonder why he would choose to spend his backers' money to be so far off the pace. But he insists he is doing the right thing, saying he has confidence the team is going in the right direction. Stevens, who was briefly Marussia's reserve driver last year before their collapse, says: "Because I had a relationship with the team from last year, we kept in close contact throughout the winter and we wouldn't have entered into it if there wasn't certainty there. "From our side of it, we are very happy to be here. We can see where the team want to progress to and I want to be part of that journey." Stevens is less certain about where exactly he sees the team going, saying merely that it is "hard to tell" what Manor can achieve. But few men are as steeped in motor racing as Booth and under his guidance Manor won everything in a long career in the junior categories. Manor might be battling against the odds with a tiny budget in F1 terms, but this is a team with a strong racing pedigree. Cynics might argue that the same cannot be said of their new English F1 driver. Because he has paid his way into F1, Stevens has inevitably been dismissed by some as a 'pay-driver', a disparaging term for someone who has bought his way in because he does not have the talent to earn a place on merit. Is the criticism valid? Stevens says no. "There are lots of drivers up and down the pit lane who are in the same position," he says. "The sport is completely different now. There are huge companies who
summary: Every Formula 1 driver has to start somewhere and often that's closer to the rear of the field than the front.