• The Inside Line

Where now for Caterham?

In an exclusive interview with ESPN, Caterham team principal Manfredi Ravetto opens up about future plans for the Caterham Formula One team and the assurances - or lack thereof - that he has been given for the future of Leafield

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Since a mystery consortium of investors rescued the Caterham F1 team from the rubbish heap when founder Tony Fernandes decided he'd had enough of throwing good money after bad, there has been much speculation about the identity of the knight - or knights - in shining armour whose funding has allowed the team to survive.

While team principal Manfredi Ravetto is unable to reveal their identities, what has not been hidden is the fact that Colin Kolles is not a director of Caterham Sports Ltd, but that his father - Colin Kolles Senior - is. It is a small detail, but one that has raised eyebrows.

Asked to explain the incongruity, Ravetto replied "I think this is just internal arrangements between them, but I think… I don't want to avoid the question, but this is really not relevant to the F1 activities. It's just bureaucratic - there is no special meaning behind it, there is no particular reason why this or that. There is no particular strategy. I think that Colin [Kolles] Sr is also a director of other companies, so he has more specific experience. Colin [Jr] is more of a dentist and team person."

As far as dealings with the board go, however, it is Kolles Junior who is the de facto board representative. As is the case with discussions with the mystery consortium, Ravetto's dealings with the board go through Colin Jr and Colin Jr alone.

The obvious question is whether Colin Kolles Jr will be running a Formula One team in 2015.

"I don't know, but I can also tell you that Colin is fully committed to making this thing [gestures to Caterham team hospitality] succeed. What happens next year, you should ask him, but I personally believe… If your question is 'is he running another team different to this one?', to be honest I don't know. But I can say that he is fully committed, 100% - even more than 100% - to making this survive and succeed."

So has Ravetto had assurances that he's happy with that Leafield, that the people at Leafield, will have a job next year, will be working towards an F1 operation, and that the car currently in the Toyota wind tunnel isn't suddenly going to become a Romanian F1 car?

"No…," he replied. "No. I see your point, but this is something that I consider very very far to happen, with a Romanian car or with a Romanian team. I believe that there can be no kind of reassurance on this, on what you are saying, because only God can know. If the typhoon comes tonight and wipes us all away, then there will be no team, if you see what I mean.

"We went through this in many other situations with many other teams. I believe that nobody can guarantee, but of course the target is… It's too important to protect the entry. All efforts need to be conveyed on this. I think there's no more and no better guarantee than saying this.

"I can tell you it was very, very strange to me what happened with the Spanish team [HRT] after we left," Ravetto continued. "Because they simply put it into liquidation, and to put an entry in liquidation? You can put a company in liquidation, but make sure the entry is somehow protected.

"You need to keep the team running. Obviously I cannot guarantee - and I get back to what I said yesterday - that this is happening from Leafield, because now Leafield is becoming… It is not only a matter of bailiffs. Have you been there? It is too big. From a logistical point of view, it's not the right or ideal place."

And what about assurances from the board that you will be able to retain your employees - or at least the majority of your current employees - for 2015?

"I have not been given a specific indication on this," Ravetto acknowledged. "I've just been told 'you must have what is needed', and this is the most important thing. We need to be 100 percent the most efficient team in Formula One. We cannot be the fastest - this cannot be our target. We must try to be the most efficient. So to do this, we need everybody to do a top job, you know?

"We also want and need to keep the people who are doing a top job. None of them are having an easy life. None of them. These people deserve the maximum respect and the maximum support from our side, and I can tell you that from my understanding, the team members perceive - very well - that they are my priority."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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