Caterham (formerly Lotus)

Team Lotus

FIA Entry: Team Lotus
Car 20: Heikki Kovaleinen
Car 21: Jarno Trulli
Engine: Renault V8
Team Principal: Tony Fernandes
Technical Director: Mike Gascoyne
Race Engineer Car 20: Juan Pablo Ramirez
Race Engineer Car 21: Gianluca Pisanello

Stats as of end 2010

First Entered 2010
Races Entered 20
Race Wins 0
Pole Positions 0
Fastest Laps 0
Driver World Championships 0
Constructor World Championships 0

Team Lotus

Tony Fernandes' 1Malaysia F1 team lay claim to one of the most iconic names in F1, Team Lotus. Team Lotus, under the guidance of one of the greatest innovators in F1 Colin Chapman, was in F1 from 1958 to 1994. They took part in 491 Grands Prix, winning 73 races, 7 Constructors Titles, 6 Drivers Championships, 102 poles and 65 fastest laps. During this time some of the greatest F1 drivers drove for Team Lotus including Jim Clark, Stirling Moss, Ayrton Senna, Graham Hill, Emerson Fittipaldi, Jochen Rindt and Nigel Mansell.

2010 Team Lotus

With the support of the Malaysian government via Proton cars and two Malaysian Companies, Tune and Naza Groups, Tony Fernandes entered F1 under the Team Lotus name. Using Cosworth engines and Xtrac gearboxes Lotus signed up experienced drivers for their first season in F1 with Heikki Kovaleinen and Jarno Trulli.

The cars proved reasonably reliable although not quick enough to threaten the mid-field teams. Kovaleinen managed Lotus’ best finish with a 12th place in Japan and the team, based on count back of non-points scoring finishes, were placed 10th in the Constructors Championship – the best of the new teams for 2010.

2011

Lotus announced during 2010 that they would switch to Renault engines for 2011 along with Red Bull gearbox and hydraulic technology. The same driver line up is retained and they will use the T128 chassis.

Whether the team continue to use the Lotus name will be decided in the British High Court. Proton, owners of the Group Lotus name, have moved their allegiance to the former Renault team although ownership of the Team Lotus name is in dispute as this was owned by David Hunt, brother of 1976 World Champion James and sold to Fernandes.

 

[Tuscan1969]

Sad state of affairs. I was (and still am) a big supporter of the underdog teams. I loved the revival of the Team Lotus name and to morph to Caterham was inspired....but its all about the results at the end of the day and if you are being lapped every race its not likely that a big jump to competitive levels is just around the corner....

If its very wet all weekend this may be their last chance to score a point.....

 

[Greenlantern101]

Did Caterham separate the kit car side of the business from the F1 side? I really couldn't give a shit if the F1 team disappears but to loose the Lotus 7 would be terrible.

 

[Tuscan1969]

Tony F kept the car side I believe so the F1 team is not the same owners and if it does go under the Super 7 et al is safe.

http://uk.caterhamcars.com/caterham-group

 

[Bill Boddy]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/29453016

"Team sources say the visit to their Oxfordshire site on Wednesday is not related to the F1 team."

 

[cider_and_toast]

Yeah, right !!

 

[RasputinLives]

As the staff were ordered to switch the servers off and go home that seems very doubtful to me. Whether the secret squirrel owners will put there hand in pocket and sort it out I don't know but this all appears to Fernandez's legacy of not paying his bills and claiming its the new owners responsibility.

To add fuel to the fire today Caterhams long term development test driver Will Stevens has now gone over to Marussia taking the nice little cash sum he pays to get in the car with him.

 

[The Pits]

http://thesheriffsoffice.com/articl...g-sale-of-a-formula-one-vehicle-and-equipment

 

[cider_and_toast]

Looking at the list of impounded items and seeing "Caterham car parts meant for Japan 2014" means that if they make it to the grid at all, they aren't going to have the spares they require if they have any problems.

So, since it seems blindingly obvious that their goose has been cooked, there remains just two options. 1) The doors are closed on the team and that's that. We therefore are guarenteed one less team next year or 2) There is a buyer waiting in the wings but they hope to pick up the pieces on the cheep (including the franchise to race in F1) and are looking to pick up a complete outfit for a fraction of the cost of buying a going concern.

Given that three teams have gone bust using that Leafield factory, I wonder how a fourth team will do ??

 

[Road of Bones]

Go bust as well, one would expect cider_and_toast

It just proves the old adage that in order to make a small fortune in F1, start with a large one...

 

[RasputinLives]

Interesting that the 2013 test cars are on that list as they told staff yesterday that they had been removed for an F1 demo.

Liar liar pants on fire Caterham.

 

[Bill Boddy]

Just as well that the 2014 cars are in Japan.

 

[soccerman17]

I doubt Bernie cares about any legal issues they face, if they can get a car to the grid that confirms to regulations they will race. How much longer they'll be able to do that though could be interesting. Probably won't finish the season.

 

[FB]

James Allen said if their "mission control" in the UK is shut down they won't be able to race in Japan. How strange the World of F1 is these days.

 

[cider_and_toast]

James Allen said if their "mission control" in the UK is shut down they won't be able to race in Japan. How strange shit the World of F1 is these days.

Fixed that for you FB

 

[RasputinLives]

The world of Caterham is not looking very secure. Kobi claims he was told to retire the car to save parts (doubt we'll see him driving there again) and the owners have emphasised how important it is to keep ypur place on the F1 grid. All this sort of suggests the team are turning up and running for a short time in order to keep their grid slot in the hope it means they can attract investors easier. I severely doubt it will be a team called Caterham in F1 next year.

The GP2 team has now been bought out by Status GP who currently run in GP3. It'll become known as Status from next year and the whole team will relocate to Silverstone. At least most of the staff will keep their jobs though.

 

[RasputinLives]

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2014/...hams-makeshift-repair-on-kobayashis-car-safe/

This is a very worrying story. Also I think K9bi going public on this kind of means we won't see him at the last 3 races.

 

[gethinceri]

I think he knew that before his tweet RasputinLives.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Same sort of story as Perry McCarthy's at Andrea Moda all those years ago. The mechanics found that Roberto Moreno's steering column was flexing so they changed it for the only spare they had which was on Perry's car. The trouble was they then sent McCarthy out with the flexing one and almost top chat through Eau Rouge the car bottomed out and Perry felt the steering tighten up on him. Luckily he recognised what was happening and managed to save the thing before crawling back to the pits. Before he had a chance to tell the team where to stick their car the police rocked up and arrested the Italian team owner for fraud and Andrea Moda were kicked out.

 

[Tuscan1969]

Certainly looking very black for the team now...can't see them on the grid for 2015. Money and willpower just seem to have evapourated....

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

Interesting blog article published yesterday.
http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/explaining-the-mess-at-caterham/

I can't get my head around the whole thing, but complicated usually means bad.