Until today, only a small part was known of what Christijan Albers experienced in 2014 during his two months as Formula 1 team principal at Caterham. More than ever, he now opens up in FORMULE 1 Magazine about a turbulent time, with bizarre scenes behind the scenes.
Read more Riccardo Patrese sees pressure building on Russell: ‘He has to beat his teammate’
You can read the full interview in the latest edition of FORMULE 1 Magazine, now available in stores or to order online (with free home delivery in the Netherlands).
Below is a passage from the story:
Investors brought him on board in July 2014 to save the struggling team. However, it soon became clear that the investors, or owners, of that time did not keep their own agreements. It also quickly became apparent that Caterham’s financial woes were greater than great. Enter Albers, the problem solver, former driver and successful entrepreneur, who immediately stepped forward. “It helped that I already had experience with other business projects. But a lot had to be done.” The result: he reduced a debt of 23 million pounds to 11 million pounds in no time. A significant, and much-needed, saving.
However, that did not happen without a struggle. Albers had to lay off many people, close hundreds of deals with creditors, received threatening letters and even a phone call from the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The government had given a subsidy. “How all that worked, that’s a whole story.”
Examples
But first: some bizarre examples to illustrate the chaos in business operations. The car paint shop is a good example. Caterham had one. And yet there was an external cost item of reportedly a few hundred thousand British pounds. The painting was outsourced, it turned out.
Read more Hadjar was nervous for Red Bull debut: ‘The difference between Max and his teammates was big’
Albers shakes his head when it comes up. “When I joined Caterham, that enormous amount was outstanding for the paint shop. But we had such a paint shop ourselves, with our own painters. It suddenly turned out that the team was having the cars painted somewhere else anyway, a few streets away…”
Not exactly efficient. That also applied to another example you wouldn’t expect from a team at the highest level of motorsport. Albers: “I had only been there three or four days. I did a round, came to the warehouse. Five men were working there, two were leaning back in an office chair. Nobody knew where the other three were. Two vans were gone, so one of them wasn’t there anyway. And nobody knew where those two with a van were going either. So there was no communication.”
120 layoffs
No wonder the management decided to intervene; financially and personnel-wise, there was work to be done. This led to 120 out of 420 having to leave. Albers: “That’s not nice for those 120, that’s often what it’s about. But it does mean that you keep 300 others employed. Otherwise, we would all have been on the street. This step was necessary to keep the company afloat, and with 300 people, it was still functional. Moreover, there were many incapable people for that specific work among them, and so we could make a clean sweep.”
The full interview with Christijan Albers, with an extensive look back at his Caterham time, can be read in the latest edition of FORMULE 1 Magazine! Get it now in stores or order it online below, with free delivery throughout the Netherlands.
Read more The bitter feuds of Lewis Hamilton: from Fernando Alonso to Max Verstappen
