F1: Former Arrows Home Is New Base For Caterham Team

Formula 1

F1: Former Arrows Home Is New Base For Caterham Team

Caterham's new location will make it much easier for the team to attract staff from nearby teams...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted January 18, 2012 Balen (BEL)

Caterham team boss Tony Fernandes believes the team's move will be beneficial. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Caterham has finally confirmed that it will move its racing operations to a new base at Leafield, the former home of the Arrows and Super Aguri F1 teams.

Caterham will also build a new road car facility on the same site, which is already the home of engine company Menard Competition Technologies.

The team had previously announced that its current base in rural Norfolk in the east of England would become Caterham’s composite facility, and that the F1 and GP2 outfits would move to a base closer to the UK’s ‘motor sport valley,’ which revolves around Oxford and Silverstone.

Crucially, the new location will make it much easier for Caterham to attract staff from nearby teams such as Lotus, Williams, Mercedes, Red Bull and Force India.

Many potential recruits had previously been reluctant to move to the Norfolk countryside, far from alternative employment. Marussia has also made a similar decision in relocating to Banbury from the north of England.
The Caterham move will take place in August, when both F1 and GP2 are on the summer break.

Owner Tony Fernandes explained the plans in some detail: “The factory in Hingham has been our home since we were first granted our entry into the F1 World Championship in September 2009 and it has served us extremely well, giving us the perfect platform to establish both the F1 team and our GP2 team in the first stages of our development.

“However, as both teams grew, and in the planning process we went through when acquiring Caterham Cars and establishing the wider Caterham Group, it became clear that we needed to house the car company in the same facility as our racing operations, to give us the best chance to meet our future goals on and off track. We began looking for a site that could be adapted to suit the future needs of our racing and road car operations, and Leafield quickly became the obvious choice.

“We propose moving the F1 and GP2 teams to the new site in or around August 2012, giving us ample time to build up the infrastructure required to house all the critical elements of both teams, and propose moving Caterham Cars into a new, bespoke development and production facility on the same site in due course.

“We are able to build the new home for Caterham Cars from the ground up on the Leafield site, giving us a permanent home in the perfect location for two of the primary arms of the Caterham Group. We will be consulting with all our team about the proposed move before we make any decisions about exactly which functions will be located to the new site.

“The factory in Hingham is where the dream began, and we will continue to develop that site into the new permanent home for Caterham Composites. We have cutting edge technical and production facilities already in operation in the factory, now focused on the F1 and GP2 teams, and we will be expanding those facilities to help meet the future demands of Caterham Composites’ clients in all the markets that company will operate in, continuing to provide jobs and investment in Norfolk in world-class, cutting-edge technology. Caterham Technology and Innovation will also remain in Norfolk, demonstrating our long-term commitment to our first home.

“While it will obviously be sad if the F1 and GP2 teams move on from Hingham, we are not saying goodbye to Norfolk. This will be the next chapter in the development of both our motor racing teams and our road car company, and gives us the best chance to keep progressing on track and, in future, on the road with Caterham Cars.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 26th season as a racing journalist in 2010. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.