There are too many similarities between our club and this this team, for my liking. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...f-years-pit-talk/story-fnp0lxk4-1227336772899 Formula 1: How one bad decision can kill off an F1 team in just a couple of years; Pit Talk STAFF WRITERS FOX SPORTS MAY 05, 2015 11:51AM please log in to view this image Pit Talk: The one bad decision that led to the demise of Caterham. WHEN you’re starting at the bottom, climbing up Formula 1’s slippery slope requires a clear vision of what’s important, the patience of a saint and a vast pile of money. If you are caught lacking in any department, it doesn’t take long for a once-promising looking team to be sent to the wall. For one team, a seemingly innocent-looking decision aimed at bringing the team closer to the pack had severe repercussions, sending it into a nosedive that it couldn’t pull out of. Welcome to the latest edition of Pit Talk. HEAD-TO-HEAD: SLOW STARTS PUT F1 STARS UNDER PRESSURE QESHM ISLAND: IRAN’S PLANS FOR ‘BEAUTIFUL’ F1 RACE LEAKED: WHAT THE 2016 F1 SCHEDULE COULD LOOK LIKE CHANGES: MARK WEBBER’S VISION TO MAKE F1 ‘AWESOME’ please log in to view this image Heikki Kovalainen during practice for the 2012 British GP. THE ONE DECISION THAT STARTED CATERHAM’S DECLINE While F1’s teams prepare for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, the remaining assets of the Caterham team continue to be auctioned off to raise money for its many creditors. The team’s collapse, revival and ultimate fate have been extensively documented, but Autosport have identified the moment that plunged Caterham into its downward spiral - and it came back in 2012. “The start of the end can be attributed to the team’s decision to abandon a standard aerodynamics development programme and instead opt to pursue the blown-floor route at that time,” writesJonathan Noble. The blown floor, debuted at the 2012 British Grand Prix, simply never generated the performance increase it should have as the Caterham team lacked the resources to properly exploit it. Watch all the Formula 1 practice, qualifying and race action at the Spanish Grand Prix exclusively LIVE in HD on FOX SPORTS Australia this weekend. But the team continued to try and make it work to the point that the blown diffuser became a black hole for the team’s limited resources, a decision that would have critical flow-on effects. “The budget got out of control in trying to get the blown-floor concept to work - which meant that money was tight for the following season,” Noble writes. “Furthermore, because so much had been put into 2012, and mindful of the opportunities offered for ‘14, there was little resource available for the ‘13 car. “The narrative from then on become clear.” Spooked by Marussia’s improved performances in 2013, Caterham developed a major revamp of their car that again diverted resources from their 2014 car, whose performance was badly impacted by Renault’s poor first effort at a turbo-hybrid V6. Owner Tony Fernandes pulled the plug on the operation early in 2014 but it limped along in the hope it could be sold as a going concern to a new buyer, skipping the flyaway races in Japan, Russia and the USA before returning for the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Time ran out over the off-season. The team was wound up, and yet another brave attempt to tackle F1 was consigned to history.
