Formula One: Caterham hopeful buyer will come through

Caterham are talking to a potential buyer who could put the stricken Formula One team back in business within weeks, according to administrator Finbarr O'Connell.

"The big elephant in the room is always the buyer, but I am honestly talking to somebody who would like to take this over within the next month," the Irishman said after the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi.

Caterham competed in that race, after sinking into administration and missing the previous two grands prix, thanks to money raised through an online crowd funding initiative with regular fans chipping in.

"They'd like to take it over with the same people, as the same team with the same infrastructure, and that would be the dream result for me. It would be absolutely fantastic," said O'Connell.

"This is somebody who feels the same as me that if we don't do something quickly then the team will drift away. If that works, and this is a credible person with credible backers, that will be the best solution."

The administrator would not name the interested party but said it was someone "who is linked in to Formula One".

"Talking to people with no Formula One involvement at all, who don't know what this is really about, adds that huge risk factor," he said. "But this is somebody who actually knows it, and who wants to do it.

"If it's serious and it goes ahead then we'll announce things as soon as we can."

Caterham stopped work on their 2015 car last month and their staff have been made redundant. They brought some 40 people on a consultancy basis to Abu Dhabi to run the cars raced by Japan's Kamui Kobayashi and British rookie Will Stevens.

O'Connell said other parties were also interested, some more in the factory and facilities or perhaps looking to enter Formula One further down the line.

He said competing in Abu Dhabi had been vital to show would-be buyers that they were a viable proposition.

"That purchaser is only talking to me because we're here," he said after the race, with Caterham and Stevens staying on to test this week at the Yas Marina circuit.

"They could see we're an operational team. People perceive the world in different ways, and they could see us, touch us, see we are working."