Tony Fernandes to quit Caterham role and focus on road cars

Tony Fernandes will step down as the team principal of Caterham's Formula One team at the end of the season, he confirmed yesterday.

The Malaysian entrepreneur said he will now focus on the road car side of the business, while continuing to oversee the progress of Queens Park Rangers, the English Premier League football club that he owns.

"On the racing side, we have come to the conclusion that it is better if someone else takes over the team principal role to move forward," Fernandes said in an interview with Autocar magazine. "We are definitely better at business than finding 10ths of seconds around a lap."

Fernandes entered F1 at the start of 2010 with Lotus Racing and finished 10th in the constructors' championship in both 2010 and 2011. Following a complex legal battle with licence holder Group Lotus last year, he bought Caterham Cars and rebranded his racing team at the start of this year.

With Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov yet to score a point, they look likely to miss out on 10th position this year and rumours have suggested the team could employ two pay drivers next season.

Fernandes said he has identified his successor as team principal. I know who it will be - and can tell you that today as I had confirmation earlier," Fernandes said. "[But] I cannot tell you their name yet. All I can say is that they are from within F1."

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