The Caterham Thread

[Henrique]

Now I feel sorry for the crowd funding guys.

[f1andrea]

I only hope that this is the move of desperation and not the word end of this story...anyway, very sad news

[AndreaModa]

Ultimately inevitable though. The administrators conducted themselves in totally the wrong way. Finbarr O'Connell was a liability and the team was a complete mess - any potential buyer would have had to resolve a whole host of problems aside from the money and actually competing with a chassis. Far less attractive than Marussia. And sadly the whole mess can be solely placed at Fernandes' door.

[Rob Dylan]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117602

Quite a surprising turn of events seeing as it's now Marussia that seems the one confident of getting to Melbourne.

[f1andrea]

"The team is still for sale," he told BBC Radio Oxford. "I've had meetings with two parties today. They're not advanced enough for my liking.

"But the next person believes they're going to convince me they've got the wherewithal to buy the team."

More than 200 staff at the team's Leafield factory in Oxfordshire were made redundant after entering administration.

Administrator Finbarr O'Connell hopes to find an interested buyer for Caterham before the new season

Mr O'Connell admitted time is "incredibly short" for Caterham to make the starting grid for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on 15 March.

"I'm not going to set a deadline as I want to get it sold," Mr O'Connell said. "If they can get it done in enough time to satisfy the organisers of the championship, then that's good enough for me."

"I'm not going to say there's an absolute deadline on being able to make the first race.

"Teams can miss two races and I'm keeping the 'for sale' signs up for as long as there are interested parties out there."

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/31144177

[go_Rubens]

Ultimately inevitable though. The administrators conducted themselves in totally the wrong way. Finbarr O'Connell was a liability and the team was a complete mess - any potential buyer would have had to resolve a whole host of problems aside from the money and actually competing with a chassis. Far less attractive than Marussia. And sadly the whole mess can be solely placed at Fernandes' door.

Ever since he took over QPR, I knew he was a little off. Probably the biggest reason why I can't stand QPR is beacuase of him, and his further antics in instigating a complete mess at Caterham only help prove my opinion. It didn't help that when Fernandes left, the team was still handled like complete crap. Everything from the new owners to the administrators completely mucked the team up after Fernandes left, which while he started this mess, perhaps the team could have been saved. It's sad to see the most promising 2010 team disappear (at least back then), but Marussia was well run. Marussia still have a chance of survival...

[CoopsII]

Now I feel sorry for the crowd funding guys.

Why? It was clearly a gamble with not-great odds.

[Barbazza]

Finbarr O'Connell - he was quite obviously the Michael O'Leary of administrators right from the start. In other words, a complete prick.

[Frogfoot9013]

Finbarr O'Connell - he was quite obviously the Michael O'Leary of administrators right from the start. In other words, a complete prick.

Except that Michael O'Leary likes talking crap about everyone as well.

[DemocalypseNow]

Now I feel sorry for the crowd funding guys.

Why? It was clearly a gamble with not-great odds.

Have to agree with this completely.

First of all, lots of the crowdfunding guys got a bit of memorabilia for coughing up their money. Those who coughed up money without expecting anything in return were idiots plain and simple. Any semi-competitive F1 team requires more than $100 million a season to operate - the amount of money one can generate from crowdfunding isn't even on the same planet as the requirements of Formula One. The fact they had to resort to crowdfunding in the first place was the proof the team was unsustainable. It was not a wise investment. Without the memorabilia goodies thrown in, contributions would likely have been far lower.

I steered well clear of the crowdfunding effort, and glad I did so. It was a farce, and embarrassment to Formula 1. Hopefully Finbarr O'Connell never shows his face in F1 again. He used a dead team for his own gain and dragged Formula 1 through the mud while doing so. Of course, I'm not ignoring the fact the set of cirumstances leading to Caterham's demise were partly the fault of F1 itself, but that's besides the point I'm trying to make; Crowdfunding and Formula 1 do not, and should not, mix.

[CoopsII]

Now I feel sorry for the crowd funding guys.

Why? It was clearly a gamble with not-great odds.

Have to agree with this completely.

First of all, lots of the crowdfunding guys got a bit of memorabilia for coughing up their money. Those who coughed up money without expecting anything in return were idiots plain and simple. Any semi-competitive F1 team requires more than $100 million a season to operate - the amount of money one can generate from crowdfunding isn't even on the same planet as the requirements of Formula One. The fact they had to resort to crowdfunding in the first place was the proof the team was unsustainable. It was not a wise investment. Without the memorabilia goodies thrown in, contributions would likely have been far lower.

I steered well clear of the crowdfunding effort, and glad I did so. It was a farce, and embarrassment to Formula 1. Hopefully Finbarr O'Connell never shows his face in F1 again. He used a dead team for his own gain and dragged Formula 1 through the mud while doing so. Of course, I'm not ignoring the fact the set of cirumstances leading to Caterham's demise were partly the fault of F1 itself, but that's besides the point I'm trying to make; Crowdfunding and Formula 1 do not, and should not, mix.

At the time if I recall correctly, I received some moans that I was being un-supportive of Rejectfulness but I never saw what happened with Caterham as in any way connected with the spirit of what we support. And, yes, what did you expect after donating a princely sum of $30? Being thanked by the driver from the top of the podium?

As far as that twat O'Connell goes, I wouldnt be at all surprised to see him re-emerge in F1. There was something about him that suggested he might fancy another moment in the limelight.

[Captain Hammer]

One of Adam Cooper's recent Tweets says that Marussia's adminitrators worked with the team, but Caterham's didn't. Admittedly Caterham was in a much more precarious position given the question of ownership and the questionable management practices that were happening before the administrators got involved, but it was an interesting observation from Cooper and I am curious to know more.

As for O'Connell, he might want to get back into the sport, but I don't see how he could do it.