'Caterham up for sale' 'Caterham up for sale' | Planet F1 | Formula One | News, Standings, Results, Features, Video If you want to own a Formula 1 team now is the time to get in there as Tony Fernandes is reportedly selling his Caterham outfit. The backmarker team, who have yet to score a single World Championship point and claimed the wooden spoon last season, is going for a reported 350 million pounds. According to The Edge Malaysia, an unnamed source has revealed that Fernandes is keen to find a buyer for his team. The Malaysian businessman has circulated an 'information memorandum' in the Middle East. However, it's not just the F1 team that is up for grabs as Fernandes is selling the entire operation, including the sportscar company.
I think thats been on the cards for a while now.... He didn't have the success he was expecting so is taking his ball and calling it quits it seems. Also, I believe (?) I heard his football team (QPR?) just got promoted back into the premier league - He could probably use the money to support that effort rather than a back marker F1 team. If Haas is smart, he should buy them IMO - Much, much easier to start with an existing operation than this "do it from scratch in the States" nonsense. Cheers, Ian
Why would Haas need to spend £350 millions to buy Caterham just to have a base in Europe? That doesn't make sense to me. Caterham doesn't have huge technical facilities, nor a specially good design team, etc... All it has is a FIA licence to enter F1, and a share of the F1 profit if it scores points (which it has never done!). There is also a kit car company that has nothing to do with F1, although it seems profitable in its own right. That seems a lot of money for Gene Haas to have a foothold in Europe. I am sure he can build that himself from scratch without a sweat., and a lot cheaper than £350 millions!! From what I read, he is a successful entrepreneur who knows a thing or two about management, building a company, recruiting essential staff, and so on...
It seems that Tony Fernandes wants to recoup in one go all the money he has spent on Team Lotus/Caterham since he joined F1. There is no way that team is worth that kind of money, although I understand that an entry pass to the F1 club costs about £50 millions alone now. Investing in the Enstone/Genii/Lotus team seems more attractive, albeit probably more expensive. That should be for sale soon.
Possibly Brawn could buy this and turn it into a money making machine. OR KIA, Hyundai, Mahindra & Mahindra or Tata Motors should swoop this up if they truly want to be world players. Did Caterham or Marussia score the point ?
Why would they want to do that? World players like Ford, BMW and Toyoya have left F1. Serious car manufacturers like Volkswagen or GM don't want to touch it. Why should companies with no experience of motor racing, let alone F1 invest in a sport where they have no chance to be successful? It's hard enough for Ferrari, McLaren or Renault these days, and they have decades of experience.
Just to get their name out "cheap". I can immagine Bernie has cut deals with the backmarkers to fill the grid point or no points.
I believe it was so late in the race that the rule is you get 5 seconds added after the flag - ergo, no effect on the final positions. Poor guy had already done one stop & go for lining up in the wrong spot on the grid after The Rev failed to do the formation lap. Cheers, Ian
Buying a "no-hoper" team for £350 millions just to put your name at the back of the grid doesn't look cheap to me. What it would do for KIA and the others you named, I don't know, but I am sure you can certainly get a lot of exposure with media advertising for that kind of money.
I have loads of respect for Tony. Met him a while ago, and currently i'm working on a project with his main company, Air Asia. However, from the start, i think F1 is a very very tricky, and also dangerous place to throw money at. It's competitive, and i think for someone like him, investing in football is better. With him so called packing in now, I can't say i'm surprised.
Tony is very respected person in the eyes of GE and Airbus. Couple of weeks ago, when Barack Obama was in town, he met Tony to discuss new engine deal with GE. Also, Tony is the biggest customer for Airbus A300. One costs about 23 million dollars. He has about 70 i think in his fleet..
The 5 second penalty on Bianchi did make a difference, that's what bumped him from finishing 8th to being relegated to 9th, since Grosjean was within 5 seconds of Bianchi on the line. It was TWO points for Marussia in 9th, 1 point for Magnussen in 10th.
Those priceless points by Bianchi are going to lower the asking price for Catherham I'm afraid. And with the news that Jordan is recommending Peter Sauber to sell his team that will be even cheaper: two F1 teams for sale? A lot of offer with low demand.
And, on and off, Mateschitz has also been trying to offload Toro Rosso for years. But there are too many strings attached there ...
