The lock-out comes just hours after a furious press release from the current
owners – a consortium of Swiss and Arab investors called Engavest – in which
they accused Fernandes, the Queens Park Rangers owner, of failing to hand
over his shares, indicating the ball was now in the Malaysian’s court.
The QPR owner hit back, tweeting: “If you buy something you should pay for it.
Quite simple.”
But then on Thursday morning, via yet another press release, the owners
insisted they had paid for the shares and that Fernandes was now back in
control of the team.
They said: “Engavest SA has fulfilled all the conditions precedent [in the
June 29 deal], including paying the purchase price for the shares.
“The shares have not been transferred and therefore Mr Fernandes remains the
owner of Caterham F1 and is fully responsible for all its activities.”
The whole saga, which has been running for months, has become deeply
embarrassing for Formula One, a sport which visibly exudes wealth yet is
dogged by legal disputes and teams on the verge of collapse.
The acrimony in Caterham’s case has become so severe that Formula One’s
supremo, Bernie Ecclestone, has stepped in to try and cool tensions and keep
the green cars on the grid. It would be a PR disaster for F1 to lose a team
in the middle of the season, putting off new entrants no end.
F1’s octogenarian chief executive said: “We’re trying to help in any way we
can, which we do with anybody that has run into a difficult of difficulty.
All I know is what I’ve been told. Not too sure it’s all true either.”
Speaking to BBC Sport, Ecclestone was unable to say if Caterham had a future
or will make it to the final three races in Austin, Brazil and Abu Dhabi.
“It is a little bit too complicated to be able to say anything with any real
knowledge.” While Ecclestone has repeatedly pushed the agenda of the biggest
teams such as Mercedes and Ferrari supplying smaller teams with cars, he
said he would prefer not to lose marquees such as Caterham.
The chaos leaves the jobs of 200 highly skilled engineers and designers at
Leafield in serious doubt. Around 40 who were dismissed earlier this year
after the takeover in June are already entangled in a legal dispute with the
mysterious, nameless owners.
The trouble at Caterham has been obvious since Fernandes sold the team in June
to a consortium led by Colin Kolles, the former HRT boss.
While all this goes on, the leadership of Caterham admitted the administrators
involvement has had “devastating effects” on the team, the lock-out being
the latest example.
Fernandes lost patience with Caterham during the middle of this season after
five years of toil and millions invested without a single point. They
languish at the foot of the constructors’ championship.