Caterham F1 Team is a Malaysian-owned Formula One team based in the United Kingdom. The team will compete as Caterham for the first time in the 2012 Formula One season, following the renaming of the outfit that raced as Team Lotus in 2011. This followed the acquisition of British sportscar manufacturer Caterham Cars by team principal Tony Fernandes, forming the Caterham Group.

Fernandes' team originally entered Formula One in 2010 as Lotus Racing, using the Lotus name under licence from Group Lotus. When Group Lotus' parent company Proton terminated the licence, Fernandes acquired the privately-owned Team Lotus name for use in the 2011 season. As Proton began legal proceedings against the team, Fernandes acquired Caterham Cars. In November 2011 the team applied to the Formula One commission to formally change their constructor name for the 2012 season from Lotus to Caterham, while Renault changed their name to Lotus. Permission was granted before being formally ratified at a meeting of the FIA World Motorsport Council. The team finished 10th in the Constructors Championship in 2011, with three 13th place finishes; two from Trulli, the other from Kovalainen.

Coordinates: 51°16′49″N 0°04′54″W / 51.2803°N 0.0816°W / 51.2803; -0.0816

Caterham is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. The town is geographically divided into two sections: Caterham on the Hill and Caterham Valley - the main town centre. The town lies close to the A22, 21 miles from Guildford and a few miles south of Croydon, in a valley cut into the dip slope of the North Downs. Caterham on the Hill is above the western side of the valley. The resident population of Caterham is 20,957 people. Caterham is predominantly a commuter town due to its proximity to London.

The town lies within the Anglo-Saxon administrative division of Tandridge hundred.

The original settlement was on the ridge above the modern town and is now called Caterham on the Hill. The modern town in the valley is a product of the Victorian age and the coming of the Caterham railway line in 1856. The Victorian expansion of the town required the building of a much larger parish church (St Mary the Virgin) in 1866 but the old Norman church of St Lawrence was retained and remains directly across the road from St Mary's. As it grew Caterham Valley gained its own church, St. John the Evangelist, which was consecrated in 1882. It is even larger than St. Mary's^{[citation needed]}.

Giedo van der Garde (born April 25, 1985 in Rhenen, Netherlands) is a Dutch racing driver.

Van der Garde has a successful karting career, winning the Dutch championship in 1998. In Super A he was best rookie in 2001 and world champion in 2002.

The following year he joined the Formula Renault 2000 Championship and finished sixth, driving for Dutch team Van Amersfoort Racing. On the strength of his performance he became part of the Renault F1 Driver Development programme.

He joined the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2004 with Signature-Plus but after finishing the year ninth he was dropped by Renault Driver Development. A move to Team Rosberg for 2005 yielded another ninth in the series.

For 2006 he joined the ASM team, which had dominated the season in 2005 with Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Sutil. The team claimed the top two places in the championship once more in 2006 – but it was van der Garde's team mates Paul di Resta and Sebastian Vettel who topped the leader board. The Dutchman ended the year sixth with a single victory. During the year he was easily in the top four fastest drivers, but bad luck and mechanical problems, like not even starting the Bugatti Circuit race from pole because he broke down on the warm-up lap for the race, prevented him from making the mark in figures rather than 'what if's'.

Charles Pic (born 15 February 1990 in Montélimar, France) is a French-born professional racing driver, who currently competes in Formula One for Marussia F1 Team.

Pic had a successful career in karting, winning minor championships and individual races and coming close to winning the European Championship ICA Junior.

Pic raced in Formula Renault Campus in France in 2006, where he finished third. Pic raced in the Championnat de France Formula Renault 2.0 and the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 in 2007, and he finished fourth in the French series and third in the championship.

He was signed to drive for Formula Renault 3.5 Series team Tech 1 Racing in early 2008. He was partnered by Julien Jousse, and finished sixth in the championship with two wins at Circuit de Monaco — dominating the whole weekend, with pole position and fastest lap — and at Le Mans. He continued in the series in 2009 with Tech 1, starting in embarrassing fashion, when he spun off on the parade lap in Barcelona. He recovered from a slow start to the season, by winning two races at Silverstone and the Nürburgring, and finished third in the championship. In 2009 he was also a member of the Renault Driver Development.

Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈheikki ˈkoʋɑlɑinen], born 19 October 1981 in Suomussalmi, Finland) is a Finnish Formula One racing driver who races for Caterham F1. He drove for McLaren in 2008 and 2009 and Team Lotus in 2010 and 2011, before its rebranding to Caterham.

He was supported by the Renault Driver Development programme early in his racing career, during which he won the World Series by Nissan championship and finished runner-up in the GP2 series. Renault signed him on as a full-time Formula One test driver for 2006, and then promoted him to a race seat for 2007. He gained his first podium by finishing second in the Japanese Grand Prix.

He moved to McLaren for the 2008 season, where he partnered Lewis Hamilton. His second season saw him achieve his first pole position at Silverstone and his first victory at Hungaroring, becoming the 100th driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix. He remained with the team for the 2009 season. In 2010, he moved to Team Lotus where he remained for 2011.