Caterham is hardly the most stable and successful team on the Formula One grid, but things are looking even more troubling for the embattled outfit, as the company that makes its racecars has reportedly filed for bankruptcy protection.
The company in question, Caterham Sports Limited, is separate from both the team that races its cars and the consumer automaker of the same name, an outfit best known for continuation versions of the classic Lotus Seven. Tony Fernandes, the Malaysian executive who first started the F1 team, then bought the automaker and thereafter sold the team to a consortium of investors a few months ago. But unlike other teams which produce their own chassis in-house, the Caterham team that fields the cars (incorporated as 1 Malaysia Racing Team) is a separate entity from the factory that makes them. It's that factory which has fallen into financial trouble.
In the short term, Caterham Sports Limited (CSL) has reportedly transferred the contracts of its 200 employees to 1MRT, but if the factory is liquidated, they won't have the facility or the equipment to operate. 1MRT insists that it remains unaffected by CSL's bankruptcy administration, but if the factory falters, the team likely won't have cars to race next season.
This is just the latest episode in a string of problems affecting the team, which recently changed leadership again after only a couple of months of independence. In five years on the grid now, the team has yet to score a single championship point (let alone a podium finish or race win) and currently sits dead last in the standings. It's only managed to get both of its cars to the finish line at seven of the sixteen grands prix so far this season.
The company in question, Caterham Sports Limited, is separate from both the team that races its cars and the consumer automaker of the same name, an outfit best known for continuation versions of the classic Lotus Seven. Tony Fernandes, the Malaysian executive who first started the F1 team, then bought the automaker and thereafter sold the team to a consortium of investors a few months ago. But unlike other teams which produce their own chassis in-house, the Caterham team that fields the cars (incorporated as 1 Malaysia Racing Team) is a separate entity from the factory that makes them. It's that factory which has fallen into financial trouble.
In the short term, Caterham Sports Limited (CSL) has reportedly transferred the contracts of its 200 employees to 1MRT, but if the factory is liquidated, they won't have the facility or the equipment to operate. 1MRT insists that it remains unaffected by CSL's bankruptcy administration, but if the factory falters, the team likely won't have cars to race next season.
This is just the latest episode in a string of problems affecting the team, which recently changed leadership again after only a couple of months of independence. In five years on the grid now, the team has yet to score a single championship point (let alone a podium finish or race win) and currently sits dead last in the standings. It's only managed to get both of its cars to the finish line at seven of the sixteen grands prix so far this season.
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