F1 team boss Tony Fernandes insists Caterham Group is not for sale

Rumours surfaced in the Malaysian's home country that the Caterham Group had been put up for sale, amid the F1 squad's ongoing poor performance and following a pre-season threat from Fernandes that he would pull the plug on the outfit if it did not improve on track.

While the team did equal its best result in F1 in last weekend's Monaco Grand Prix with Marcus Ericsson finishing 11th, the rival Marussia outfit - which started in the sport in 2010, at the same time as Caterham - claimed its first points finish with Jules Bianchi's ninth place finish.

Caterham had previously been linked with a potential buyout from NASCAR team boss Gene Haas, but the American dismissed the rumours and reiterated his intent to build a US-based operation from scratch for his 2015 F1 entry.

A Caterham statement claimed that Group chairmen Fernandes and Datuk Kamarudin Meranun "remain wholly committed to the Caterham brand".

Fernandes added: "Caterham Group is not for sale. We love what we build and we are always looking for further investment. This is no different to how we started AirAsia [Fernandes's airline business].

"Yes, we are constantly challenging ourselves and making decisions on everything from the structure to projects within the Group.

"That is normal business. That does not mean we are selling."