Chapter 2: The Caterham Story
Caterham were originally set up in 2009 by Tony Fernandes, and were then called Team Lotus. They made their debut in 2010 with Hispania and Virgin, all three teams being powered by Cosworth, and they had signed McLaren race winner Heikki Kovalinen (pictured above in Montreal) and Monaco Grand Prix winner Jarno Truili. The program was started quite late on but the team impressed by being the best of the three new teams. The car, the T127 looked incredibly boxy but was reliable and fast enough to beat its rivals from Hispania and Virgin. The experienced line up helped the team finish in 10th place that season and they showed real signs of progress as the season went on and they headed into 2011 feeling very optimistic
In 2011 things started to get tougher. The T128 was now powered by Renault engines, and despite a novel twin airbox design, the car, which they hoped would allow them to regularly challenge for points, failed to give them the leap forward that they had hoped for. The team however did remain best of the 'newcomers' and finished tenth for the second year in a row. However the breakthrough points finish never came, Kovalinen and Truili struggling to get the car into the top ten. The cars pace had improved slightly however and they were comfortably ahead of HRT and Virigin.
The team had kept its experienced driver line up, however Jarno Truli (pictured above at Spa) was dropped at the end of the season after the team realized they could only afford to keep on one 'star' driver. For the 2012 season, Truli was replaced by Vitay Petrov but Kovalinen was retained. The team hoped that 2012 would yield there first points in Formula 1, and after a legal battle over the rights to the Lotus name (which eventually went to the team now called Lotus, the former Renault team), Lotus entered the 2012 season with a new identity...Caterham.
Despite high hopes for the new season and a promising winters testing, the midfield still remained an elusive target. The car was not the easiest to drive, highlighted by the photo above of Kovalinen on full opposite lock in Albert Park. Kovalinen did manage to get the car into Q2 at both the Bahrain and European Grand Prix's, but from Europe onwards the teams pace fell away, and the re branded Marussia team made strides forward. Timo Glock finished the Singapore Grand Prix in 12th place for Marussia, putting the team ahead of Caterham in the constructors championship. Caterham did finish ahead of Marissia in the end, but only after Petrov passed the Maurssia of Charles Pic six laps from the end of the season finale in Brazil for 12th place. The CT01 had been another disappointing car, and with the team now starting to struggle even more for money, 2013 needed to be good.
2013 brought up a completely different line up for the team, with Caterham electing GP2 graduate Giedo Van Der Garde and former Marussia driver Charles Pic as its drivers (the pair are pictured above in Montreal. The car, the CT03, was in effect just an updated CT01, as the team decided to introduce a big updgrade later on in the year. However, with Marussia making ground, and new signing for Marussia Jules Bianchi scoring a vital 13th place for the team in Malaysia, Caterham had to change their plan. Once they upgraded the CT03 they were able to outpace Marussia but, with that 13th place, Marussia had secured 10th spot in the constructors championship for the first time. With HRT's collapse at the end of 2012, Caterham now had gone from best of the new boys to propping up the constructors championship. As 2014 dawned Tony Fernandes warned that if performance did not increase, he would sell the team. Sadly for Caterham, he kept good his promise...
With the dawn of Formula 1's new hybrid turbo era, the team had again signed up a completely new driver line up with Marcus Ericsson (pictured above in Melbourne) and Kaumi Kobyashi driving for them, with Andre Lotterer making an appearance at Spa. The teams radically shaped CT05 however was once again off the pace and the team had been sold by Silverstone to a Swiss-Middle East consortium lead by Colin Kolles. They soldiered on until the Russian Grand Prix, entering administration soon after the race. They made a remarkable crowd funded comeback for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Kobyashi and Will Stevens driving for the team that weekend, but that was the last time Caterham were seen on the grid. At the time of writing the teams assets were all being sold off and with them not being named on the entry list, it marked the official demise of Caterham. They had promised so much in the Lotus days but ended with no points like HRT. Their demise, along with Marussias (before they were revived for 2015 as Manor Marussia) made Formula 1 realise that financially it was in big trouble. The first sign had been the collapse of HRT. Now there was no covering up its issues.
Caterham F1 2010-2014
Tomorrow is the final chapter in this three part feature of F1's 2010 hopefuls...the story of Manor Marussia, a story that is still going thanks to one hell of a revival.
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