The Caterham Thread

LionZoo · Post by **LionZoo** » 28 May 2014, 18:01

Well at least we have this: http://www.speedhunters.com/2014/05/jap ... -gets-car/

Post by **Ataxia** » 28 May 2014, 20:18

mario wrote:As might be expected, Fernandes is denying that the Caterham Group is up for sale; however, he has stated that Caterham are looking for investment, perhaps suggesting that something similar to the deal between Sahara and Force India is on the cards. http://www.f1technical.net/news/19381

Call me a cold-hearted cynic (no, please do!) but I'm thinking that he's said that purely to save face and keep his workforce motivated. What good is a team of people who know they'll possibly be out of a job at the end of the year?

The beautiful irony of Tony Fernandes' complaints about the F1 budget cap is that he's currently breaking the Football League financial regulations with QPR.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 10 Jun 2014, 09:01

Caterham sells back Alpine stake to Renault.
http://www.crash.net/f1/news/205462/1/c ... nture.html

IceG · Post by **IceG** » 13 Jun 2014, 11:45

Missing Austria?: http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns28241.html

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 13 Jun 2014, 12:02

Yeah, I've heard about some German rumours saying Caterham might pull out mid-season... but this is harsh :shock:

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 13 Jun 2014, 13:01

Autosport, or it ain't happening (or it is, them going to Austria, that is...)...

lgaquino · Post by **lgaquino** » 13 Jun 2014, 13:52

That's unexpected!

Post by **mario** » 14 Jun 2014, 10:30

IceG wrote:Missing Austria?: http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns28241.html

Even if the team has not been financially secure this season, quitting at this point in the season would be a big surprise.

Admittedly, Fernandes has been axing Caterham's involvement in motorsport with considerable speed - the team axed their plans for Le Mans almost immediately, though that seems to be in part because of the collapse in talks with Renault (the intention seems to have been to race under the Caterham-Alpine partnership that has fallen apart). I would not be surprised if they close down their GP2 team as well - their results have been somewhat indifferent for several years now - if the Moto2 team is also under threat.
Still, I would have assumed that Fernandes would at least want to close out the season - if he can keep the team as a going concern, that would increase his chances of a successful sale (shutting the whole outfit down immediately would surely be a rather expensive way of winding the company down).

Furthermore, there is always a chance that Caterham could break into the top 10 in the WCC - they only need a single 12th place finish to overtake Sauber, a tough but potentially achievable result. After all, in a race of attrition you'd probably back Caterham over Sauber, as their reliability this season has been so dire and their drivers somewhat accident prone (four retirements for each driver - although Gutierrez was technically classified in Canada, he retired on lap 64 with a defective energy recovery system).
If the standings were Marussia-Caterham-Sauber, then both Marussia and Caterham would be eligible for Column 2 payments (having both finished in the top 10 twice in the past three years) - it'd be a big kick in the teeth for Sauber though, as finishing last in the WCC would probably leave the team in financial ruins.

[EDIT] It would appear that Fernandes has issued a short comment via Twitter stating that Caterham definitely will be present at the Austrian GP, seemingly putting to rest those claims.

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 27 Jun 2014, 13:11

Fernandes hints at Caterham sale, saying “F1 hasn’t worked”
http://motorsportstalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... nt-worked/

While I don't follow him on Twitter, if Tony tweeted that then deleted his account, that's.....ominous.

girry · Post by **girry** » 27 Jun 2014, 19:04

Buxton hints the possible buyer being a familiar name.

You know what, I've just had this thought in my mind that the mysterious buyer may very well be a certain someone with close contacts with Honda....who used to have his team in the same outfit.....really, it makes way too much sense - I must stop thinking about it....

Post by **mario** » 27 Jun 2014, 20:35

Wallio wrote:Fernandes hints at Caterham sale, saying “F1 hasn’t worked”
http://motorsportstalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... nt-worked/

While I don't follow him on Twitter, if Tony tweeted that then deleted his account, that's.....ominous.

Adam Cooper has posted on his blog that Caterham are already on the verge of being taken over, with a decision due to be made in the upcoming days over the new owner. http://adamcooperf1.com/2014/06/27/new- ... -for-exit/

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 28 Jun 2014, 22:19

For an important tweet, I'm surprised that nobody's taken a screenshot of it, but anyways, it's good to see the team being taken over as opposed to going the way of HRT. This whole scenario is all very bizarre, considering how many times the team has been linked to folding or taking over. I wonder if the team will be taken over mid-season like Midland was? It would make sense considering how Fernandes has basically fallen out of love for his team.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 30 Jun 2014, 09:15

$600 million?? What a waste of money. Scuderia Toro Rosso would only set you back $50-60 million.

Tony is a wheeler dealer, and I feel like the markup he's stuck on the team is somewhat prohibitive.

Post by **mario** » 30 Jun 2014, 17:02

Biscione wrote:$600 million?? What a waste of money. Scuderia Toro Rosso would only set you back $50-60 million.

Tony is a wheeler dealer, and I feel like the markup he's stuck on the team is somewhat prohibitive.

Can you provide a source for that rumoured price? I'd agree that a price tag of $600 million would be considerably more than the team is worth and is probably more money than Fernandes has put into the team over the entire course of its existence. For that sort of money, you could buy quite a few of the midfield teams - hell, for that sort of money you could probably buy a controlling share in a manufacturer team or even buy one of those teams outright.

Now, that price tag could be a little more realistic if it included other assets from the Caterham Group - if the deal was for Caterham Cars and for Caterham F1, then perhaps that valuation would make more sense. However, Autosport, who are reporting on the rumours, suggest that the deal, which they believe will go through by the British GP, would only involve the F1 team.

Post by **kevinbotz** » 30 Jun 2014, 17:30

mario wrote:
Biscione wrote:$600 million?? What a waste of money. Scuderia Toro Rosso would only set you back $50-60 million.

Tony is a wheeler dealer, and I feel like the markup he's stuck on the team is somewhat prohibitive.

Can you provide a source for that rumoured price? I'd agree that a price tag of $600 million would be considerably more than the team is worth and is probably more money than Fernandes has put into the team over the entire course of its existence. For that sort of money, you could buy quite a few of the midfield teams - hell, for that sort of money you could probably buy a controlling share in a manufacturer team or even buy one of those teams outright.

Now, that price tag could be a little more realistic if it included other assets from the Caterham Group - if the deal was for Caterham Cars and for Caterham F1, then perhaps that valuation would make more sense. However, Autosport, who are reporting on the rumours, suggest that the deal, which they believe will go through by the British GP, would only involve the F1 team.

A few months back, certain F1 news outlets reported on speculation that Fernandes was planning on divesting himself of all automotive related assets for 350 million GBP, which, presumably, was where the $600 million figure was derived from.

http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/17583 ... 50-million

As, at present, Fernandes appears to be willing to part with only his F1 outfit, rather than his entire automotive group, I'd expect the valuation for the sale to be considerably lower.

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 02 Jul 2014, 14:11

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a Kolles and Albers reject dream team. These are great days.

JJMonty · Post by **JJMonty** » 02 Jul 2014, 14:11

Confirmed.

http://www.caterhamf1.com/news/2014/cat ... -ownership

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 02 Jul 2014, 14:33

ALBERS????? :lol:

BigG80 · Post by **BigG80** » 02 Jul 2014, 14:46

Albers Dumbledore is going to have to work some serious magic if he intends to achieve his aim of 10th in this year's championship. Expect to see Kamui and Marcus shouting "Expelliarmus" everytime they get near a Sauber in the hope that the wheels fall off.

sw3ishida · Post by **sw3ishida** » 02 Jul 2014, 14:56

shinji wrote:Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a Kolles and Albers reject dream team. These are great days.

Huh. I bet nobody though Midland would be making a comeback 8 years later, but they sure showed us :lol:

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 02 Jul 2014, 15:50

GwilymJJames wrote:ALBERS?????

My reaction too. He's actually going to be the team principal if I read it correctly. Mind you, if decent drivers make crap team principles (Lauda, Prost, er, Fittipaldi?) perhaps a rejectful one could be onto something.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 02 Jul 2014, 15:53

Don't let Robert Doornbos close to Albers though, as far as I know, they can't stand each other. :lol:

But wow, Colin Kolles is back on track before his Forza Rossa project launches. Nice!

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 02 Jul 2014, 15:55

The question is this, will they be Catheram next year? Or that stupid Forza Rossa? Or Something else? Can we have another another Lotus vs. Loyus debacle? (Albers is supposed to drive the may or may not exist Lotus P1, isn't he?) Rejectdom abounds!

Post by **Miguel98** » 02 Jul 2014, 16:06

Wallio wrote:The question is this, will they be Catheram next year? Or that stupid Forza Rossa? Or Something else? Can we have another another Lotus vs. Loyus debacle? (Albers is supposed to drive the may or may not exist Lotus P1, isn't he?) Rejectdom abounds!

This has been speculated already, but maybe Kolles will fuse the Forza Rossa project with Catheram?

The Dutch Bear · Post by **The Dutch Bear** » 02 Jul 2014, 16:30

GwilymJJames wrote:ALBERS?????

Well, even in his active racing days Albers was more a business man than a race driver.
Racing was more of a hobby to him and a hobby he was rather good at.
I'm surprised as I didn't expect him to show up at Caterham, but I'm certainly not shocked as this isn't out of a character for Albers.

Post by **mario** » 02 Jul 2014, 17:18

Miguel98 wrote:
Wallio wrote:The question is this, will they be Catheram next year? Or that stupid Forza Rossa? Or Something else? Can we have another another Lotus vs. Loyus debacle? (Albers is supposed to drive the may or may not exist Lotus P1, isn't he?) Rejectdom abounds!

This has been speculated already, but maybe Kolles will fuse the Forza Rossa project with Catheram?

I was also curious as to how this would work out - Kolles is described as "advising" the investors buying Caterham F1, not leading them. It would be an interesting, and potentially somewhat dubious, situation if you had somebody like Kolles advising the management of one team and actively running a second team, but the comments so far seem to suggest that Caterham would continue as a separate outfit from Kolles's own team.

Post by **tommykl** » 02 Jul 2014, 18:20

mario wrote:
Miguel98 wrote:
Wallio wrote:The question is this, will they be Catheram next year? Or that stupid Forza Rossa? Or Something else? Can we have another another Lotus vs. Loyus debacle? (Albers is supposed to drive the may or may not exist Lotus P1, isn't he?) Rejectdom abounds!

This has been speculated already, but maybe Kolles will fuse the Forza Rossa project with Catheram?

I was also curious as to how this would work out - Kolles is described as "advising" the investors buying Caterham F1, not leading them. It would be an interesting, and potentially somewhat dubious, situation if you had somebody like Kolles advising the management of one team and actively running a second team, but the comments so far seem to suggest that Caterham would continue as a separate outfit from Kolles's own team.

As opposed to Toto Wolff who had his fingers in the proverbial Mercedes and Williams pies at once?

WeirdKerr · Post by **WeirdKerr** » 02 Jul 2014, 18:45

go home....

Post by **mario** » 02 Jul 2014, 18:52

mario wrote:
Miguel98 wrote:
Wallio wrote:The question is this, will they be Catheram next year? Or that stupid Forza Rossa? Or Something else? Can we have another another Lotus vs. Loyus debacle? (Albers is supposed to drive the may or may not exist Lotus P1, isn't he?) Rejectdom abounds!

This has been speculated already, but maybe Kolles will fuse the Forza Rossa project with Catheram?

I was also curious as to how this would work out - Kolles is described as "advising" the investors buying Caterham F1, not leading them. It would be an interesting, and potentially somewhat dubious, situation if you had somebody like Kolles advising the management of one team and actively running a second team, but the comments so far seem to suggest that Caterham would continue as a separate outfit from Kolles's own team.

tommykl wrote:As opposed to Toto Wolff who had his fingers in the proverbial Mercedes and Williams pies at once?

Toto Wolff is in a somewhat different situation to Kolles though - whilst the thought had crossed my mind, I don't think that the situation is necessarily comparable.

Wolff has come to an agreement with Williams that means he is a passive investor in the team, which means he plays no part at all in the day to day running of the team - in fact, he has already sold off part of his stake in Williams and may be preparing to sell the whole lot. Kolles, by contrast, would be in a position where he could potentially involve himself in the day to day operations of two different teams, which is a much more involved role than Wolff had.

W12 · Post by **W12** » 02 Jul 2014, 23:57

Seriously

Go home, Christijan Albers! Ditto for Kolles

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 03 Jul 2014, 04:27

In before Albers replaces Ericsson from the Hockenheim Grand Prix onwards.
Abiteboul for TP at Ferrari? Mattiacci was always going to be a temporary solution, right?

It'll be great to see Kolles and Wolff in the paddock. Sparks will surely fly high when they clash for the first time.
I'm hoping for a fun press conference where the pair is seated next to each other

Remember, it is less than a year ago we got this wonderful news;
http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ex-fo ... ail-wolff/

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 03 Jul 2014, 06:43

Either way Caterham just got a hell of a lot more interesting

Post by **Londoner** » 03 Jul 2014, 09:35

https://twitter.com/CoddersF1/status/484571061003223040

Oh God no.

Post by **Ataxia** » 03 Jul 2014, 09:44

As expected, Cyril Abiteboul's returned to Renault.

Yannick · Post by **Yannick** » 03 Jul 2014, 12:34

Too bad Cyril "A Bit Of Bull" Abiteboul is out of the picture at Caterham now. His official statements always scored refreshingly low on the Publicocrapometer. That was almost the only refreshing thing left in F1. Now, let me get on to other things.

takagi_for_the_win · Post by **takagi_for_the_win** » 03 Jul 2014, 13:32

East Londoner wrote:https://twitter.com/CoddersF1/status/484571061003223040

Oh God no.

Woo, Dany Bahahahahahahahahahahabaha could be back in the house

You can never have too many nutjobs in F1.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 03 Jul 2014, 14:07

'This is the End, Beautiful Caterham
Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain'

Kolles is Romanian!
http://youtu.be/JSUIQgEVDM4?t=57s

chrismcn · Post by **chrismcn** » 03 Jul 2014, 15:48

Hi chums I'm not round these parts very often but todays news has drawn me like a moth to a flame or like a reject to a DNF if you prefer.

For me the big news has to be Manfredi Ravetto and not just because of his straight talking at HRT. "What Dallara delivered was a total mess," Dr Ravetto told the Dutch publication Formule 1 Race Report. "They built a formula one car with quality that you no longer see in Formula 3," he said, adding that Dallara cut corners by using cheap and low quality parts. Come on Man'i is the Caterham a total dog or what.

I think questions need to be raised over Tony Fernandes expectations and handling of the team. He is no doubt a successful business person but for me his questioning over the teams performance at the launch of this years car indicate a total lack of understanding of the basic principals of racing. Namely bitching and sniping about you're closest rivals while sucking up to the big teams in the misguided belief that they'll see you right at some later date. Albers, Ravetto and Kolles to form a misanthropic bunker of paranoid suspicion by the end of the season. The true values of racing.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 03 Jul 2014, 16:45

takagi_for_the_win wrote:You can never have too many nutjobs in F1.

In fact, to take the takagi win blokes statement a step further I'd argue that F1 currently is in dire need for more nutjobs.

Bring back Prince Malik Ado Ibrahim!

David AGS · Post by **David AGS** » 04 Jul 2014, 09:54

Surely Karthikeyan will be racing for Caterham (if the name still stays the same!) in Germany!

Wouldnt that be great!!!