Last Friday was a day of big announcements from the Caterham F1 team, as the team's administrators announced the team's last ditch effort of crowd funding to support the team racing at this weekend's season finale Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was announced as successful, although the team also announced 230 of it's staff had also been made redundant at the same time.
The team's attempt at using crowd funding by donating money or selling off team memrobilia to secure the £2.3 million needed for the team to compete in Abu Dhabi proved successful, with the team just about making their target before the freight deadline for transporting the equipment to Abu Dhabi passed last Friday. The teams is an exciting one for the team, as it means the team are far more likely to be accepted into the 2015 F1 World Championship, should a buyer be found for the team.
On the driving front, plenty of drivers are being linked to the team to drive this weekend, with regular season driver Kamui Kobayashi announcing his intentions to drive for the team. With the other regular season driver Marcus Ericsson formally cutting ties with the team last week, it now appears the second seat is up for grabs. The father of Spanish racer Roberto Merhi claims they have a contract with the team that means Merhi will drive for them this weekend in the absence of Ericsson.
On the other hand British racer Alice Powell has contributed to the team and is hoping to have a Free Practice run this weekend also. One driver who can be counted out is the German Le Mans 24 Hours winner Andre Lotterer, who turned down the opportunity to drive for the team this weekend and add to his Belgian GP outing for the team. From here it seems nobody knows who will drive for the team this weekend, with it set to be announced later on in the week.
On a more serious note, Friday also saw the announcement 230 staff had been made redundant, after not being paid since the end of September. Team administrator Finbarr O'Connell claims however the staff asked for this outcome so they could begin the formal claims process. O'Connell explained "I'm not sure this is the bad news. This is what the employees as a group have been asking me to do, This is what they want because it brings them closer to receiving money and if you speak to any of the staff representatives, they will confirm to you that 14 November was the date that they gave me."
One ex-employee however, has accused the administrators of covering up bad news by announcing the redundancies on the same day as the announcement of their crowd funding being successful. From here the future seems very murky for the team, as they plan to continue racing this weekend with around 40 staff travelling to Abu Dhabi. O'Connell suggests however this weekend could be an important one for the team as he has a meeting lined up with a potential buyer for the team.
He states "I've got one really important meeting in Abu Dhabi with a seriously interested party and discussions with others are continuing, Everybody is doing their best to get to the main event, and that's find to someone who will take over and have it running again."
Whilst the future is uncertain for the Caterham team, I sincerely hope they can put on a good showing this weekend in Abu Dhabi, and can then find a potential buyer for the team so they can continue in F1 in 2015, which is what everyone on the team past or present deserves.
