Caterham F1 Team 2013

[Richard]

Caterham F1 Team in 2013 ...

[RobS]

off the back of a dissapointing year, can the team progress and move forward at all? 10th was a lucky last minute affair this year, they were still no where near the williams/force india's/torro rosso's of the field.

[Huntresa]

off the back of a dissapointing year, can the team progress and move forward at all? 10th was a lucky last minute affair this year, they were still no where near the williams/force india's/torro rosso's of the field.

And you expected them to do that or wat? Maybe they can upgrade the car for next year with the new factory being done and all, or they just skip 2013 and foxus on 2014.

[RobS]

off the back of a dissapointing year, can the team progress and move forward at all? 10th was a lucky last minute affair this year, they were still no where near the williams/force india's/torro rosso's of the field.

And you expected them to do that or wat? Maybe they can upgrade the car for next year with the new factory being done and all, or they just skip 2013 and foxus on 2014.

I did expect them to comfortably finish ahead of Marussia, and i thought there was an outside chance of them scoring a point or two, if we featured a race with several retiree's etc.

As it turned out this was far from the case, even with KERS over Marussia they still struggled and were a dissapointment on the whole.

Like you say, new factory, new leadership and a fresh Winter for him to have an influence, we will see what happens next for Caterham.

[marcush.]

nono .Fernandes said at the beginning of this year :
We have underachieved tilll now ,the team knows we need to score points or at least be at points scoring competitiveness otherwise Mike would know he had failed ..or something along those lines.
According to that ,Caterham has lost another battle and Mike Gascoyne has to take his hat for not delivering the goods?
Mind you ..Caterhams package included REDBULLs complete gearbox +KERS package ...they got a lot of bright people (Illey ,Hinsen etc.)so what went wrong?

[RB7ate9]

Mind you ..Caterhams package included REDBULLs complete gearbox +KERS package ...they got a lot of bright people (Illey ,Hinsen etc.)so what went wrong?

It might just be that they still just haven't optimized every minute detail of a solid car. This, without sarcasm, is an absolute necessity for F1. Having a good engine, transmission, and KERS is just one component (albeit a massive expense) to the entire package. Caterham seems to have the base power, but they are still lagging in terms of aero developments. Perhaps their braking package isn't up to snuff? Maybe they aren't maximizing downforce? For all we know, they could still be just too damn heavy.

I had hope that, by now, Caterham would've at least gotten the basic priorities (power, grip, "add lightness") locked down and the management and technical structure of the team secured.

If I were Caterham, I'd put all my eggs into a single string of races (first round of flyaways, Europe leg, or final round of flyaways) or a few key races (Malaysia and Silverstone as "Home races") for their first point(s). Forget trying to get points EVERY race. Once they get the point(s), they would've solidified their place on the grid. With that strategy, too, they can focus more on 2014. They are on the back foot, already, in terms of development because of their limited resources compared to the top teams.

[CHT]

The biggest question I have for this team is why was Mike Gascoyne taken out from the F1 team? The reason given was he got promoted, but then again, why would Mike; someone who already made his millions with Toyota etc, would want to leave his role in F1 and take up a boring job in the office thinking of selling sports car. ok. not totally boring because he got the chance to sail to across the Atlantic ocean while the team was busy preparing racing in Brazil. After the race the only tweet from MG about winning 10th place in WCC was

"@tonyfernandes keep pushing boss. Congrats for Sunday. Got a few late nights of my own coming up"

Boss??

I am just wondering if this has got anything to do with the case between the team and Force India, or was there a fall out between MG and the directors at Caterham. Perhaps MG is just sitting around waiting for his contract to expires.

[Huntresa]

I thought they removed Mike cause he isnt that good and the result shows that, i mean at Toyota even the drivers said he wasnt that good and then Toyota later said that was true.

[Leendert82]

I heard that Caterham F1 team would be behind schedule for their 2013 car and it will not be ready for the Jerez pre-test but will only be ready at the Barcalone pre-test. (same would go for Williams)

[CHT]

Sporting director Steve Nielsen quits Caterham role
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104890

[Leendert82]

Sporting director Steve Nielsen quits Caterham role
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104890

What impact would this have for Caterham F1 tream, and does anybody know whether they have hired new staff for 2013 as they promised when moving to Leafield?

[CHT]

Sporting director Steve Nielsen quits Caterham role
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104890

What impact would this have for Caterham F1 tream, and does anybody know whether they have hired new staff for 2013 as they promised when moving to Leafield?

havent really hear much about caterham lately, except that new team boss Cyril is hoping for more cooperation among teams. Perhaps a sign that they really dont have the resources for 2014. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104936

However for Marussia, they should get a boost of having Pat Symonds around during the GP next year. I am expecting Marussia to make a major step forward.

[Leendert82]

Sporting director Steve Nielsen quits Caterham role
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104890

What impact would this have for Caterham F1 tream, and does anybody know whether they have hired new staff for 2013 as they promised when moving to Leafield?

havent really hear much about caterham lately, except that new team boss Cyril is hoping for more cooperation among teams. Perhaps a sign that they really dont have the resources for 2014. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104936

However for Marussia, they should get a boost of having Pat Symonds around during the GP next year. I am expecting Marussia to make a major step forward.

Marrussia will need to spend their pre-season testing first to optimize the KERS system which can give a boost of 3-5 tenths of a second. Caterham did that in 2012 and will be focussing on optimizing the car setup during the pre-season testing.

Indeed there is not allot of news with regards to Caterham and allot of quesions remain...
Did they hire new staff after the move to Leafield? (This was one of the reasons why they moved there)
Are they building their own windtunnel soon? Still using Williams F1 tunnel and partly a windtunnel in Italy
How is the sponsorship with AEDS helping in terms of CFD computer technoligy knowledge and power.

[sesku]

Indeed there is not allot of news with regards to Caterham and allot of quesions remain...
Did they hire new staff after the move to Leafield? (This was one of the reasons why they moved there)

I think I read somewhere that they increased the number of employee from around 200 at Norfolk to around 330 in Leafield but maybe I was wrong.

[Leendert82]

Indeed there is not allot of news with regards to Caterham and allot of quesions remain...
Did they hire new staff after the move to Leafield? (This was one of the reasons why they moved there)

I think I read somewhere that they increased the number of employee from around 200 at Norfolk to around 330 in Leafield but maybe I was wrong.

It would be nice to have a source as I dont hear / read much about Caterham these days