Yes. Tony Fernandes bought an ailing airline company called Pelangi for 1 dollar, with 2 aging planes, and 250 million dollars in debt. He overturn everything and i think broke even within 2 years. Today, Air Asia is very successful, and i think they are the biggest buyers of Airbus A320s. He tried the same in F1 and also in football, but like i pointed out earlier, it's not the same. Latest rumours here are that he's looking to sell off QPR and focus on his hotel business instead.
I used to have huge respect for Tony for trying. I have a lot less respect for him after seeing how Caterham was neglected this year - I can't respect a business (owner) who simply doesn't pay bills or staff or honour their basic obligations, especially when they have money available. The same applies to Genie (Team Enfield, aka "Lotus"), and to Vijay Mallya and Sahara over at Force India. (By that same qualifier "if they have money available", I give Sauber a pass for their current struggles).
+1 Seems he left them in a complete mess. Further, it seems these mysterious 'investors' aren't putting the promised money in either. Very odd to say the least..... Why buy something (if they did?) only to then not fund it? Makes no sense. Unless, as has been rumored, Bernie is actually paying whatever bills need paying to keep them on track? Sad regardless, Ian
That lunatic Mosley chased off out of F1 realistic folk like Dave Richards, in 2010 he more or less had a car sorted, however, all the new entries were given to teams that used Cosworth engines, whilst Richards Prodrive already had an agreement to use Mercedes engines, personality clash again IMO. The repercussions of this sort of nonsense are still felt in F1 today IMO.
Accelerated it to the point it nearly brought F1 to it's knee's, hence the breakaway series threat. How they put up with him for as long as they did, is mind boggling to me, everyone saw through him for what he is, it was a farce.
LOL Yummy, with a side order of French haddock, in a wet bathing costume. And no l'am not talking about my other half's apple crumble making skills ...
It doesn't really matter to me if Caterham closes its doors at the end of the year. The team won't be much missed anyway. Same for Marussia, now that Bianchi is out of action. In any case we will have Forza Rossa joining next year, and Haas in 2016. I am wondering if Sauber will still be there.
Caterham goes into administration - Pitpass.com Details--- Caterham Sports, which builds the cars for the Caterham F1 team, has gone into administration. Caterham Sports (CSL), which is based at Leafield, designs and builds the cars for the Caterham F1 team under licence from the 1 Malaysia Racing Team (1MRT). 1MRT is a Malaysian company which owns Caterham Sports and provides it with management fees to run the F1 team. In turn 1MRT gets income from prize money and the team's sponsors including technology firms Dell and Intel. It is the F1 team that was bought in the summer by a Swiss/Middle East consortium of which little is known. The administrator, London-based Smith Williamson, is in talks with 1MRT about continuing the relationship between Caterham Sports and the F1 team, a relationship on which hundreds of jobs are dependent. It is said the company owes between £12m - £15m to suppliers, hence a visit by the bailiffs earlier this month to seize various equipment including a test car (2013), F1 car parts, F1 simulator, Caterham F1 steering wheels, F1 wheels with tyres, high quality drilling & machining equipment, Caterham & Lotus F1 memorabilia, various pit lane equipment including jacks, pumps and starters, TVs, monitors and other goods and equipment. According to Business Sale.com, CSL director Constantin Cojocar applied for an insolvency procedure for the company via a court order. In the court paperwork he reveals he has not received the £2 million a week he had expected from backers which he was planning to use to pay off creditors, and was consequently forced to choose insolvency. Possible buyers for CSL, who are in conversation with Smith Williamson, include (team boss) Manfredi Ravetto, 1MRT and current 1MRT director Michael Willmer.
Here's another one for DF1 to effectively repost tomorrow ! Administrator unwilling to release cars without agreement ie money Struggling Caterham in race to send cars to Austin > F1 News > Grandprix.com
"A day late & a dollar short?"...... He does seem particularly guilty of falling foul of the repost police! Cheers, Ian
Im not losing sleep lol! Sorry about that didnt see that link when I was touring the thread before posting. If that is the worst mistake I have here life will be very good indeed!
Administrator lays claim to Caterham cars Administrator lays claim to Caterham cars | Planet F1 | Formula One | News, Standings, Results, Features, Video There is no end in sight for Caterham's woes with an administrator saying he won't allow the team's cars to leave the factory until "an acceptable agreement" is reached.
Holey-moley!...... That's generally the kind of dirty laundry that doesn't go public!...... Wow! Guess Bernie's not involved after all. Cheers, Ian
Yep. Don't forget HRT or Super Best Friends more recently........ However, F1 is *littered* with 'failed' teams. Nature of the beast I believe. It's damn *hard*, but seems there's always someone else waiting in the wings..... I have my doubts over 'Forza Rossa' next year, but reckon Haas will make it in 2016. As long as some of the others (Sauber, Fauxtus, FI) can hang on, it'll all be good...... Cheers, Ian
As a business person, seeing a release such as this is a move by the buyer to exercise the option of last resort. The buyer has good money invested and a press release such as this does not come about unless the buyer feels that he has no other alternative. Buyers don't want to do this, because it impairs the value of the money they have already invested--they don't want to hurt themselves. But, they have been backed into a corner and feel they have no choice but to put Fernandez's actions on display in hopes that he comes to the table and acts like an adult.
Very interesting! Thanks for the comments! Seems they're also saying Fernandez should be 'on the wall' in Austin too..... How much would working there suck right now? Good luck to all employees, Ian
Of course there's more to it than we read. Funding a team you don't own? Either they're fools or.... Can't think of an either.
