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Caterham F1

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Caterham
Full nameCaterham F1 Team
BaseLeafield Technical Centre
Leafield, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
Founder(s)Tony Fernandes
Noted staffTony Fernandes
Cyril Abiteboul
Mike Gascoyne
Noted driversSweden Marcus Ericsson
Netherlands Giedo van der Garde
Japan Kamui Kobayashi
Finland Heikki Kovalainen
Russia Vitaly Petrov
France Charles Pic
Previous nameLotus Racing/Team Lotus
Formula One World Championship career
First entry2012 Australian Grand Prix
Races entered56
EnginesRenault
Constructors'
Championships		0 (Best Finish: 10th in 2012)
Drivers'
Championships		0 (Best Finish: 19th by Petrov in 2012 and Ericsson in 2014)
Race victories0
Podiums0
Points0
Pole positions0
Fastest laps0
Final entry2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

The Caterham F1 Team was a Malaysian,[1] later British owned Formula One team based in the United Kingdom which raced under a Malaysian licence.[2] The Caterham brand competed in the Formula One World Championship from 2012 to 2014, following the acquisition of British sportscar manufacturer Caterham Cars by former owner and team principal Tony Fernandes, forming the Caterham Group.[3]

In July 2014, Tony Fernandes and his partners announced that they had sold the team to a consortium of Swiss and Middle Eastern investors.[4] The "Caterham" name was later used under licence after the Caterham Group separation.[5]

In October 2014, Caterham entered administration and did not attend a race weekend for the first time in its history beginning from the United States Grand Prix. In November 2014, after also missing the Brazilian Grand Prix, Caterham became the first F1 team ever to resort to crowdfunding, enabling it to race at the final Grand Prix for 2014 and take part in end of season testing both held in Abu Dhabi.[6] On 27 February 2015, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) published a revised entry list with Manor Marussia being reintroduced and Caterham being removed from the list,[7] and by March of the same year, the team's assets were put up for auction, spelling the official demise of the team.[8]

History

Background

Main article: Team Lotus (2010–11)

Fernandes's team originally entered Formula One in 2010 as Lotus Racing, using the Lotus name under licence from Group Lotus.[9] Dubbed as 1Malaysia F1, the team was operated by 1Malaysia Racing Team Sdn Bhd.[10] The project was part of the former Prime Minister Najib Razak's 1Malaysia initiative.[11][12] When Proton – the parent company of Group Lotus – terminated the licence, Fernandes acquired the privately owned Team Lotus name for use in the 2011 season. As Proton began legal proceedings against the team, Fernandes acquired Caterham Cars. In November 2011, the team applied to the Formula One commission to formally change their constructor name for the 2012 season from Lotus to Caterham, while Renault changed their name to Lotus.[13] Permission was granted before being formally ratified at a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council.[14] The team finished 10th in the Constructors' Championship in 2011, with three 13th-place finishes (two from Trulli, one from Kovalainen).

2012 season

See also: 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship
Jarno Trulli took part in the first pre-season test in February 2012, but was subsequently replaced by Vitaly Petrov

Trulli and Kovalainen re-signed with the team, under its new guise of Caterham, for the 2012 season.[15]

On 18 January 2012, it was announced that the team would be moving to the Leafield Technical Centre in Leafield, Oxfordshire, the previous headquarters of both Arrows and Super Aguri F1 teams.[16] The Caterham CT01 is the first car the team has built to run KERS.

On 17 February, the team announced that Vitaly Petrov would replace Trulli alongside Kovalainen for the 2012 season.[17] Mark Smith took over pitwall operations from Group CTO Mike Gascoyne starting from the Chinese Grand Prix.

The Caterham car looked slower than expected at the beginning of the season. However, Caterham quickly found pace through Kovalainen, who made it into Q2 for the Bahrain Grand Prix, eliminating Michael Schumacher in the process. At the Monaco Grand Prix, Kovalainen achieved a season's best thirteenth place, staving off McLaren's Jenson Button until the latter spun trying to overtake him. Kovalainen again made it into the second part of qualifying, in Valencia, qualifying 16th for the race, after eliminating both Toro Rossos and title contender Mark Webber with the final lap of the first session. Caterham continued their good form into the race with both Kovalainen and Petrov running well until Kovalainen collided with Toro Rosso's Jean-Éric Vergne. The incident caused a safety car, but Kovalainen recovered to finish 14th behind Petrov, who managed what was at this point the team's joint best finish in 13th. At the British Grand Prix, an engine failure on Vitaly Petrov's Caterham on his way round to the grid meant he had to return to the pits and retire the car before the race had even begun. The team then went on to secure 10th place in the Constructors' Championship, pipping Marussia at the final post, after a hard last race where Vitaly Petrov achieved a team record-breaking 11th-place finish in front of Charles Pic while Kovalainen finished in 14th behind STR-Ferrari's Daniel Ricciardo.[18]

2013 season

See also: 2013 FIA Formula One World Championship
Giedo van der Garde at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix.

On 23 November 2012, it was announced that Marussia driver Charles Pic signed a multi-year contract with the team[19] and his teammate was rookie Giedo van der Garde. On 1 March 2013, the team announced that Alexander Rossi and Ma Qinghua would be its reserve drivers for the 2013 season.[20]

On 17 April 2013, it was confirmed that the team had re-signed Heikki Kovalainen as a reserve driver (formal technical development role) in order to test their upgrades.[21] Ma Qinghua consequently lost his reserve driver seat. At the 2013 Belgian Grand Prix, Giedo van der Garde achieved Caterham's best ever qualifying position with 14th place. Despite having a faster car than rivals Marussia, Caterham finished behind them on the Constructors' Championship finishing 11th.

2014 season

See also: 2014 FIA Formula One World Championship
Kamui Kobayashi racing during the 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix.

On 21 January 2014, it was announced that the team would have a brand new driver line-up with Marcus Ericsson and Kamui Kobayashi taking the seats.[22] Team owner Fernandes warned team members that he would quit if results did not improve in the 2014 season.[23] After the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix, Caterham became the record holders for the most race starts without scoring a single point, after fellow rivals Marussia scored their first points finish since entering the sport in 2010, courtesy of the 9th-place finish from Jules Bianchi.

In July 2014, Caterham F1 announced that it was now owned by a consortium of Swiss and Middle Eastern investors, advised by former F1 Team Principal Colin Kolles. Former Dutch F1 driver, Christijan Albers, assisted by Manfredi Ravetto, became responsible for the day-to-day running of the team.[4] Under this new management, unexpectedly, Kobayashi did not compete in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. In his place, former Jaguar F1 test driver and three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, André Lotterer, made his début in Formula One.[24] He retired early from the race due to mechanical issues and turned down the chance to further race for Caterham, or in Formula One unless under better conditions.[25]

Administration

On 21 October 2014, it was announced that Caterham had entered administration,[26] and had withdrawn its management team. A statement issued on behalf of Caterham said that the administrators, Smith & Williamson, were now in control of the team.[27] Bernie Ecclestone gave Caterham special dispensation to miss the United States and Brazilian Grands Prix while they attempted to find a buyer for the team.[28]

In spite of the above dispensation, absence from any Grand Prix breached Formula One regulations. Nevertheless, at the United States Grand Prix, because of the team's current financial circumstances – similar to those of Marussia F1 – the FIA stewards decided to not impose any penalties. Instead, they referred the matter to the attention of the FIA president.[29] In addition, for 2015, Sauber announced the engagement of Caterham's driver, Marcus Ericsson,[30] who terminated his contract with Caterham on 12 November 2014.[31]

Return to racing

On 5 November 2014, the FIA released the provisional 2015 entry list which included Caterham, who were listed as CF1 Caterham F1 Team.[32] During the same week, it was also revealed that the team had arranged a surprise 3-race deal with Rubens Barrichello who last raced in 2011 and would have taken over Kobayashi's seat for the remainder of the 2014 season.[33]

During the 2014 Brazilian Grand Prix weekend, Caterham's administrators resorted to crowdfunding in order to keep the team's chances of a return to the sport alive, much to the dismay of some Formula One personalities including Bernie Ecclestone.[34] On 14 November 2014, it was reported that Caterham had succeeded in raising the necessary funds,[35] via the crowdfunding initiative, to compete at the final Grand Prix of the 2014 season in Abu Dhabi. In contrast to multi-national logos adorning other team cars, according to media reports, a crowdfunding on-car sponsor for Caterham was a small UK pub: the Windmill Inn in Littleworth, West Sussex.[36][37]

On 16 November 2014, it was announced by Caterham that Kobayashi would drive for the team in Abu Dhabi,[38] and, on 20 November, that the second driver would be 23-year-old British driver, Will Stevens[39] who had previously tested for the team and would also take part in post-season testing also at Abu Dhabi, immediately after the race weekend.

On 1 December 2014, it was announced that the team had received special dispensation to use their 2014 cars in the 2015 season, which would assist the administrator in finding a buyer for the team.[40] Despite this, the team's assets were sold by auction, starting March 2015, meaning that attempts to race in 2015 had failed.[41][42] The team then officially folded.

Staff controversies

On 25 July 2014, it was announced that over 40 former employees were taking legal action against the team for unfair dismissal, following a number of cost cuts by Caterham F1's new owners.[43]

In November 2014, despite Caterham F1 returning to racing under the control of its administrator following a successful crowdfunding initiative, 230 staff members not directly involved in Grand Prix preparations were made redundant.[44]

The staff that were redundant received a redundancy payment in January 2019, over 4 years after the team was declared bankrupt.[45]

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year Chassis Engine Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Points WCC
2012 CT01 Renault RS27-2012 2.4 V8 P AUS MAL CHN BHR ESP MON CAN EUR GBR GER HUN BEL ITA SIN JPN KOR IND ABU USA BRA 0 10th
Finland Heikki Kovalainen Ret 18 23 17 16 13 18 14 17 19 17 17 14 15 15 17 18 13 18 14
Russia Vitaly Petrov Ret 16 18 16 17 Ret 19 13 DNS 16 19 14 15 19 17 16 17 16 17 11
2013 CT03 Renault RS27-2013 2.4 V8 P AUS MAL CHN BHR ESP MON CAN GBR GER HUN BEL ITA SIN KOR JPN IND ABU USA BRA 0 11th
France Charles Pic 16 14 16 17 17 Ret 18 15 17 15 Ret 17 19 14 18 Ret 19 20 Ret
Netherlands Giedo van der Garde 18 15 18 21 Ret 15 Ret 18 18 14 16 18 16 15 Ret Ret 18 19 18
2014 CT05 Renault Energy F1-2014 1.6 V6 t P AUS MAL BHR CHN ESP MON CAN AUT GBR GER HUN BEL ITA SIN JPN RUS USA BRA ABU 0 11th
Sweden Marcus Ericsson Ret 14 Ret 20 20 11 Ret 18 Ret 18 Ret 17 19 15 17 19
United Kingdom Will Stevens 17
Japan Kamui Kobayashi Ret 13 15 18 Ret 13 Ret 16 15 16 Ret 17 DNS 19 Ret Ret
Germany André Lotterer Ret

References

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  2. ^ 2013 Formula One World Championship entry list FIA. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  3. ^ "Team Lotus purchase Caterham Cars". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 28 April 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  4. ^ a b "Caterham F1 Team Announcement". Caterham Group. 2 July 2014. Archived from the original on 2 January 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  5. ^ "Caterham F1 Clarification". Caterham Group. 3 October 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  6. ^ Hynes, Justin (14 November 2014). "Caterham F1 team to compete in Abu Dhabi as administrator says: "Let's go racing!"". James Allen on F1. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
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  8. ^ Esler, William (15 March 2015). "Caterham's remaining assets will start to be sold off at an auction on Wednesday". Sky Sports. Sky Media. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
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  13. ^ Noble, Jonathan (1 November 2011). "Virgin applies for name change to become Marussia". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  14. ^ Cooper, Adam (3 November 2011). "Caterham, Lotus and Marussia name changes approved". Adam Cooper's F1 Blog. WordPress. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  15. ^ "2012 FIA Formula One World Championship Entry List". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 30 November 2011. Archived from the original on 17 January 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
  16. ^ Elizalde, Pablo (18 January 2012). "Caterham F1 team confirms proposed move to Leafield". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  17. ^ "Petrov replaces Trulli at Caterham". Sky Sports. BSkyB. 17 February 2012. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  18. ^ "Caterham delighted to regain tenth". Crash.net. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  19. ^ Beer, Matt (23 November 2012). "Caterham signs Marussia's Charles Pic for 2013 Formula 1 season". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  20. ^ "Alexander Rossi and Ma Qing Hua to be Reserve Drivers". Caterham F1. Caterham Group. 1 March 2013. Archived from the original on 4 March 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  21. ^ "Heikki Kovalainen rejoins Caterham as reserve driver". Autosport. 17 April 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
  22. ^ Beer, Matt (21 January 2014). "Caterham signs Kobayashi, Ericsson for 2014 Formula 1 season". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  23. ^ "Caterham: Owner Tony Fernandes threatens to pull out of Formula 1". BBC Sport. 21 January 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  24. ^ "Caterham Sign Andre Lotterer for Belgian Grand Prix". Caterham F1 Team. Caterham F1 Team. 20 August 2014. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
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  29. ^ Noble, Jonathan (30 October 2014). "US GP: Stewards refer Caterham, Marussia F1 teams' absence to FIA". Autosport.
  30. ^ "Marcus Ericsson to drive for Sauber in 2015". Grandprix.com. 1 November 2014.
  31. ^ "Caterham: Marcus Ericsson terminates deal". BBC Sport. 12 November 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
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  36. ^ "Barrichello could be Caterham driver in Abu Dhabi". Grandprix.com. 19 November 2014.
  37. ^ "Littleworth pub helps Caterham make final F1 race". West Sussex County Times. 20 November 2014.
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  39. ^ "Caterham sign Britain's Will Stevens for Abu Dhabi Grand Prix". BBC Sport. BBC. 20 November 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  40. ^ "Formula 1: Caterham allowed to run 2014 car in 2015". BBC. 1 December 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  41. ^ Benson, Andrew (5 February 2015). "Caterham hopes fade as team's remaining assets go up for sale". BBC sport. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  42. ^ "The Assets of Caterham F1 Race Team". wyleshardy.com. Wyles Hardy & Co. 5 February 2015. Archived from the original on 5 February 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  43. ^ Benson, Andrew (25 July 2014). "Caterham face legal action from more than 40 former staff". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  44. ^ "Caterham F1 staff out on the street". Wheels 24. 17 November 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  45. ^ "Ex-Caterham F1 employees finally get some small sum after legal saga". 25 January 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
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