Caterham F1 Team Lays Off 40-Plus Staff (Update)
We reported earlier that, after founder Tony Fernandes' sale of the Malaysian team to mystery Swiss-Middle Eastern investors, advisor Colin Kolles had overseen the exit of "at least" 50 members of staff.
Caterham announced on Thursday morning a number of appointments, whilst also admitting it has "parted company with a number of employees".
"This is a necessary step taken by the new owners of Caterham F1 Team whose priority is the future of the team," a media statement read.
"No further comment will be made at this time."
07/16/14 The Caterham F1 team has "laid off more than 40 staff as their new owners seek to reduce costs," according to Andrew Benson of the BBC. So with less people the slowest car in F1 will fall even further behind. Among the departures are Deputy Technical Dir Jody Eggington and Head of Track Operations Gerry Hughes.
Caterham "refused to comment on the development, which is expected to be the first of several moves to cut expenditure at the struggling team." Earlier in July, Owner Tony Fernandes "sold to a consortium of investors, whose identity is yet to be revealed."
The team said the new owners were a "Swiss-Middle Eastern group." Sources "close to the deal" said that the money is "mainly from the Middle East but it is being handled by administrators from Switzerland." The new owners installed Dutch former F1 driver Christian Albers as team principal, with former Midland, Spyker and HRT boss Colin Kolles as an adviser.
Sources said that the departures "appear to be mainly those with the largest salaries — many are heads of department or senior staff — although some more junior employees have also left." BBC