Caterham F1 Team has confirmed that Cyril Abiteboul has been promoted to the role of Team Principal with immediate effect. He will combine that role with his current responsibilities as CEO, a post he took up in September 2012.
“Having launched our partnership with Renault in Paris on Monday the plan Kamarudin and I formed over three years ago for our automotive interests has come to fruition,” said Tony Fernandes, Tony Fernandes, the chairman of the Caterham Group. “The strategy for the establishment and growth of Caterham Group has now reached the stage where we can step back from the day to day running of the F1 team in favour of Cyril who will be able to dedicate himself full time to the role and work closely with group CEO Riad Asmat to help take our automotive interests into the next stage of their growth.
“Cyril is going to be an excellent Team Principal. He has extensive experience in F1, he is extremely well respected and he shares our vision for what we want our team to achieve. He takes over during a season when we have not yet fulfilled our potential, but at a time when we have everything in place to help us do so. One day we will earn our seat at the top table of Formula 1 and he is the right person to take us there.
“This decision allows Kamarudin and I to focus on AirAsia and gives Riad the structure he needs to allow the various Caterham Group businesses to flourish under his leadership. Kamarudin and I will continue as Co-Chairman of Caterham Group and we now have the best possible team in place to take our dream into its next phase. Kamarudin and I will still have an active interest in our various Caterham companies, but we have now reached the point in the growth of the business where it makes most sense to step back. We have taken Caterham Group from nothing just three years ago to today, where Caterham Cars has the platform with Renault to take it from a niche brand into an innovative participant in the global automotive market. Caterham Technology is also integrally involved in the Renault partnership, working with Renault on the design and development of our road cars, as well as currently working with a number of other blue-chip companies including Airbus, and they are fast being recognised as a leading player in the technology and innovation fields. Caterham Composites is also in rude health, working with CTI on the Airbus project in addition to a variety of other cutting-edge programs that will soon see the light of day. In summary, Riad is now leading a group of businesses that put the Caterham name at the forefront of the technological and innovation fields across a wide range of industries.”
Hi Joe, could you explain the role of a Team Principal..
Team Principals in different teams have different roles.
Thanks – helpful
“Kamarudin and I”, ” Kamarudin and I”, “Kamarudin and I”, ” Kamarudin and I”,…
Are they Siamese twins or something?
At least they are grammatically correct.
Hi Joe,
Do you know, or what do you think, do Caterham keep Heikki for next year ??
I think it would be wise to wait to see if the team can win back 10th place before deciding anything. Right now the team needs motivated drivers.
Fernandes has said that not even Vettel could score points in the current car, so whether Heikki and Petrov are motivated seems a moot point.
I think you miss the point. In F1 you have to be motivated even if you are driving a shitbox (sorry sh*tbox for all the nuns out there in white picket fence land). If you are not motivated you get fired.
Where is Mike Gascogne in all this? I thought he was Tony’s right hand man and he’s never mentioned these days.
Mike was moved to Caterham Technology and Innovation this year. I noticed today that he is no longer a director of the racing team.
Interesting, recent tweets suggest he is very involved in the Caterham/Alpina tie up. Also found this http://www.mgiconsultancy.com/ I wonder if last years targets & results had a bigger impact than I thought.
My assumption was that the F1 team management would be given more time to achieve their targets, where to be honest, failure to reach them was much more likely than success.
I can only make a guess, but I expect Tony to be disappointed next year too.
If it was that easy, every f1 team would be at the top table.
Seems almost like Tony F saw a good thing when he saw it and plucked Mike Gascoyne up into the management stratosphere. And possibly as Tony’s proxy for Branson-esque sporting stunts — Mike will be sailing single-handed across the Atlantic later this year.
Good for Mike — not as good for the racing team.
If Mike was deemed to be important, why then was he moved off the race team this year?
I hope that a few of the people around the “new teams” will write about their experiences and thoughts. I somewhat doubt that zero points after three years was part of the business model.
As a spectator, I can only speculate why Mike Gascoyne is no longer part of the F1 Caterham team. But I can understand why they employed him in the first place; he was somebody who could set something up very, very quickly.
Because he got found out yet again?
Has Mike Gascoyne actually ever won much?
Mike has become an expert on putting together what is needed to win, but like John Barnard before him, he has often moved on before those teams begin winning.
has or was?
Really Joe? Any examples of teams who have reaped the benefit of MG putting together what is needed to win? I can’t think of any. In the case of Toyota he had massive budget, but failed. MG has spent years dinning off a good 1999 with Jordan, made grand promises and never delivered.
Renault.
If Mike was deemed to be important, he wouldn’t have time to sail single handed across the Atlantic.
I’m no expert on Gascoyne’s career, but if you tot up all the guys and gals who have talent but never the mojo to play it to the top, you have . . oh, I hope that won’t be my company . . I’m sympathetic to this, because we worked a few times to get very close to having the commercial vibe to make a difference, only to see it buried under our own reticence, desires to go look at the next thing (Oh, obviously, the huge ting we were sussing out was just a forgone conclusion) and fighting inner boredoms. At least I see a pattern within what I have to deal with, it’s not so much scaredy cat not pushing a limit, it’s been literally a lack of cultural focus. You get plain tons of that, when you have very differing intellects in the same room. My catch all excuse is I was to young to enforce or create – hardly understand – any culture which ought to have pushed us over the top. But imagine you have one guy with stacks of talent, and he’s become a journeyman, and so has so little social influence over where he is. Now that could do two things: both ensure he is always “on his way out”, and also drive the man to work harder. There’s a combination here. Very few anythings, people, companies or friends, get lots of chances to go try a situation over and over again. You can end up with unforgiving banality and sparks of genius. I’m feeling a sympathetic pain now, in my bones. But the guy we’re talking about is there and hired for a reason.
Joe, what is the history of Cyril Abiteboul. Not a name I recall hearing about. What is his background?
http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/who-is-cyril-abiteboul/
Thanks for that link, Joe. You probably should have explained (more explicitly) that his educational background places him amongst the elite in France — he is a good all rounder who can combine engineering and business. Good luck to him, of course.
Looks as though Fernandes has a bigger picture for Caterham in the longer-term, the tie-up with Airbus and Renault puts him and his companies in with the big boys, and access to a lot of new technology.
Sounds interesting and a definite improvement to what Force India’s people are facing with its owner’s problems.
How much longer can Mike Gascoigne survive given the real lack of progress and results he has overseen?
Mike Gascoyne has not been there all year.
Joe, any idea why Mr Abiteboul could not be named as replacement when Tony Fernandes stepped down? It seems odd for there to have been this delay.
What delay? Tony said he was standing down on Monday. Cyril was named on Wednesday. I suspect that there were bits of paper to be signed.
Joe – is this part of a “bigger picture” with Caterham F1 and Renault – seems coincidental that this is announced just a few days after the Alpine joint venture, and CA is currently working for both Renault Sport and the F1 team. Is the F1 team also now a joint venture between Caterham and Renault? Could there even be a 4th team name in 4 years for this team next year?
The joint venture does not cover F1.
They do love their CEOs at this team. There seem to be more Chiefs than Indians. Not easy to see what the difference is between being ‘CEO of the F1 Team’ and also its Team Principal.
Let’s hope Cyril leads by example rather than by title. They need it.
It all looks like a silent surrender from Tony. The F1 team objectively did not achieve its goals second year straight and it’s under threat of losing the 10th place, which means a step back. Is this change a part of a major shake up at Caterham or first steps into the exit from F1 strategy?
Your comment makes no sense at all.
3 years
Little or no progress towards the tail end of the established teams
Zero points scored.
As long as the big teams can spend as much as they currently do there is littleI point in having these tailender team unless the top teams give them access to last years cars.
You fail to appreciate the scale of the task of moving up the F1 ladder.
I think the question is, did Mr F do the same (as one might imagine, given the targets that the team was set and duly missed)?
And if so, what will he do now?
F1 is not just about scoring points (although that is desirable). If you can sustain a business under the current revenue sharing structure whilst promoting your brand(s) cost effectively. That would be a pretty good result and reason to stay in F1. Not everyone is trying to win a championship.
I’m bereft of explanations for so many who only see the supposed “failures” of the F1 team, but on the back of this supposed lack of success Fernandes, & Gasgoine have moved Caterham to the top table of technology innovation that just so happens to have an interest in cars.
A much more enviable position than being a car company who is trying to diversify me thinks
It takes pure passion to succeed in F1… business just pays for it.
You can’t bluff at it and seems “Kamarudin and I” have been caught out.
Even this new TP appointment is another business decision and will achieve no better results I suspect.
If it was just business the bank manager would do it.
What makes you think that Cyril Abiteboul is not passionate?
Passion surely is not the sole privy of the older, who may be remembering?
Not for myself, because I ran my own shop, but I loathe how people have a go at the younger. At Abiteboul’s age I was totally on form, wish I could get back. Tough, because I think it’s a good moment in personal development, about that age. But some systems don’t like that. Rising fast in the Lycee and extended system is seriously hard, from anything I can understand. What I would only be concerned is, is that it is possible confidence may come from one’s background, and not other convictions or innate self belief. Having for a while, at least, been from a seriously top school, I know those are questions that hindered many a friend. However, if a man in his young thirties is not mature enough to run a highly complex business, I say absolute BS. That’s exactly the age I’d want, or, I’d rather not contort my own experiences, want to be again, for my own purposes.
Take the man out of MBA land, if that is what is accused, and into somewhere he can do and act, and I have no idea if he has a family, but that is the usual age, let him go kick butt, because all that creates focus. There are many businessmen who finally made it later in their careers, many interesting ones who were stymied e.g. by recessions, all sorts, plenty who came into their own in their 50s. But I’d put that on the whole down to social obstacles men (let alone women) born more than 50 years ago faced. Possibly the push to lionise 20 something in tech is too much. Just because some guys called Steve and Bill rode the most wonderful set of circumstances.Too long a debate. Just personally, though, I hit a different brick wall in my early thirties, and so I vote for the guy who got the breaks, but is the age I wished I was taking names and kicking butt. I think it should work that way.
I think, also, that that is the age you consolidate life, but are still really going for it. I’d say it’s exactly the right time to put someone in charge, as a result. For me, although I was far from any commercial peak, it was a time my memories and actions and intellect set real form. Do that in a commercial context, and if it works, you have something so much better. It stos to be a burden, instead something you are a part of, vice versa. Younger, or older, maybe you are uncertain, or have regrets, or frustrations. I know I had both.
As for MBA worries of being a paper man, crikey, people grow up and past that. – - Just thoughts of someone who missed that cusp of life, but hopefully not the understanding of it, and has to wonder not just who to hire, but when to hire them. Good luck to this guy, we don’t have to be or act twice our years to be exceptional.
“…. At the start of 2007 he was appointed the Business Development Manager of Renault F1 Team, for a two-year period. He then returned to Renault mainstream until March 2010 when he was named executive director of Renault Sport F1 in the Spring of 2010 and was promoted to Deputy Managing Director a year ago.”
He doesn’t seem to be a racer just another Business Dev snore zzzzz
Not a Colin Chapman nor even a John Booth.
Does seem like Donkeys leading Lions in this team… if not they would be doing much better.
I guess you don’t know him.
If nothing else, there is at least two, maybe three generations of F1 passing now. First the drivers of memory for anyone my age or older, then the management, and then the drivers who are about my age (approx 40). That’s a lot to say goodbye to. But simply to accuse whoever comes up now as “not a racer” sounds ludicrous to me. It’s just timing, and because who survived in management have longer careers, and because personal memories tend to dwell on who we admired when more youthful, there is a inevitable lag to recognise changes. That, unfortunately, might be a bit unfair on who is coming up and through the field, office, garage or cockpit. The fact remains, in a few short years, it’ll be almost all change. Lewis will be a man more interested in his family, that sort of thing. So I might gripe, yeah, sure, passing eras and all that. But no need to bash who is arriving, let alone who comes with credentials. Name me one team manager who got it right, straight out? Precious few drivers have come in – just like that – and delivered. Easy bet for me, that nothing will look the same very soon. But that surely is the change that attracts actual talent, breaking hierarchy and FIFO successions. That would attract a smart guy. Also I bet Abiteboul could add zeroes onto his end of year take home, if he wanted to push deals in finance. Probably not as fun.
10 out of 10 for loyalty Joe but that win for Kimi last weekend must of been a kick in the teeth..along side the poor start for qpr can’t help but feel TF should stick to what he knows best..F1 and Football isn’t it
10 out of 10 for rudeness. Don’t like it. Don’t read it.
Carmageddon + 11th place = Caterham will not be in F1 after 2014 and probably not in the car business – unless Malaysians have a genetic tendency towards throwing face-saving good money after bad, like Proton and Lotus – or they will sell to the next Third World status seekers looking to make it in the Big Time. Fernandezzz cannot translate Air Asia success into motor sports because he is not committed and rarely shows up at the factory. It’s like a start-up with a part time CEO. Everyone in the organization is demoralized and knows Fernandezzz no longer really cares – that started over a year ago. If Fernandezzz is not there – leading via charisma – it don’t work. This shows in his strange choices for young, weak managers who are not racers. He’s like a race horse owner who will buy oats but not shoes. Cheap don’t work in horse racing or F1 and Caterham is all about the cheap. Some day Joe you will have the real story on this but not while you are conflicted as Fernandezzz’s BFF. Caterham management: asleep at the wheel, snoring into 11th place.
Tosh!
Another “Not A Racer” comment. Erm, unlike me, they are racing, hmm? Back when the Lotus vs Lotus trademark case was discussed here, there were plenty of comments, not a few from me, discussing how TF and the Proton / M’sian politic might work. Have a look. Personally, I stopped noting anything about that because I thought TF made a clean break. That was a good move, if I interpret correctly. From a considerable distance, I also think it might have wizened TF to the idea that marketing is not a whole game, and got him to be less distracted. (Yet he may engage a engine company that way) As if other airline woes would not make a man think. My guess, but better be saying less, whilst everyone else is crying out they are being dragged into their own pit of mire.
I note from the Sunday panic financial section that Tony says they will be making SUVs and City cars there is a chance for a supplier chain in the UK.
If I were Tony, I would be looking very closely at the new production methods of Gordon Murray (as have a number of car manufacturers) It avoids the normal huge press tool costs and most of the welding. He (GM) is also making a City car which would be a rival to a Caterham one, however one must ask how big is the market for such cars? Most of which look a bit odd.
The SUV could be made in a vacant UK car factory I know having spent many hours there myself but again the GM method could be used with composites a major factor in weight saving.
The Alpine will be made in France as is to be expected. I once drove one in Southampton docks but that’s for my blog not here.
I think this is a terrible time to be thinking ambitiously, with any financial model that requires not only such a capital injection, but in reality such a depth of talent. The second one is the problem. Getting people to move is going to be very hard, with this outlook. JV’s and all that have a overhead, and the kind of talent to make those work is even more scarce. Maybe Renault are looking outside, seriously, to Caterham, for long term plans. But I reckon long term means weather out this recession, and at 2.5 ish recessions in my lifetime (and 70s inflation as a child) I am not thinking middle term, myself. Were you to teleport me into a 2.4 kids situation, I would be planning on their majority age horizon, not my business plans, and not I mean for obvious family reasons, but I think the hiccups may take that long to work out.
However, and not knowing the factory you mention, this could also be a awesome time to hunker down and buy under utilised assets. If, and only if, you can keep the staff. Really, it might pay off very well, to smooth a embattled mentality, and also experienced engineers are not young. I remember being advised by a friend’s mom, that when I was trying to persuade a very senior guy from a three letter firm (marketing) to weigh in with my plans, that he would likely be mortgaged enough to need consistency. He was almost retired, but his daughters were late teens, and the necessities were proportionate to good private schooling. I got a friend and a lot of help, not a business partner. Timing was as the 90s mini recession was gripping still. To persuade anyone in the similar situation, you would have to maybe create a downsized community – that is what our cousins in the Valley did so well, almost accidentally: the military origins of Silicon Valley meant it was out of the way, so initially cheap. Money could be spent in not silly ways on other qualities of life. I don;t know how one might do the similar. But my pal, and I still value his friendly input to my young career, needed about 80K gross to pay the bills. That is about the level of a experienced designer in London. My pal was director, if not board level, then. I just don’t know how many zeros to add, or if there has just been the most outrageous anomaly. Intuitively, I think we could all come down quite a few pegs and do just fine. But how on earth we adjust the numbers is beyond me. Just frisked over a Business Week profile or profiles of some 80s notorious names in finance, and how the current gen editors said how modest they lived in the same home they bought mid 70′s for $700,000 or so. Really? That was tons of moolah then! But, now, naff all, in comparison.
rpaco, I almost wish we could Pol Pot this economy, take it back to zero, rebase it. Any fiddling just leads to temporary glitches and fear. They fixed the Real, replacing the previous currencies in Brazil by having a interchange rate (link below) and maybe that’s not a bad idea. Maybe notional values need to be accepted as just that, notional. Get, ahem, Real. Did wonders for them.
I feel I love in a moral dilemma, where there is this continuing window to simply play with accounting. NO thanks, though. The little boys take the stick to their posteriors. But equally, realising how the numbers work may be the only way to parlay whatever you or I have saved up for our oncoming years, into anything we may eat. This sword I think has more than one edge, and I think they hired Kyocera for their micron thin ceramic blades.
This may come across confessionally, but I found most interesting in advertising the sheer difficulty of valuing anything. I am not sure anyone took it seriously from a plain money point of view, as opposed to other maybe even more nebulous measures. My prevailing point is that because the northerly measures, as adland like them, are always subjective, they may have missed a lot of what I looked at. I believe that if you do not start with real cost of production, like any other business, you don;t have a real market in advertising. That scares publishers. Am I driving a nail you to the wall bargain? Basically, is it that there is a assumption that because I buy, I must have a outlet, and because so much of the reasoning in this game is pure fanny, am I ripping the publisher ex ante? Given the deaf ears, let alone the – often scared even in good times – replies I get, I assume they assume I am on the make, talking utter rubbish to hide away some ridiculous margin. I don’t value the commodity that way. You take the baseline, then you trade, then you sell upwards as far as you can go. Deals are done so that marginal profits get split. But, yeah, I always scared sellers away. If I talk so directly.
How much for that Gourd?
GIRL: …all ye who call yourself Gourdenes!
SPIKE: Stop! Stop! Stop, I say! Stop! Let us– let us pray. Yea, He cometh to us, like the seed to the grain.
That’s possibly a loop back from advertising and belief, into haggling, and real prices. The problem with Gourd Worship, is that the sycophancy is not a commutable, fungible asset.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plano_Real
I should clarify about the salary thing. It floors me, how much this has changed. My pal held two advanced degrees, and penny for penny, I can buy a photoshop artist now. Not someone who launched and managed major product lines. Our finance guy had run a major regional oil outfit, then a metals company, and held two doctorates. That kind of proven talent just simply does not grow on trees, and I think I have to add three zeros to attract anyone of equal stature now. I will not ever do down who helped me, guided me, taught me, but seriously, how does a modest company or anyone afford the current packages that are bestowed? Some argue it is automation. How anybody worked out productivity because of processing power, I have no clue. But the real fin thing was that none of us had ever been outside a very protective atmosphere. Trying anything novel was a function of me not having a clue, and everyone else being hammered because they had not sussed other inflationary pressures. My 1 bed flat I started with sold for a million. I never saw that coming. I hope at some time, thing level out a bit, but I simply prepare for the worse. (My flat coat me 104K in 1992)
Gah, just to be pedantic, but I sold that flat for barely a touch on the cost, and I’m sore because it was a nice one, not what price it fetched.