The Administrators from Smith & Williamson are planning to take over ownership of 1MRT in addition to acting as administrator for Caterham Sports Limited. This offers the potential for the team – or what is left of it – to race again this season. The news has been reported as Bernie Ecclestone allowing the team to miss to races, but the truth is that under the terms of the contracts between the teams and the Formula One group, all the teams are allowed to miss a maximum of three races and can still retain the franchise, as long as the company that signed the agreement remains solvent. The plan appears to be to miss Austin and Brazil and for the team to retun in Abu Dhabi. This presumably means that the Administrator will make an entry for 2015, which needs to be done by November 1, and will pay the entry fees necessary.
Finbarr O’Connell and Henry Shinners of Smith & Williamson say that the accountancy and investment management group, have agreed terms to acquire the share capital of 1MRT, the Malaysian company which holds the licence to participate in the Formula 1 World Championship. With the debts likely to be wiped out by the Administration, the agreement to acquire the parent company gives the administrators something to sell.
“This includes the Formula 1 licence, the racing cars, the designs and intellectual property for current and future seasons, plus the workforce and all of the technical support provided to the racing team by CSL from the Leafield Technical Centre,” explained Shinners. “Purchasing the assets would give the buyer ready access to F1 racing.”
The problem is that with 11 teams, the teams have very little value because they have to compete for prize money, which only 10 teams get. The 11th team will have to fight for a token payment of $10 million, as happened this year with Marussia. The prize fund is not about to change in the short term. The administrators say that they have already been contacted by a number of interested parties expressing a wish to buy the team, but it is doubtful that the offers will be very large. If Caterham finishes 11th this year, it will be 2017 before it will be able to get back into the top 10 prize money because the pecking order is established by results from two of the last three seasons. Caterham finished 11th in 2013 and will probably do do again in 2014, so it will not be possible to claim big money until the team has finished 10th or above in 2015 and 2016.
joeblogsf1 
And it looks like Austin and Brazil are already going to be missed. Bernie is quoted as having given the team special dispensation. But Joe, you’re noting that teams can miss 3 races anyhow. So it doesn’t sound like Bernie is doing anything other than following the contract, n’est pas?
That’s my view
But Bernie has got the press saying he’s the white knight, allowing them ‘to continue’.
Notice how he’s also flip-flopped from ‘Caterham should leave’ to ‘we don’t want Caterham to go’ on the off-chance of some positive PR.
Snake…
thank you for reminding me …, that yours truly ( Me-Shell ) is a kind of mongoose which loves to nibble of any kind and type of ” Snake…” NOT to be confused with Sake which is a lovely beverage from the island empire of Japan.
Ciao tutti!
Have the cars/equipment that we’re in Singapore/Japan/Russia been shipped to Abu Dhabi? Is that how it works logistically? Or did they go home? This might explain the reasoning behind just going to AbDab …
They went home
Interested parties….. Bernie?
Now if only Haas would wise up .. give up on his deluded dreams of creating a US based F1 from scratch … go all in and buy out every aspect of Caterham .. at pennies on the dollar no doubt …. including each and every engineers , technicians , support staff , pit crew etc contracts .. finally come to grips with the fact that the best US road racing teams [ including the only successful F1 team … Gurney Westlake Eagle ] have almost always been the perfect hybrid of Anglo American cooperation … perhaps even latch on to at least a few of Caterham’s remaining sponsors [ all bets are GE would love to be attached to a US ‘ owned ‘ F1 team ] .. forgive Caterham Automotive any debts owed …. if any [ being part of the demise of an automotive icon would not serve Haas well at all ] .. bring his Ferrari engined contract with him and … well ..
Then Caterham under the Haas F1 moniker could be up and racing in 2015 .. and by 2016 perhaps even be competitive .
Instead of watching Caterham disappear into the annals of F1 history as well as seeing his Haas F1 dreams come to naught .
If only … common sense would prevail … then everyone could at least break even… if not come out winners . If only ……
The business is damaged and likely not repairable. Haas already has a license and any of the assets that could be aquired would either happen when Caterham is liquidated or just purchased. The shop and race equipment in the big picture are not that expensive compared to the operation of the team. Inheriting the staff is a poor idea as well. Morale is certainly low and anyone that might be left may not be the best fit for a new operation.
It’s a bad deal, not just for Haas but for anyone.
I’m sure morale of the staff would be better if they were saved by a competent outfit rather than forced onto the job market.
Some people prefer to not be pessimists. The people who I have met who are pessimists and give up on their dreams never achieve them.
It’s a simple matter of business. it’s a devalued asset that has some substantial issues and other than getting something for cheap it offers no upside. There could potentially be disputes over whom has title to what, the brand as a race team is distressed if not ruined. There has likely been no significant development on the 2015 car and the 2014 car is poor. It’s a bad business proposition.
Sir, you are being very kind using gentle words to describe a distressed asset class in my professional opinion. then again, as a former auditor with what has emerged to be the only olygopoly I am aware of…, the big four accounting giants and specifically PwC. ooopps, time is over. ciao!
I was wondering how they would get to Brazil, if they missed the plane for Austin. It’s a real shame to see another team possibly fold.
Sky Sports News are reporting BE has kindly offered Caterham a waiver to ship the next two GP’s.
Skip, even.
He does not have a choice
He could put his hand in hs pocket and cover the cost himself…. Silly me. 😉
Why should Bernie cover the costs?
Because he has legally committed to providing 20 cars.
Hope staff are being treated fairly and have good advice from @citizensadvice adviceguide.org.uk
Are there any entities known who would be currently interested in buying a F1 team, appart from “anonymous investors”? Is Haas seeking an European base to save some travaling costs?
I don’t believe the team owns the premises
Honda works B team in the STR mold
Does this mean Fernandes is now completely out of the picture? As of yesterday it was reported he still held the shares in Caterham.
A flight of pure fantasy but if Gerhard leaving his single seat FIA role and heading back to Mc Honda, leaving Ron surplus and with some cash and investors in his pocket to pick up Catherham…..the reemergence of Rondel racing??
Berger is most unlikely to be going to McLaren
Err, this is interesting in a conflict of interest sense. I can see a very large legal mess on the horizon…
Whats Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor up to these days? would this factory be suitable for making toasters?
That cracked me up 🙂
Stefan G.P rides again with Jacques Villeneuve driving?
Villeneuve-Barrichello!
Genius. They could even bring their existing US F1 components with them, nose cones are always valuable.
Fernandes failed to find a ‘proper’ buyer when the team was still fit (if slow) racing team. I don’t see how anyone suddenly coming out of the woodwork now with state the team is in now.
With workers still locked out (until a New owner arrives and that has to be in 2 – 3 weeks max) no car preparation for abu dabi who is going to want to drive it?
I think it has to be faced now that missing the next races is the end of the dream.
The big mystery is what kolles and his palls were trying to do. If they wanted to strip out the race entry as an asset, then they have failed! Unless a certain f1 supremo was behind it all along with the one goal of destroying the team and reducing the grid to 10 teams which if has wanted for some time. Funny thing is my ex insider said that the rumour was that bernie was the mystery investor, but they thought to keep the team on the grid!
I wonder when the real truth of all this will come out, 10, 20 or more years from now!
I’m not optimistic about the team’s chances (although recent comments by Fernandes about easy payment terms rather cut across the ‘£1 and debts’ theories, so maybe the effective price for the team has fallen).
But respect to the administrators, they’ve played a blinder. They now control a -potentially- saleable business, instead of a sinkhole of costs from which all the future revenues had been carefully filleted before CSL was hung out to dry. If I was a member of staff, I’d think my chances of getting my job back had just improved from none to slim. Which is frankly the best I can see that the administrators could have done so far with the hand they were dealt. I hope a proper buyer emerges.
Except that with 11 teams, the value disappears, as discussed in a previous article.
I agree – but I don’t see that there’s alot they can do about that. I can’t see how they could have played the hand they were dealt any better.
And respect to The Sheriffs Office, for their recent press release. Classy.
I hope everyone comes out of this being paid what they’re owed. And if they aren’t, then my personal opinion is that that will be down to choices freely made by Tony F not to, whatever the legal situation.
Just wondering if between us all here we can raise enough money to buy the entry. I’ve got £7 change from the pizza so I am looking for three investors with a quid each.
The propensity for mendacity among the parties involved is simply staggering. We, the fans, have known that Fernandes has being trying to offload this project for the past 2 years and we are now expected that buyers are lining up to purchase it in a distressed state in the next 5 weeks?
What is the difference between what the administrator is doing and what Kolles attempted to do with Engavest?
I can’t think of a single team in recent memory that missed races and came back as a viable operation. Ecclestone giving dispensation to miss races is simply a means of allowing this project to die without inconveniencing anyone.
Bernie did not give a dispensation. Teams have a right to miss three races a year if they have to.
i read FIA sporting regulations 2014 twice and hv not seen any right for FOM to give any dispensation to teams entered by contract with FIA …
Maybe special deal BE/FIA ?
It is Concorde/modern version rule. Secret.
Fast-flowing-news-times, I noticed you even changed the title of the article (look at the address line to see the original). Now it seems that both Caterham and Marussia are missing the American leg of the show. Maybe now, F1 will start to realise that it needs to have a better sales pitch than “give us all your money”. I think one can safely say that – after a few years of simulated crises – F1 is heading for a real one – for better or worse.
Hi Joe, I see that it has been confirmed that Marussia will not be at the USGP, and therefore not be at the next either I assume given the freight arrangements.
teams can always make their own arrangements. They might even be cheeper.
cheaper is the TEXAS way of spellin’ it sir…
Who would trade with this lot if they are reconstituted as they have already dumped on their creditors. In fact who would trade with any of the F1 teams other than the large well funded ones.
So , Joe , will Bernie now be in breach of contract with Austin and Brasil , now that there be only 18 cars on the grid ?
Is he not obligated to make sure there are at least 20 drivers that start the race ?
You must have been writing the answer whilst I was asking my questions .
Thanks , Joe .
The other major issue is that if we (the staff) don’t get paid between now and the last Grand Prix I don’t think there will be anyone left to go racing in Abu Dhabi, so all the administrators good intentions will fall flat on it’s face. Mr O’Connell appears to be our new boss so hopefully we will be paid!!!!!
With no Caterham you can understand why Marussia don’t feel the need to drag people to Brazil and US. As they are pretty much definite to take 10th place and the $90 Million.
Going to make for a very boring q1 though and doesn’t sell the F1 product very well in a market Bernie is trying to sell more races in.