The team's origins trace to 2009, when Manor Motorsport — a successful junior racing outfit — partnered with aerodynamics firm Wirth Research and received an FIA entry for the 2010 Formula One season. Before the season began, the project attracted Virgin Group as title sponsor and became known as Virgin Racing. Marussia Motors, a Moscow-based sports car manufacturer, became a partner in the debut year. In November 2010, Marussia purchased a controlling stake in the team, and it was renamed Marussia Virgin Racing for 2011.
The partnership with Wirth Research, which produced the car's design in-house using computational fluid dynamics instead of a conventional wind tunnel, ended after a disappointing 2011 campaign. For 2012, the team relocated from Dinnington, South Yorkshire, to Banbury, Oxfordshire, entering a technical partnership with McLaren Applied Technologies. The constructor name was formally changed to Marussia F1 Team from the start of the 2012 season.
Marussia spent its first years as a named constructor battling Caterham and HRT for the final positions in the Constructors' Championship. The team ran Timo Glock and Charles Pic in 2012, finishing eleventh overall. A significant moment came mid-season when Glock produced the team's best race result to that point, finishing twelfth in Singapore. At the final race in Brazil, Caterham's Vitaly Petrov finished ahead of both Marussia cars, denying the team tenth place and the associated prize money by a single position.
In 2013, Jules Bianchi — a Ferrari Driver Academy member — joined alongside Max Chilton. Bianchi showed consistent promise, and by year's end Marussia finished tenth in the Constructors' Championship ahead of Caterham. The result was financially meaningful: prize money distributed to tenth place provided a significant revenue boost heading into 2014. Max Chilton became the first rookie driver in Formula One history to finish every race of a season.
For 2014, Marussia switched to Ferrari power units. At the Monaco Grand Prix, Bianchi converted a chaotic race into ninth place, scoring the team's first — and only — championship points. The result also made Marussia the first Russian-licensed constructor to score World Championship points.
The season turned tragic at the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. On lap 43, Bianchi's car aquaplaned off the circuit at the Dunlop curve and struck a recovery crane that was attending to another accident. He suffered a severe diffuse axonal brain injury and was unconscious at the scene. Bianchi underwent emergency surgery and was placed in intensive care; he never regained consciousness. He died on 17 July 2015, nine months after the crash — the first Formula One driver fatality since Ayrton Senna in 1994.
The following weekend at the inaugural Russian Grand Prix, Marussia ran a single car for Max Chilton, decorated with the "#JB17" tribute livery for Bianchi's initials and race number. Financial difficulties prevented the team from attending the United States and Brazilian Grands Prix, and on 7 November 2014 the administrator announced the team had ceased trading. The collapse left debts of approximately £60 million.
In February 2015, businessman Stephen Fitzpatrick purchased the team out of administration. Former Sainsbury's CEO Justin King joined as chairman. The team re-entered the season as Manor Marussia F1 Team using a revised version of the 2014 car updated to meet new regulations, retaining the Marussia constructor name. Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi drove for the team, with Alexander Rossi joining later in the season. The team failed to score points but completed the season, finishing last in the Constructors' Championship.
After 2015, Manor Motorsport rebranded the entry as Manor Racing and secured Mercedes power units. The team used the Manor Racing name through the 2016 season before folding permanently at the end of that year.
Marussia's story is inseparable from Jules Bianchi. His Monaco points finish represented a rare moment of competitive breakthrough for a team that consistently started races at the back of the field. His accident and death accelerated discussions within Formula One about crane deployment under wet conditions and the positioning of recovery vehicles near live circuits, contributing to safety standards that shape the sport to this day.
The team's Banbury base was purchased by Gene Haas as part of the groundwork for the Haas F1 Team's 2016 entry, along with data and designs from the 2015 Marussia car that was already well developed at the time of closure.