Team insist they will race at Suzuka despite bailiffs visiting factory
Friday 17 October 2014 17:40, UK
Kamui Kobayashi says the Caterham race team are waiting for the arrival of team boss Manfredi Ravetto at Suzuka to learn more about the current situation at the embattled outfit.
Caterham issued a strongly-worded statement on Wednesday night following reports that bailiffs had been called into their Leafield headquarters and seized goods. The bailiffs in question, The Sheriffs Office, later announced 'the impending sale of goods seized and removed from a Formula One team' with the items listed including the team’s 2013 test car, a simulator and car parts due for this weekend’s Japanese GP.
The team, however, stressed that the action was taken against a supplier – which is thought to refer to former owner Tony Fernandes – and “uncontrolled” rumours that their future was in immediate jeopardy were unfounded.
Team boss Ravetto, who only took the helm at the cash-strapped outfit last month following Christijan Albers’ short-lived tenure, was at the factory when the bailiffs arrived and is expected to arrive at Suzuka on Friday.
With the race team over 5,000 miles away from the goings on at Leafield preparing for the Japanese GP, Kobayashi admitted they were currently largely in the dark as to what was happening back at base.
“Our boss is flying over to here, so we are waiting [to find out] what happened really. Very difficult to say,” Kobayashi explained in Thursday's Drivers' Press Conference.
“At the moment we can still communicate with the UK so it looks as though the company is okay, but I don’t know for the rest, unfortunately.”
With Caterham's statement having done little to quell long-running speculation over their future, Sky Sports News HQ understands that a staff meeting has been called for 11am at their Leafield base.
The team are one of a number, including Marussia and Sauber, whose future is in doubt heading towards the 2015 season with the prospect of the grid's bigger outfits running three-car teams openly discussed in recent weeks.
