Caterham announce Kobayashi & Ericsson

Caterham have announced an all new driver line-up for the 2014 Formula One World Championship season.

Talk over the past couple of weeks has been around the possible return of Kamui Kobayashi to Formula One with the Caterham team.

Kobayashi is the most successful Japanese driver of all time however he has been in the Formula One wilderness since the end of 2012.

He first lost his seat with the Sauber team and was then squeezed entirely out of Formula One.

With limited seats available and talent and experience no longer enough to guarantee a drive in Formula One, Kobayashi went on a fund raising mission in a bid to attempt to raise the funds to sweeten a deal with a new team.

The popular Japanese driver saw £6.5million raised by supporters, a clear sign of how popular the Japanese driver is and it should have aided his bid to bring sponsorship to a new team.

However it was all in vein, with all the seats for last season eventually filled.

But 2014 is different, with Caterham looking to add experience to their team as Formula One moves into a year of new regulations. With the added bonus of money from Kobayashi made the Japanese driver an attractive prospect.

‘I’m very happy to be back in F1. This opportunity is very important. Hopefully we can enjoy a good season.’ Kobayashi told the BBC.

Kobayashi will be joined for the first winter test of the season at Jerez by new team-mate Marcus Ericsson who makes the step up from GP2.

‘This is a very proud day for me and everyone who has helped make my F1 dream come true, I’m already excited about the season ahead, and the first race in Australia in particular.’ added Ericsson.

Swedish driver Marcus Ericsson 23-year-old drove for Brawn GP at the young driver test at Circuito de Jerez in 2009, but has most recently raced in GP2.

In 94 GP2 series and GP2 Asia series races, Ericsson won three times.

He has previously won the championships in Japanese Formula Three and Formula BMW UK.