- Caterham
Administrators take control at Caterham
The management of the Caterham F1 team has been handed over to administrators after those running the team decided to step back late on Thursday evening.
The news follows a week of dispute over the ownership of the team, with Engavest - the company that attempted to buy the team from Tony Fernandes - saying it was no longer willing to run the outfit. Engavest claimed Fernandes had not transferred the shares of the team after the sale was agreed, while Fernandes accused Engavest of not meeting some of the conditions of the sale, including paying creditors.
A brief team statement on Friday confirmed that administrators Smith & Williams are now in control of Caterham's future.
"Following a request of yesterday evening at 21.55hrs CET from Caterham Sports Limited's administrators and the legal advisors of Mr Tony Fernandes' related EXIM Bank, representatives of 1MRT/Caterham F1 Team have agreed, with all rights reserved, to hand-over management of the Caterham F1 Team to the administrator Mr Finbarr O'Connell in the higher interest of allowing the team to continue operating and preparing for the next events."
Speaking before the announcement, O'Connell told Reuters that parties had approached him to express an interest in either the assets of the team or keeping Caterham running in F1. However, with the cars due to fly to Austin on Saturday it is still unlikely a deal can be done in time to see Caterham line up on the grid at the US Grand Prix next weekend.
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