
F1: New ownership at Caterham as Fernandes prepares to exit
A change of ownership of the Caterham F1 team is expected to be announced in the coming days.
As part of the changes, current team principal Cyril Abiteboul is expected to return to Viry to help bolster Renault’s F1 operation, at the behest of Red Bull. A new management structure will be introduced at Caterham.
Any new owner would have to purchase the Malaysian company that is the ultimate owner of the team.
Tony Fernandes dropped a clear hint about a change of ownership Saturday when, in closing his Twitter account, he said, “F1 hasn’t worked love Caterham Cars.”
Earlier this year, Fernandes told FOXSports.com that he was considering a withdrawal from the sport.
“It’s never made commercial sense,” he said. “But I came into the sport thinking the budget was going to be capped at $40m, and it’s never come anywhere close to that. But I’ve built an industrial division around it, which has made it make a little bit more sense.
“We’ll see how it goes this year, but if it doesn’t work, Caterham’s in a good position, and maybe someone else should have a go at doing it.”
It’s believed that the new deal involves only the F1 team, and not the GP2 outfit.