The exceptional story of F1’s unlikeliest crew ‘boss’

It was one of many extra bewildering sights of the 2014 System 1 season, as Finbarr O’Connell took his place within the FIA crew principals’ press convention on the Abu Dhabi GP. O’Connell was working for insolvency agency Smith & Williamson, who in flip had taken on the administration of Caterham Sports activities Restricted.

O’Connell arrived, wearing white and inexperienced Caterham equipment, after the crew raised £2.3million by way of a crowdfunding marketing campaign so it may make the ultimate race of the season. Caterham’s crippling funds had meant it missed each the US and Brazilian GPs, because the coffers had been dry. By elevating funds, O’Connell had hoped that he would have the ability to showcase Caterham to any potential patrons.

Now a decade on, Motorsport.com caught up with O’Connell, one among F1’s unlikeliest crew bosses, to ask him for his lasting recollections of what turned out to be Caterham’s swansong on the Yas Marina Circuit.

“I’ve 4 lasting recollections from the Abu Dhabi GP,” he says. “The primary is of the Caterham F1 crew spirit. These girls and gents all got here along with solely their bills being paid due to their love for the crew. I bear in mind saying to the press in Abu Dhabi that this crew had two engines, the Renault energy unit beneath the bonnet and the women and men within the crew who gave their all for one thing which was rather more than only a job for them, which was their crew, their life and their pleasure.

“The second reminiscence was sitting on the pit wall with my ‘cans’ on my head being in direct contact with the drivers and the race crew. When a major problem developed with Kamui Kobayashi’s automotive, I gave the ‘Field Field’ instruction for him to return in.

“My third was getting a telephone name from the FIA to tell me that Will Stevens couldn’t race within the GP as a result of he didn’t have a superlicence. As a contingency, I contacted a good friend of mine who was the proprietor of one of many different groups and requested him if I may ‘borrow’ one among his drivers if I wanted a second driver. Ultimately, Will’s superlicence got here by way of and he was capable of go to the ball.

O’Connell has nothing however heat phrases to say about his Caterham colleagues who struggled in opposition to insurmountable odds

Picture by: Patrik Lundin / Motorsport Photographs

“My fourth was operating the observe in my Caterham inexperienced runners. All I can say is it appeared like a good suggestion on the time!”

O’Connell’s look within the FIA press convention was certainly a surreal second. He sat on the panel which included Toto Wolff, Christian Horner and then-team bosses Marco Mattiaci (Ferrari) Claire Williams and Otmar Szafnauer (Force India), joined by Lotus deputy Federico Gastaldi.

“I used to be there to attempt to rescue an F1 crew and I felt nothing however assist and friendship from them and from the opposite F1 crew principals,” remembers O’Connell. “Following the Abu Dhabi GP, I flew to Switzerland to attend a gathering with the FIA that was about supporting me as a lot as attainable in my efforts to attempt to restructure or promote the Caterham crew.

“Bernie did not need the world’s motor racing press questioning who that man was shaking palms on the grid with the Caterham drivers and it being defined that I’m a restructuring specialist, which he most likely noticed as a company undertaker” 
Finbarr O’Connell

“I pitched the concept of one of many different F1 groups buying Caterham and adapting it as a second crew for his or her model. The draw back would have been a really totally different automotive, however the upside would have been the lowered price of coming into one other crew and the velocity of getting that new crew on the grid.”

O’Connell had raised the funds to get Caterham to Abu Dhabi and attended the press convention, however one place he wasn’t allowed to go was the grid. That was blocked by former F1 supremo, Bernie Ecclestone, who took the view that an administrator on the grid would ship the incorrect message about F1.

“Bernie wished Caterham on the grid and racing at Abu Dhabi, particularly as Marussia was not going to be racing,” explains O’Connell. “He assisted the crew with organising the transport of all of the racing equipment, though I did pay handsomely for that. Bernie additionally helped organise our tyres and petrol.

“However, because the ringmaster for this wonderful travelling circus, Bernie additionally referred to as all of the pictures proper all the way down to who he would challenge pit passes to and him not wanting me on the grid. Bernie did not need the world’s motor racing press questioning who that man was shaking palms on the grid with the Caterham drivers and it being defined that I’m a restructuring specialist, which he most likely noticed as a company undertaker.

Stevens made his debut for Caterham in Abu Dhabi, however O’Connell was conspicuous by his absence from the grid…

Picture by: Glenn Dunbar

“He additionally blocked my lawyer from coming into the paddock, however it turned out that he acted for one among Bernie’s family members, so he was ultimately allowed entry…”

Sadly, no purchaser was ever discovered for the crew, regardless of loads of curiosity. Caterham was finally cut up up, its elements and gear offered off, the identical destiny assembly its Leafield Technical Centre.

“Sadly, no occasion was ready to amass this ready-made F1 crew on the time,” provides O’Connell. “It was damaged up and the automobiles and engineering elements had been offered by public sale. Leafield Technical Centre was put available on the market and offered to the very best bidder and the racing crew all discovered locations in different groups and in different racing companies.”

The Leafield website stays in a state of disuse and disrepair. What may have been a perfect house for a contemporary F1 crew is now prone to be transformed right into a luxurious hideaway.

“I do know that the brand new homeowners had main difficulties in getting planning permission for the scheme which they favoured,” says O’Connell. “I now perceive that builders are bidding to assemble a luxurious vacation park there and the proposed improvement would comprise 51 vacation cabins, eight barn-style cabins and two loft homes which will likely be created out of an current constructing.

“The idea is to create ‘first-rate hideaway experiences’, together with creating a brand new indoor swimming pool, a spa, outside sizzling tubs, altering rooms, a store, a brand new bar and restaurant, a coated open socialising area and studio area.”

O’Connell’s time in F1 was quick, however it was most undoubtedly vibrant. It’s additionally left a final impression, as he indicators off his electronic mail to this author with the phrases “greatest, F1n”.

O’Connell’s efforts to save lots of Caterham proved unsuccessful and Abu Dhabi 2014 turned its farewell outing

Picture by: Andy Hone