Amidst speculation over Caterham's ability to produce a new chassis for 2015, according to a source formerly with the Leafield outfit, the team has two options.

"The chassis pattern was completed on 17 October," says the source. "The mould that would have been made from this hadn't been started by the time the factory was shut on 23 October.

"The making of the chassis was a bit of a struggle because there was insufficient material and the bailiffs had seized the cutters for the machines. Parts of old patterns were reused to make a block big enough to machine - note also that material was getting used for Colin Kolles' LMP1 project at this time. The machined pattern required a large amount of finishing because we were forced to use old cutters that hadn't been seized. None of this was ideal but ultimately the result was a perfectly acceptable pattern. Some people had worked really hard to get it done. By this time the people left were very committed and of the mindset that they were going to make it work. People who wanted out had already gone.

"At this point the plan was to miss the first test with the 2015 car. This was because of delays caused by the lack of money, suppliers refusing to supply materials or manufacture items, and missing equipment that had been seized.

"Given that the factory has now been closed for a month, you would need to add a month to the date which takes you to roughly the beginning of March for a completed car. This leaves just two weeks to the first race in Melbourne on 15 March. Even if you had everybody in the factory today it would be a massive task. But of course the company has no employees now.

"I can't see how realistically you could get the 2015 car to Melbourne but I wouldn't rule it out if people were sufficiently committed. It's a pity because the 2015 car was shaping up as a significant step forwards on the 2014 car in every respect. The change in Technical Director and Chief Engineer back in July was very positive for how we were working. Since you can only homologate the one chassis per season, failure to get the 2015 car to the first race would mean that you are stuck with Plan B for the entire season.

"Plan B would be to use the 2014 car," the source admits. "It would require a 2015 legal nose. This is no small task as it's a crash structure requiring aero testing, detailed design work, manufacturing and crash testing. You would also need to shoehorn the 2015 engine into the 2014 chassis. I have no idea how large this task would be.

"We had actually asked the FIA if the 2014 engine could be used in the 2015 car to save money. This was refused. From a performance point of view this is a terrible option but if you needed something with four wheels for Melbourne then it would do the job.

"A new owner would need to ride out a year of terrible performance. Hopefully, if this did happen, you'd get started on the 2016 car immediately. The worst case would be to try and develop the 2014/2015 bastardised car and the 2016 car. Unfortunately in cases like this the marketing driven decision usually trumps the engineering."

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1. Posted by TokyoAussie, 19/11/2014 3:32

"The whole team has been made redundant. That's it. I don't quite understand how there is even talk of next year. They're toast. Maybe someone could buy the team, but even then I don't see how they could go racing next year. What will be interesting is what happens to the F1 entry. Will it be stripped, can they sell it?"

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2. Posted by petes, 19/11/2014 3:14

"Don't understand the problem re 2014 p/u as against 2015 p/u?

From FIA perspective would there be any difference? 2014 is homologated, 2015 will be prior season commencement.

Don't believe FIA have mandated any changes to p/u mounting points which were fully specified previously, so, why the problem?"

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Caterham's chassis options for 2015

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