It was in 2009 when Malaysian entrepreneur ace Tony Fernandes revealed he was stepping in the world of Formula One by bringing back the iconic “Lotus” name into the pinnacle of motorsports. It was to be, as he claimed “An F1 team by Malaysians, for Malaysians.” The new team racing under the “Lotus Racing” banner first raced in F1 in 2010 along with two other new teams. By the end of the 2010 season, Lotus Racing emerged as the best team among the new teams, and the future seemed to be bright for the Anglo-Malaysian team.
Fast-forward to 2014, and now that F1 team in on the brink of destruction. How could this be possible?
Last year, the team was at eleventh and last in the constructor’s battle, losing millions in television money shared only for the top ten teams in F1. The new 2014 car was uncompetitive and the team continued to struggle. In June, Marussia finally defeated Caterham F1 by becoming the first team out of the new teams to score points in Monaco. Fernandes then had enough with his underperforming team by selling it to the Swiss-based Engavest SA consortium.
Despite the new ownership, all is not well when the team’s new boss, Christijan Albers, left the team after five races in-charge and was replaced by Manfredi Ravetto. Signs of financial problems arose when complaints of unpaid bills to suppliers emerged and bailiffs seized a number of items including a test car and simulator in Caterham F1’s HQ in Leafield.
Things went from bad to worse last week when there was a dispute on the team ownership. Engavest SA made a shocking statement claiming that Fernandes did not transfer the shares to them, which means the man behind the success of Air Asia is still technically the owner of the Caterham F1 team. It didn’t take long for Fernandes to retaliate, claiming that the new owners “failed to comply with any of the conditions in the agreement”.
The saga then took a new and dramatic twist when the team announced it is now being run by an administrator, Mr Finbarr O’Connell, for the remaining races of the season. With that, the factory in Leafield has been closed, meaning they can’t participate in the next two races in America and Brazil.
“This is a very cash-strapped team. I have been approached by people who are interested, so my immediate position is to further the negotiations with them as quickly as possible in order that somebody with proper financial backing can hopefully take over the team.” said O’Connell.
Apparently, as for now both Caterham and Marussia are set to miss the races in America and Brazil. The financially-struggling Marussia team has lost one of its drivers with Jules Bianchi’s horrific crash in Japan. On that note, the F1 race in America will drop to just 18 cars, the lowest number of starters since the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix.
[Source: Sky Sports F1]
