Full name | Caterham F1 Team |
---|---|
Base |
Leafield Technical Centre Leafield, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom |
Founder(s) | Tony Fernandes |
Noted drivers |
Marcus Ericsson Giedo van der Garde Kamui Kobayashi Heikki Kovalainen Vitaly Petrov Charles Pic |
Previous name | Lotus Racing/Team Lotus |
Formula One World Championship career | |
First entry | 2012 Australian Grand Prix |
Races entered | 56 |
Engines | Renault |
Constructors' Championships |
0 (Best Finish: 10th in 2012) |
Drivers' Championships |
0 (Best Finish: 19th by Petrov in 2012 and Ericsson in 2014) |
Race victories | 0 |
Podiums | 0 |
Points | 0 |
Pole positions | 0 |
Fastest laps | 0 |
Final entry | 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix |
The Caterham F1 Team was a Malaysian, later British, owned Formula One team based in the United Kingdom which raced under a Malaysian licence. The Caterham brand had 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.
In July 2014, Tony Fernandes and his partners announced that they had sold the team to a consortium of Swiss and Middle Eastern investors. The "Caterham" name was later used under licence after the Caterham Group separation.
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. 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, and by March of the same year, the team's assets were put up for auction, spelling the official demise of the team.
Fernandes's team originally entered Formula One in 2010 as Lotus Racing, using the Lotus name under licence from Group Lotus. 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. Permission was granted before being formally ratified at a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council. The team finished 10th in the Constructors' Championship in 2011, with three 13th-place finishes (two from Trulli, one from Kovalainen).