Caterham not short of parts – Ravetto

2014 Japanese Grand Prix

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Caterham team principal Manredi Ravetto has denied the team is short of parts for its car and said it will be able to repair the damage Kamui Kobayashi suffered in a crash today.

Bailiffs seized items from the team’s headquarters in Leafield were in the run-up to this weekend’s race. However Ravetto said the team had still be able to introduce new parts onto their car at Suzuka.

“We are happy to have introduced a new front wing, this shows commitment and effort from the team,” he said.

“We are sorry for Kamui’s crash, which hugely damaged the car but, contrary to rumours concerning the shortage of parts here in Japan, we are perfectly able to repair the car and run it tomorrow.”

Kobayashi only covered three laps on Friday at Suzuka as Roberto Merhi drove his car during the first practice session.

“It hasn’t been the best of ways to start my home Grand Prix,” he said. “After sitting out in FP1, I suddenly lost the rear-left during my first run and that was the end of the day for me as I crashed into the barrier.”

“It’s a shame, but at least we have tomorrow – it’s not much time but I will need to use FP3 to feel the car and luckily this is my home race and a track I know very well.”

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Image © Caterham/LAT

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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6 comments on “Caterham not short of parts – Ravetto”

  1. Curious statement from a man wearing a green Lotus shirt with the logo crossed out and “CATREHAM” written above.

    1. Is this true? Proof…

  2. I can’t help but get the horrible feeling that Suzuka is the last place where we see Caterhams on the track in F1…

  3. It’s been underreported, in favor of the more salacious image of a dawn raid by police, that the seizures and related court actions do not relate to the racing team operation. They relate to co-located Caterham entities. In fact it appears that the team has been able to enjoin liquidation of its stuff snatched in the raid, which in any case, per the team, is mere “memorabilia.” (Yes, I’m amazed that Caterham F1 has “memorabilia.”)

  4. My worry in all of this is the smaller companies who are not being paid. Too often we see people seemingly finding a way out of financial problems that is essentially dumping the old company and starting a new one with all the debt conveniently gone, but if they do owe huge sums that means someone is losing out.
    Obviously I can’t say that’s what is happening here but the rhetoric certainly fits.

  5. What was reported in the bailiffs pick up was development parts for Suzuka rather than spares. They’ve got a separate entity in the team that had it’s assets taken away but I think they did so they could protect the main team.

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