Caterham Sports Limited placed into Administration

The Caterham F1 teams manufacturer Caterham Sports Limited has been placed into Administration.

Administrator Finbarr O’Connell have stated that 200 jobs were affected and up to £20million was owed to external suppliers.

As it is separate entity to the F1 team which is operated by 1 Malaysia Racing Team [1MRT], there is no immediate risk to the Formula One team, despite both businesses being based at Leafield.

At the start of the month bailiffs moved in and seized items from the Caterham factory.

It was the clearest sign yet that the teams financial problems had continued.

Ever since Tony Fernandes sold the Formula One team to a Swiss-Middle Eastern consortium in July rumours of financial problems have struck the team.

Reports suggested that a 2013 Caterham test car, Caterham car parts due for the Japanese Grand Prix race weekend and a simulator were taken and are were to be sold via auction later this month.

However the items were actually owned by 1MRT and thus this forced Caterham Sports Limited into administration as the bailiffs were unable to recover money owed via auction.

‘I’m trying to enter into an arrangement with 1MRT whereby they (employees) can stay here at the Leafield site. Mr O’Connell said in a statement.

‘If I can reach an agreement with them then hopefully jobs are not at risk.

‘If I can’t reach an agreement then all those employees, 1MRT will have to decide what to do with them, but they won’t be at the Leafield site.’