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The Caterham Formula 1 team is now effectively being run by administrators, after its current management team decided to step back.

After a dramatic 24 hours of claims and counter claims between Caterham's buyers Engavest and former chief Tony Fernandes about who was to blame for its current crisis, a last-ditch effort to save the team was made on Friday.

A statement issued on behalf of Caterham said that the administrators, Smith & Williams, were now in control of the team.

It said: "Following a request of yesterday evening at 21.55hrs CET from Caterham Sports Limited's administrators and the legal advisors of Mr Tony Fernandes' related EXIM Bank, representatives of 1MRT/Caterham F1 Team have agreed, with all rights reserved, to hand-over management of the Caterham F1 Team to the administrator Mr Finbarr O'Connell in the higher interest of allowing the team to continue operating and preparing for the next events."

The move means that the administrators have just 24 hours to sort out the team's financial situation and make arrangements for the cars to be shipped to the United States for the next race in Austin.

Former chief Colin Kolles, who represented Engavest, said on Thursday that he had done all he could to try to save the team and sort out the issues with the administrator.

However, with administrators still refusing team members access to the Leafield factory on Friday, there seemed little sign of progress in sorting out the situation.