The car was driven by debutant Marcus Ericsson and Kamui Kobayashi who returned to Formula One after a season driving in the FIA World Endurance Championship with AF Corse.

Drivers who were involved with CT05 either through practice runs or development included Robin Frijns, Alexander Rossi, Julian Leal, Rio Haryanto and Nathanaël Berthon.

Ahead of 2014, the team had struck an agreement with Toyota Motorsport to utilise their wind tunnel for testing and development, alongside upgraded CFD capacity at the new base.

The car had a rear and wing design similar to Red Bull Racing and a unique nose cone.

[10][11] The CT05 featured a new livery design for the team, a bold metallic green set off with flashed of white, yellow and black.