CaterhamF1 2012

[beelsebob]

i think its because even though caterhams a new team they basically have inherited lotuses equipment meaning the car they have now is basically what lotuses new car would be like just under new ownership i think by the end of the year they will have definitely caught up with teams like torro rosso i think in time they will become like red bull always was an admirer of lotus but caterham seem to have brought more
sophistication into it

I'd tend to agree that they'll be up with the field by the end of the season, but I don't see them being the next red bull... I'm pretty confident they'll become a firm fixture in the mid field though.

[AlpineF1]

i think its because even though caterhams a new team they basically have inherited lotuses equipment meaning the car they have now is basically what lotuses new car would be like just under new ownership i think by the end of the year they will have definitely caught up with teams like torro rosso i think in time they will become like red bull always was an admirer of lotus but caterham seem to have brought more
sophistication into it

I'd tend to agree that they'll be up with the field by the end of the season, but I don't see them being the next red bull... I'm pretty confident they'll become a firm fixture in the mid field though.

yeah maybe the red bull bit was a bit too far fetched

[RB7ate9]

i think its because even though caterhams a new team they basically have inherited lotuses equipment meaning the car they have now is basically what lotuses new car would be like just under new ownership i think by the end of the year they will have definitely caught up with teams like torro rosso i think in time they will become like red bull always was an admirer of lotus but caterham seem to have brought more
sophistication into it

I think there's a bit of misunderstanding. I believe the OP was referring the Caterham as in, Tony-Fernandes'-Team-Lotus-Turned-Into-Caterham, as in the team that started in 2010. In 2010, they inherited no one's equipment and designed a car from scratch (Lotus hadn't been involved with F1 for several years before Team Lotus came along with the name). However, from 2010 to now, they've made great improvements (compared to HRT and Marussia) and with good personnel on their team, but haven't gotten to a consistent mix with the mid-field or gotten points.

I'm hoping - as stated previously - that Caterham is making steady steps to make a solid overall team (R&D group that can bring out drastic upgrades that they did for Silverstone, Race Mechanics and Strategies, etc) so that when the big jump happens in 2014 to the turbos, they won't have to worry about the condition of the rest of the departments and just focus on adapting to the new regulations. Perhaps not a RB-like thrashing win, but I can see a solid strategy call combined with steady race pace giving Caterham their first win.

[Slife]

Well if you look at Toyota F1 results their WDC's were (from 2002 to 2006): 10th, 8th, 8th, 4th, 6th.

Toyota when they entered were also a brand new team,but they got good funding from their parent company. Despite that they only managed mid field after a few years. So with that in mind and the fact that this year's midfield is really competitve Caterham aren't doing too bad.

[CHT]

Well if you look at Toyota F1 results their WDC's were (from 2002 to 2006): 10th, 8th, 8th, 4th, 6th.

Toyota when they entered were also a brand new team,but they got good funding from their parent company. Despite that they only managed mid field after a few years. So with that in mind and the fact that this year's midfield is really competitve Caterham aren't doing too bad.

of course you can look at them as being half empty or half full.

my view is that Tony F might have bitten off more than he can chew. From being a f1 sponsor, he bought F1 team, QPR football team and then Caterham. All these in a span of a few years.

[ESPImperium]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE3EZTiQXKE[/youtube]

Intresting tour of the new factory ion Leafeald.

Confirms to me that they have got a new Dell Super Computer that is arround 8 times larger than what they had at Hingham to what i was told.

Also 6 race bays!! Thats an upgrade from the 3 they had at Hingham. I belive 3 will be for the current race cars, 1 for their show car and the remaining two for the GP2 teams cars as they are moving to Leafeald as well i think.

This move will be worth it in the long term, i think this upgrade in facility will bring the team into the league where they want to be, the only thing that they need at Leafeald is a good wind tunnel. Whitch by the looks of things there is plenty of space to expand at Leafeald.

[Richard]

That site was previously the home of Super Augur and Arrows. http://goo.gl/maps/2nCqI

I see the Caterham car people are moving from Surrey to Norfolk. Not sure about that move because these small craft or low batch companies rely on an established local talent pool and supply chain built up over many years. However Norfolk is home to Lotus, so having Caterham in the same area does make some sense with regard to labour and the supply chain.

Anyway, Ginetta showed it is possible to successfully relocate.

The F1 and GP2 teams will be first in place in Leafield, and Caterham Cars will be moving its HQ to Leafield in due course. Caterham Composites will remain in Norfolk and CTI will retain its offices in Germany whilst expanding production into the Hingham site to join Caterham Composites at the base we have owned since '09.

http://www.caterhamf1.com/news/2012/the ... o-leafield

[RB7ate9]

All of that does look really promising. Everything looks like it's coming together, and a new home may be what the team needs.

I really hope Caterham does well. If anything, it doing well will be a good illustration for other people to consider if they want to start their own team or consider the costs necessary to have a fresh team. Also, if Caterham does well - hopefully scoring 1 point this year (perhaps crash-heavy Singapore?) and a solid mid-field fight in 2013 - then it encourages new entries into the F1 paddock.

I really REALLY hope Caterham does well, soon.

**Edited for false information**

[ESPImperium]

Im of the oppinion that it will take Caterham the rest of the year to get established in Leafeald. Id write off the rest of 2012 for them now, however they have one more update at Singapore, and i think this will be a good one from what ive been reading, another 7 tenths minimum. This update is more or less finalised and most of the parts will be in production in Hingham.

However this time will give Mark Smith and his team alot of good quality time to get a good quality car to the grid for 2013. Im giving Carterham about 8 to 12 months now before they finaly realise their potential and join the pack.

Id recon they are at the point where they are just about to break the glass roof and get into the elite teams and start to beat Toro Rosso. I think Caterham are about 12 month ahead of Marussia and 18 ahead of HRT, both of whitch are doing just fine at present. But one thing is for sure, all 3 now need bodies and brain power to make all F1 teams within about 2.5 seconds of each other on raw pace.

[CHT]

If Caterham is serious about challenging the mid field, then Tony Fernandez should pump in some serious money into the team instead of just hoping that some mid field teams to slip up.

in 2011, the teams were so optimistic about challenging mid field in 2012 with KERS, perhaps this is partly due to Williams extraordinary bad year in 2011, and now they are still where they were. And with the talk about continue to develop 2012 car into 2013, I honestly dont think this team is going anywhere.

[FoxHound]

@CHT

Would it not be prudent to give your team the best possible start during a new rule era? Going into 2013 with a stable platform, with a full 12 months data behind it, especially with these Pirelli gumballs in mind, is a distinct advantage initially.
Maybe they cannot extract the final tenth due to its older design. But if it means the design office has more departments focusing on 2014, they can then look forward to having a far more competitive year in 2014.

[sesku]

Caterham welcomes EADS as official partner.

http://www.caterhamf1.com/news/2012/ead ... al-partner

More on EADS - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EADS

That is very big company! What a catch for Tony Fernandes. Julio Cesar to QPR and now EADS to Caterham.

[CHT]

Caterham welcomes EADS as official partner.

http://www.caterhamf1.com/news/2012/ead ... al-partner

More on EADS - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EADS

That is very big company! What a catch for Tony Fernandes. Julio Cesar to QPR and now EADS to Caterham.

EADS and GE are all key suppliers for Tony's Airasia airline business. To me these are symbolic sponsorship rather than commercial sponsorship.

[ESPImperium]

If Caterham is serious about challenging the mid field, then Tony Fernandez should pump in some serious money into the team instead of just hoping that some mid field teams to slip up.

in 2011, the teams were so optimistic about challenging mid field in 2012 with KERS, perhaps this is partly due to Williams extraordinary bad year in 2011, and now they are still where they were. And with the talk about continue to develop 2012 car into 2013, I honestly dont think this team is going anywhere.

I think they were hoping for a poor williams this year, instead Williams improved exponentially to 2011s form. However they have a poor STR to compete with this year, who have just pumped 4 RBR guys into the design department to keep them in front of Caterham, and with the possibility of Key joining this will make them decent for 2013.

Caterham i think are looking to 2014 as FoxHound said. The Leafeild move i think was announced and done too late, they should have done it last year, like Marussia. However i think they waiting for Finance to do so, and i think the P10 last year that was worth a figure around €35m was enough to do so.

I think the short term goal is to keep ahead of Marussia and HRT but try and get on terms with STR with the longer term view to go to 2014 looking for the giant leap they want us to see and believe in.

[CHT]

If Caterham is serious about challenging the mid field, then Tony Fernandez should pump in some serious money into the team instead of just hoping that some mid field teams to slip up.

in 2011, the teams were so optimistic about challenging mid field in 2012 with KERS, perhaps this is partly due to Williams extraordinary bad year in 2011, and now they are still where they were. And with the talk about continue to develop 2012 car into 2013, I honestly dont think this team is going anywhere.

I think they were hoping for a poor williams this year, instead Williams improved exponentially to 2011s form. However they have a poor STR to compete with this year, who have just pumped 4 RBR guys into the design department to keep them in front of Caterham, and with the possibility of Key joining this will make them decent for 2013.

Caterham i think are looking to 2014 as FoxHound said. The Leafeild move i think was announced and done too late, they should have done it last year, like Marussia. However i think they waiting for Finance to do so, and i think the P10 last year that was worth a figure around €35m was enough to do so.

I think the short term goal is to keep ahead of Marussia and HRT but try and get on terms with STR with the longer term view to go to 2014 looking for the giant leap they want us to see and believe in.

Tony Fenendez is an opportunistic and skimpy businessmen and I believe this recent real estate investment in Leafield is part of the overall plan to repackage and wait to sell the team away at a profit.

Next year, Marussia will be running Williams' KERS, so retaining P10 for next year might not be easy. Without that 35m euro, Tony is going to have big problem.