CaterhamF1 2012

[RicME85]

Really? After everything that has been ploughed into QPR this summer? Its not like they can recover what has been spent on players through gate receipts as their ground is so small. I think TF is in it for the long haul, he seems a genuine guy who is passionate about the brands he owns.

[NathanOlder]

Really? After everything that has been ploughed into QPR this summer? Its not like they can recover what has been spent on players through gate receipts as their ground is so small. I think TF is in it for the long haul, he seems a genuine guy who is passionate about the brands he owns.

Yeah I agree with this, F1 & Football are not currently sports to get involved in to make money short term. Especially starting with teams so small like Caterham & QPR. The only way I see him making money from these 2 is by ploughing heavy investment into both to get them into the top half of the top tiers of each sport. QPR into top 10 in the Premier league. Caterham into the top 6 in Formula 1.

[FoxHound]

Oddly I see that EADS is 25% owned by Daimler, who in turn own the Mercedes AMG outfit.

[bill shoe]

Singapore just ended and Glock scored a 12th place for Marussia. An unremarkable finish, except that it's higher than Caterham's highest finish. Marussia is now leading Caterham in the constructor's standings, with low probability of Caterham getting back in front this year.

If you look at the three younger teams in terms of budget, infatructure, driver quality, and stability, then Caterham is clearly the underperformer of the group. I think Caterham is delivering the least bang for the buck of any team on the grid.

[CHT]

Singapore just ended and Glock scored a 12th place for Marussia. An unremarkable finish, except that it's higher than Caterham's highest finish. Marussia is now leading Caterham in the constructor's standings, with low probability of Caterham getting back in front this year.

If you look at the three younger teams in terms of budget, infatructure, driver quality, and stability, then Caterham is clearly the underperformer of the group. I think Caterham is delivering the least bang for the buck of any team on the grid.

Noticed their standing on the constructor too. If Caterham lose the 10th place, its going to cost them a lot. perhaps 50% or more of more of their budget for 2013.

[nacho]

I think it was purely bad luck, their strategy didn't fit the safety cars, Heikki was ahead of Glock for most of the race.

[ESPImperium]

There are 3 reasons for me that Caterham arnt doing as well;

Reason 1] They have just moved into Leafeld and that has taken alot of budget and time away from developing the CT01. It has taken as many as 20-30 guys off the project ion order to get Leafeld up to standard and also taken as much as €25m out of the budget as well. Marussia did their move last year duriung the fly aways, HRT did it this year during the fly aways. Caterham should have stayed at Hingham till now and then have the CT01s leave Hingham for the last time then to return to Leafeald in December after Brazil. However the design guys should have moved out Hingham at the start of the summer shut down and then came back after to Leafeald.

Reason 2] KERS - They have decided to run this expence and luxuary a year too early in my oppinion. Id much rather seen the CT01 developed as a whole over spending €5m on the Red Bull KERS. They have ran some of their best races carrying the 35kg of KERS without the benifit of it due to KERS failures. In my opinion Red Bull should also be using Caterham to better their KERS by giving them the present spec Red Bull KERS in order to give them better feedback. Last years Red Bull KERS had a whack or failures, whitch is the KERS that Caterham are running.

Reason 3] Luck, both KOV and PET have been in good fights with the STRs earlier in the season only to loose out due to being lapped at the wrong time or the tires going slightly too early.

But with those 3 concidered, i must not take anything away from Marussia, they have made good steady incremental gains from what was really a poor baseline with no testing on the MR01. With the relyable Williams/Cosworth KERS next year marussia are making a slow but steady gain on the STRs. The Williams/Cosworth KERS is the same as what Williams ran in 2011, however with a much streamlined ECU connectivity and the 2012 Williams battery. This will give them a great lap time gain, and with Pat Symmonds suspension coming to an end on April 1st (Yes April Fools Day) he will most probably asume the TD role at Marussia and increase the rate of development in the team, as he cant do so under Technichal Consultancy rules. Marussia are the threat now for the STRs as Caterham have lost a couple tenths in the past few weeks.

However the 3 smaller teams in 2013 will all have a much better base and resource to come from. Caterham will havbe the best with their facility, manpower and partnerships. Marussia have got the next best, but will have essencially to make sure thay can keep building. However HRT for 2013 will have the same KERS as Caterham, the rumor is they will have a Williams designed and built Simulator as well, as HRT have spent a massive ammount getting the Majica up and running with a good CFD and Simulator and wellness suite, with a good design team. HRT with a good hot shoe and PdlR could be a little dark horse for how far they will leap in 2013.

However i think it is fair to say that all 3 teams are looking at 2014 with baited breath as all will make a larger step then, engines being equal and all. Whitch in 2014 i expect Cosworth gone and HRT to pick up Itialian Prancing Horses and Marussia to take a 3 Pointed Star as their power plant.

[Petroltorque]

The problem for any team but especially the newer entries is getting the platform right. Base level performance will derive more from weight saving, optimal weight distribution and optimised setup adjustment in suspension to keep tyres in their temperature window.
KERS is now an essential part of the chassis, a modern unit with all ancillaries weighs only 20kg.
Aerodynamics remains a dark art, with no guarantee that updates will bring improvements In the past 25 years there really have only been 2 masters of it in Newey and Coughlan. Throwing all resource at an aero program is a gamble for the junior teams if they are lacking resource and expertise.

[Pierce89]

...to respectfully disagree; ...from the 2007 Super Aguri archives:

"...at the Canadian Grand Prix, the team scored its highest finish to that date, with Takuma Sato finishing 6th and garnering 3 points, passing defending world champion Fernando Alonso on track en route. ITV commentators mention that had it not been for a botched pit stop, Sato may have finished as high as fourth. Sato had been running 5th at the time of the pit stop. Sato's Aguri also finished ahead of the works Honda team...."

And this from a team in bancruptcy. I would also add M Shum had to outdrive his Jordan only once to be noticed by Benneton. Vetttel also consistently delivered more than his Torro Rosso would suggest. F1 history is rife wth such success stories.

As for Heik....he never equaled nor bested his partners at Mclaren...was released and signed with a back marker. "Solid" yes, more than that i doubt.

The 07 Super Aguri was a decent ride. IIRC As the 06 Honda with Button it scored the most points over the last 5 of 06 races than any other driver. Oh and it IS IMPOSSIBLE to drive a car faster than its capable of.

[grano123]

There are 3 reasons for me that Caterham arnt doing as well;

Reason 1] They have just moved into Leafeld and that has taken alot of budget and time away from developing the CT01. It has taken as many as 20-30 guys off the project ion order to get Leafeld up to standard and also taken as much as €25m out of the budget as well.

Are you sure about that figure? It seems a very expensive property then!......

[CHT]

There are 3 reasons for me that Caterham arnt doing as well;

Reason 1] They have just moved into Leafeld and that has taken alot of budget and time away from developing the CT01. It has taken as many as 20-30 guys off the project ion order to get Leafeld up to standard and also taken as much as €25m out of the budget as well.

Are you sure about that figure? It seems a very expensive property then!......

I wont be surprise because for businessmen like Tony because property will last a life time, and it can easily be flip for a profit in a few years time But for F1 team, you might not even see the light at the end of the tunnel with 25m.

[CHT]

with Caterham losing 10th place in constructor and QPR stuck at the bottom of the league table, let see how long can Tony continue with that poker face.

[ESPImperium]

There are 3 reasons for me that Caterham arnt doing as well;

Reason 1] They have just moved into Leafeld and that has taken alot of budget and time away from developing the CT01. It has taken as many as 20-30 guys off the project ion order to get Leafeld up to standard and also taken as much as €25m out of the budget as well.

Are you sure about that figure? It seems a very expensive property then!...... :o

I wont be surprise because for businessmen like Tony because property will last a life time, and it can easily be flip for a profit in a few years time But for F1 team, you might not even see the light at the end of the tunnel with 25m.

The property itself is only about €5m of that, its the fitting out of the place with the correct tooling and equipment, not to mention modifications that will be needed to the property in order for the Caterham F1 Team and Caterham Racing to operate out of as well. The Leafeald factory was stripped when Super Aguri left. The good thing was it was a blank canvass.

CHT ir right, property can be flipped for profit or rented out to keep an income. In F1, you can just about buy a Tunnel for €25m, that will probably not see profit from at the end of the day.

Remember that Caterham Cars will be moving into Leafeald as well, so Caterham F1 may have lent the money to Caterham Cars in order to make the books look better for the F1 team. But that is just a supposition without actually seeing the books for evedence of this.

Caterham F1 Team is clearly a company with value now, something that Marussia and HRT had at least 6 months before Caterham in that respect. However all 3 teams are lacking something that takes a period of time in F1 to build and thats a heritage and a linage in the sport, this is something that takes about a decade to build up. Toyotas pull out left a heritage and linage black hole in F1 that was felt widely in the sport. If Tony is true to his word, he has to stay with Caterham till at least 2018/2020 at the earliest, and at present i have no doubts he will be true to his word for Caterham as a F1 and GP2 entity as well as a Car and Technology company as well. As for his football team, there is more doubts there. Ill put it this way, Tony Fernandes is a better business man in my opinion than his contemporary at Force India.

[Trailer23]

I'm impressed to see that Caterham was able to get EADS-airbus as one of their sponsors.

Tony Fernandes is no stranger to airbus considering his entire AirAsia fleet consists of airbus with an addition of 200 of the a320NEO on order.

[Lurk]

his entire AirAsia fleet consists of airbus

entire fleet on the same manifacturer? Damn... If true, they really like taking risks.