Former Caterham F1 Employee Accuses Tony Fernandes Of Walking Away From Staff

Jim McManus, a senior aerodynamicist at the team, said it was insensitive that Caterham announced it would race in Abu Dhabi thanks to crowdfunding on the same day it revealed job losses

Jack Leslie

18 May 2015

Former Caterham F1 Employee Accuses Tony Fernandes Of Walking Away From Staff

A former Caterham F1 employee has accused ex team boss Tony Fernandes of walking away from staff.

The Leafield-based outfit entered administration last month and missed the previous two races in the USA and Brazil, before launching a crowdfunding project in a bid to return to the F1 grid in Abu Dhabi.

It proved to be a success, with the backmarker announcing on Friday that it would be competing at the Yas Marina Circuit; on the same day 230 people were made redundant.

Jim McManus, who was a senior aerodynamicist at Caterham, is quoted by the BBC saying he wants Fernandes to “take some responsibility for the situation” and that he “simply walked away from the employees.”

McManus added that the team had been “insensitive” to reveal the success of the crowdfunding project and that it would be competing in Abu Dhabi at the same time as announcing job losses.

Yesterday it was confirmed that Kamui Kobayashi would be one of the team’s two drivers. With Marcus Ericsson terminating his contract, the second driver will be announced shortly.