.In 2010, Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes had an idea to field a Formula One team and executed it. Soon, Team Lotus was born, alongside two other newcomers for the 2010 F1 season. Then, Fernandes purchased the rights to the Team Lotus name, with the intention of renaming the team.

However, there was a dispute between the two parties over the naming rights. This ended when the Malaysian renamed his team to Caterham. Meanwhile. the original team kept the Lotus name and partnered with Renault. Coming back to Caterham, the team was in operation from 2012 until the 2014 F1 season.

Unfortunately the Malaysian team went into administration. This was after a series of lacklustre results and low funding. The situation was so dire that in spite of crowd-funding attempts, they were unable to race in the season finale in 2014. In the following year, the team was put up for auction. This included the £5.5 million Caterham headquarters in Leafield.

What happened to the Caterham F1 headquarters since it folded?

Unfortunately, the team never got any bidders and the factory was later abandoned for good. To this day, the buildings stay unoccupied indefinitely and occasionally visited by curious individuals who are aiming for a peek.

One particular video found the interior of the F1 team’s headquarters in utter disarray. In fact, some people often came in to steal a few items, like copper or any parts that would seem useful. Another discovery was that there were a few carbon moulds lying around in a heap near the factory.

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Prior to that, the factory in Leafield  also provided the base for former F1 teams, Arrow and Super Aguri before their respective departures from the sport.

Admittedly, the Caterham F1 story is a tale of what could have been, as they were arguably the best performing team out of the backmarker trio. Although Marussia snagged 2 points, courtesy Jules Bianchi, Caterham performed far better overall.