Posted on 8th December 2014
The 2013 season saw the Caterham team slip to eleventh place in the Constructors Championship behind their rivals Marussia. Even though during the second half of the 2013 season, their former drivers Gideo Van der Garde and Charles Pic (more so Van der Garde) performed better, the thirteenth place of Jules Bianchi in the Malaysian Grand Prix was enough to take away tenth place from the Caterham team in the Constructors.
This is was all the motivation that Caterham needed to ensure that the 2014 season was the year that Caterham gained back tenth in the Constructors and wanting to fight in the midfield for their first points in Formula One with former Caterham Team Owner Tony Fernandez stating that this must be their aim in what he termed as a “very important year for the team.â€
In order for Caterham to achieve this aim, they signed former Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi who brings not just money raised with him in order to gain the drive, but also many years experience he has gained in his career in the sport. To partner Kobayashi, Caterham signed rookie driver Marcus Ericsson who was promoted from GP2 after driving for the DAMS team.
However, the 2014 season has been appalling for Caterham. Even during pre-season testing, it was clear that the CT05 was going to be a handful of a car for Kobayashi and Ericsson to drive with the CT05 being plagued with Renault power unit issues and also reliability failures which has continued throughout the course of the season.
The Caterham's team strongest team result of the season was at the Malaysian Grand Prix when Kobayashi came home in a respectable thirteenth position with teammate Ericsson a place behind in fourteenth. This was their best team result since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. But as in 2013, a thirteenth placed finish from Jules Bianchi at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix ensured Marussia would finish tenth in the constructor's championship. This then showed that this was a strong result for Caterham and could be crucial come the end of the season.
The only saving grace for the team this season was Ericsson at the Monaco Grand Prix finishing outside of the points in eleventh place after a great drive from the rookie and I feel that was their best chance of scoring their first points in Formula One and closing the gap to their rivals Marussia.
It has been clear during the season that Caterham simply just haven't build a car that is good enough and is lacking the pace and the downforce to even challenge their rivals Marussia (who scored their first points in Formula One with Jules Bianchi finishing ninth at the Monaco Grand Prix) and despite bringing improvements to the car, they simply haven't worked and stayed at the back of the grid when they was racing on the track.
Alongside their poor performances on the track, speculation surrounding the future of the Caterham team was forever lurking around them. It was announced in July that former owner Fernandez has sold the team to a group of Swiss and Middle Eastern investors with former Formula One driver Christijan Albers as Team Principal and former Formula One Team Principal Colin Kolles acting as an advisor.
With the new management signing off updates that would help them fight to retain back tenth in the Constructors Championship, it would seem that Caterham were showing some determination to try and become more competitive in the second half of the season.
It was also announced that this race that Kamui Kobayashi would be replaced for the race in Spa-Francorchamps by Le Mans driver Andre Lotterer who despite a lack of Formula One testing, out-qualified team-mate Marcus Ericsson by one second. But as the rest of the season went on, Kobayashi was announced by the team to be racing for them race-by-race which sparked even more debate during the paddock that all was not well for the team.
But by mid-October, things were not as they should be been in the Caterham team. The team announced to the media that they had entered administration with a statement issued on behalf of Caterham said that the administrators, Smith & Williamson, were now in control of the team.
Subsequently, Caterham missed the United States and Brazilian Grand Prix as the team looked for a prospective buyer however they were unsuccessful thus turning to a crowd funding project. The team eventually raised 2.3 million meaning they could return to racing at the season finale in Abu Dhabi where Kamui Kobayashi was partnered with Formula Renault driver Will Stevens.
But despite their efforts to make the grid at the final race of the season, on the track, Kobayashi retired whilst Stevens finished last on his Formula One début. And with Caterham still looking for a potential investor, it remains to be seen whether they will be on the grid in 2015 for the Australian Grand Prix in March.
This season we have seen Ericsson show the performances that many expected of him as a rookie driver in his first season in the sport, even if he improved in the second half of the season. Even though it is to be expected that Ericsson would make mistakes along the way in his debut year in the sport, he has been out-qualified by Kobayashi 10 times to 4 times and he also hasn't been able to finish races either with Kobayashi beating him 5 times to 2 times.
I should point out Ericsson has had a lot of bad luck this season so far. At the first race in Australia, Ericsson also did not have the best race to kick start in career with the Caterham team and suffered a mechanical failure that forced him to retire from the race.
He also suffered mechanical failures at the Bahrain and Canadian Grand Prix and suffered a suspension failure on the CT05 that forced him to retire at the British Grand Prix. In the last race before the summer break at Hungary, Ericsson made a mistake by pushing too hard and carrying too much in the mixed conditions at the early stages of the race that he made contact with the tyre barriers and had to retire from the race.
But I should also mention that Ericsson has had more than his fair share of crashes and spins during race weekends, with Silverstone springing to my mind where he spun out of qualifying during a wet weather session that caught out many drivers along the way.
In the second half of the season, Ericsson improved his performances a little bit and his performance in Japan where he out qualified both Marussia drivers and his team mate springs to mind. In Belgium and Japan, he finished in seventeenth place, two nineteenth places in Italy and Russia and a credible fifteenth place finish in Singapore.
However, Ericsson has given the Caterham team its best finish in a Grand Prix. At the Monaco Grand Prix, Ericsson finished in eleventh place and just out of the points compared to Kobayashi's best race finish for the Caterham team is thirteenth place finishes in the Malaysian and Monaco Grand Prix.
Even though Ericsson has achieved the best finish for the Caterham team, it is clear that he has been unable to out-qualify and out-race his more experienced team mate Kobayashi as to be expected and also Andre Lotterer too. However, it was announced that Sauber have signed Ericsson for the 2015 season to partner Felipe Nasr.
During the season, Ericsson has shown that his inexperience, failing to get to grips with the car, making classic “rookie†mistakes or suffering from reliability or mechanical issues has not been able to show what he can do in the CT05 and his best average race position of 19th place only highlights and reflects what he has been able to achieve through his first year in the sport with the Caterham team in the least competitive car on the grid.
Kamui Kobyashi 0 points / 22nd in Driver's Championship
This season has seen Kobayashi being the only consistent driver for Caterham and has brought the car home for them even if the car is the least competitive car on the grid. Even though it is to be expected that Kobayashi would out-qualify this rookie team by 10 times to 4 times, he has also finished more races than Ericsson by 5 times to 2 times, showing that consistency is the key to beating your team-mate on a regular basis.
At the first race in Australia, Kobayashi did not have the best race to kick start in career with the Caterham team (after a brilliant qualifying for the Japanese driver), by suffering a brake failure while turning into Turn 1. This then saw him collect the Williams of Felipe Massa and caused both drivers into retirement.
In the Spanish Grand Prix, Kobayashi was forced to retire from the race with brake issues, he finished ahead of Ericsson in Austria and Silverstone in sixteenth place and fifteenth place finishes. At the Canadian Grand Prix, Kobayashi retired with suspension issues and finally at Hungarian Grand Prix before the summer break, he was forced to retire with a fuel problem on the CT05.
In the second half of the season, Kobayashi was announced he was driving for the team on a race by race basis. Kobayashi did not drive in Belgium and was replaced by Le Mans winner Andre Lotterer. Kobayashi returned in Italy and finished ahead of his team mate in seventeenth place, retired in Singapore and finished behind Ericsson in the Japanese Grand Prix.
At the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, Kobayashi retired while Will Stevens (who replaced Marcus Ericsson who had left the team during their troubles and was announced as a Sauber driver for next season) finished his first Formula One race in last place.
However, Kobayashi has not given the Caterham team its best race finish so far this season. Kobayashi's best race finish for the Caterham team is thirteenth place finishes in the Malaysian and Monaco Grand Prix compared to Ericsson who finished in eleventh place at Monaco, just out of the points.
Even though Ericsson has achieved the best finish for the Caterham team, it is clear that Kobayashi consistently and regularly has out shone his rookie team mate and is showing that all the experience he has gained from his time in the sport is helping him extract pace and performance from the car and bring it home in the best average position of 14th place with the CT05 so far this season. And thus showing what we all expected of him this season; which was to beat his team mate and beat him on a regular basis.
In conclusion, with the future of the Caterham team in the balance, Kobayashi will surely be looking at other options to secure a competitive drive in another series of motorsport that will allow him to show that he is the talented driver we all know him to be.
Meanwhile, Ericsson has for me been lucky to secure a drive with the Sauber team for next season. But with the sponsorship rumoured to be £20 million that Ericsson brings to a race seat, this may have been a slight factor in him gaining the drive despite improving over the second half of the season and all eyes will be upon him next season to see if he actually has what it takes to be in Formula One.
Even though the administrations who are dealing with ensuring that Caterham remains in Formula One racing where they belong, their future is still uncertain even if they are talking to a few interested parties who could invest in the team and ensure that they remain within the sport for the near future.
In regards to looking towards the 2015 season, it would be a real achievement to see Caterham take up their grid position in 2015 but it is difficult to know if they can gain the investment they need to stay in the sport or not, but I hope that they can if a deal can be found quickly before it is too late for them.
Sarah Jones
