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.

 

[Titch]

Will Kamui get paid? Will the 40 heading to Abu Dhabi get paid. Will the car/s make it past FP1. Or are a very large crowd about to discover that funding a broken team leads to empty pockets.

Fernandez is a disgrace, F1 should be ashamed to have people like him in the sport.

 

[Greenlantern101]

I think any new teams coming into the sport should go through a detailed investigation as to how they intend to fund their team. A key part of that should be investigating the owners previous business dealings to ensure they are reputable.

If any arsehole can enter F1 it risks degrading it further.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Funds are not a problem. Tony and the boys have just elected not to use them.

 

[Greenlantern101]

Like I say 'previous business dealings' should be taken into account. This isn't the first time I would wager, that he has fucked someone over.

 

[canis]

Why is everyone blaming Fernandes? He sold the team in July and it is no longer his issue. I agree that he was never going to get the success that he was after, but to blame the current situation on him when he has not been in control for a number of months is not really fair...

 

[Greenlantern101]

Tony F. is worth £650 million according to Wiki.

230 staff on average wage of say 35K not paid for 7 weeks. = £155K to pay them what they are due. Out of £650 million.

But no, he has walked away.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

He sold the business. If the new owners decide to not pay the staff then that's not his issue. I'm not saying he's done the right thing by cutting his losses and getting out but the responsibility lies with the new owners and not him.

 

[gethinceri]

Oh come on! he's got loads of money and others haven't so he should give it to them? He owes them nothing unless he's contractually obliged.

 

[Jen]

If TF sold the business in July and the staff are owed 'only' seven weeks salary, then it is really not his fault is it?

 

[KekeTheKing]

Bit of a he-said/she-said really. But one crucial fact stands out, Mr Fernandes never turned over the controlling shares of the company/companies.

From Joe Saward at the end of October; https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/explaining-the-mess-at-caterham/

It is difficult to ascertain exactly what has happened, but it seems that shares in some of the companies in the original structure may have been pledged in exchange for loans. If these pledges were not lifted the new owners could not take control and thus their backers could not reasonably commit money to the project.

In essence there was never really an ownership change. The mystery Middle Eastern/Swiss consortium Engavest was never actually in control of anything, which is why the ex-Caterham employees place the blame squarely at Tony's feet.

Nobody really knows the exact details of the deal that was supposedly struck, but it's clear that Fernandes' only goal was to wash his hands of Formula One as cheaply as possible, no matter how much he owed to his creditors and employees. This whole imbroglio is of Tony's making alone.

 

[gethinceri]

"Imbroglio", such a lovely word.
But by your own comments, we don't know and knowing F1 we probably never will.

 

[KekeTheKing]

We know he never actually relinquished control of the team. We just don't know why. Engavest claims they fulfilled their obligations for the handover, Tony/1MRT says they did not. Hence the Administration.

And thanks for the "imbroglio" kudos! I had fiasco written but that one has been overused lately.

 

[gethinceri]

Fiasco wouldn't do it justice KekeTheKing.

 

[cider_and_toast]

So, for however bad they have been this year, you have to give the team their dues, they managed in the face of almost impossible odds to get out to Gulf and give it a go. They confounded expectations by not retiring both cars on lap one just to claim the start money and managed to get one car to the end of the race.

The one thing they could have done and to be fair I'm somewhat surprised they didn't was the old Toleman trick that they did at the British GP in 83 whereby they half filled the car with fuel so that it was, for a while at least, quicker than almost the whole field.

When all is said and done, Will Stevens (and still no one knows who he is) made a reasonable fist of his first F1 race. He didn't finish outside of the 107 percent rule in any session (though only by a tiny fraction in FP1) and got to within less than a second of his more experienced team mate come race day.

Will the exposure gained from this weekend be enough to attract a backer ?: who knows but as I said, fair play to them for trying. It's just a crying shame Marussia were unable to achieve the same thing.

 

[RasputinLives]

The administrator in charge of Caterham (who really has no reason to BS us) states that the team is set to be bought out and saved in the next month by 'someone with links to F1'

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3213/9586683/O-Connell-talking-to-potential-buyer

Any speculation on who? Eddie Jordan? Gerhard Berger? Ross Brawn? Sam Michael? Jenson Button?

 

[teabagyokel]

Fernando Alonso?

 

[RasputinLives]

Maybe Button and JEV have put their money together to form a team called Why On Earth Aren't We In Better Seats F1?

 

[sobriety]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/30272621

Caterham can run their current car in 2015. Apparently this is to make it easier to find a buyer, I suppose it could be a good way of getting your mobile hoarding board on TV multiple times a race as you're lapped....

 

[FB]

Decision Monday on Caterham's future.

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/caterham-s-fate-to-be-decided-monday

 

[cider_and_toast]

Merry Christmas