Caterham signs Kobayashi an Ericsson !

[Finski]

Was hoping to see heikki back but oh well, good luck to caterham.

[truefan72]

its the best of both worlds for caterham, but of course if the car is useless then it will make no difference.
It is a shame really, as they have a better foundation to build a car and catch up to the heels of STR with, but have si far failed to even beat Marussia. Renault engine, I beleive technical assistance from a bigger team, and some components as well, and they still are languishing.
But for today, lets focus on the return of Kobvayashi (yeah!) and the introduction of Ericsson who is a fairly decent looking driver. I watched enough gP2 last year to notice him doing fairly well, and seemed like he was ready and able to step up to the next level.

[jens]

I remember, when back in 2010 Caterham - back named named Lotus - joined F1 I had high expectations on them and thought they could become a midfield team with a solid Trulli-Kovalainen line-up and decent enough finances at least by the year 2011.

Reality is they never really got going, fell back to needing TWO paydrivers last year (vd Garde+Pic) and nothing in the team seems to indicate they are actually moving forward. Actually I have been slightly more impressed by the progress of Marussia in the last couple of years, because they have bounced back from the CDF-only design philosophy fiasco. Also next year Marussia is finally going to have a proper engine, if we believe Cosworth was genuinely underpowered, though the switch to Renault never seemed to help Caterham.

As for Kobayashi and Ericsson.

I think the Swedish rookie will face a fate similar to di Grassi, d'Ambrosio, van der Garde, and whoever else we have seen in backmarker teams through the years - an opportunity to write into your CV that you have actually raced in F1 even though you were at the back of the grid and no-one remembers you.

Kobayashi is facing the fate of Glock and Kovalainen. One or a few seasons of trundling at the back before having to call it a day in F1.

[Malbec]

I remember, when back in 2010 Caterham - back named named Lotus - joined F1 I had high expectations on them and thought they could become a midfield team with a solid Trulli-Kovalainen line-up and decent enough finances at least by the year 2011.

Once you got past the BS there wasn't really much hope of them beating the existing midfielders given the budget they were on which has always been significantly lower than that of even the least well off existing teams.

I'm more disappointed by their inability to fend off Marussia which has been historically even worse off than they are.

They may get lucky this season and catch one of the midfielders napping but I doubt they will keep any such advantage into the European part of the season.

[BDunnell]

Once you got past the BS there wasn't really much hope of them beating the existing midfielders given the budget they were on which has always been significantly lower than that of even the least well off existing teams.

Having expected a budget cap which never materialised.

They may get lucky this season and catch one of the midfielders napping but I doubt they will keep any such advantage into the European part of the season.

As you say, it's doubtful. I don't see what these two teams add to F1, and, if they again fail to score this year, would be more than happy to see them go.