Caterham Formula One moves to new base at Leafield, Oxfordshire

The Caterham Formula One team has confirmed it is moving its operational base to Oxfordshire later this year.

The team, formerly known as Lotus, will switch to Leafield from their factory in Hingham, Norfolk.

Team principal Tony Fernandes said the new site could be "adapted to suit the future needs of our racing and road car operations".

About 250 jobs will move to the base which has previously housed the Arrows and Super Aguri teams.

The Caterham team has been based in Norfolk since the end of 2009 after it was granted entry into Formula One.

Mr Fernandes said he is looking to build a "bespoke development and production facility" for the Caterham Cars road cars business at Leafield, while Caterham Composites and Caterham Technology and Innovation will move permanently into the base at Hingham.

He said: "The factory in Hingham has served us extremely well.

"However, as both teams grew, and in the planning process we went through when acquiring Caterham Cars, it became clear we needed to house the car company in the same facility as our racing operations to give us the best chance to meet our future goals on and off track."