CATERHAM AXE JOBS IN RESTRUCTURE
Caterham have made 40 employees redundant as part of a restructuring programme following the arrival of new owners.
The bombshell was dropped earlier this week as the Leafield-based team prepared for Sunday's German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
It was announced just over a fortnight ago Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes had sold Caterham to a consortium of Swiss and Middle Eastern investors after four and a half years in the sport during which time the team failed to score a single point.
With Caterham being advised by Colin Kolles, who has previously been involved with Midland, Spyker, Force India and HRT, it has not taken long for changes and cuts to be made.
Caterham claim the redundancies are "a necessary step taken by the new owners...whose priority is the future of the team".
Among those to depart are team manager Graham Watson, head of track operations Gerry Hughes and deputy technical director Jody Eggington.
Former Dutch F1 driver Christijan Albers, who was appointed two weeks ago to take over the day-to-day running of the team, has taken up the position of team principal.
Manfredi Ravetto, a colleague of Kolles' from their time together at HRT, is now general manager and deputy team principal.
Other appointments include Simon Shinkins as COO, Miodrag Kotur as team manager, Michael Willmer as the director of legal affairs, with Gianluca Pisanello promoted to head of trackside engineering.
John Iley is now the team's technical director charged with leading the work being done to improve the 2014 car and next year's project.
