F1: Court, Van der Garde Stymied as Kaltenborn Stands Her Ground

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Two sessions into the Australian Grand Prix, it appears no end is in sight to the drama at Sauber.

Despite Giedo Van der Garde receiving a positive response from the Supreme Court of Victoria, the Dutchman was unable to drive in Friday practice, as Sauber continue to dispute his claim at the risk of facing criminal prosecution.

In what can only be described as a crazy day for Sauber, Van der Garde was first given Marcus Ericsson’s overalls so that he could take place in a seat fitting, but that was as close as he would come to getting on track.

Conspicuously absent from Free Practice 1, reports in the paddock suggested Australian police were waiting to arrest Sauber Team Principal Monisha Kaltenborn. However, a continuance on the contempt of court ruling hanging over the team allowed them to take part in FP2, even though Sauber still face the prospect of arrests and seizure of assets.

Regardless of any ruling on the case, Van der Garde will no longer be able to drive at this weekend’s race, as the Dutchman could not obtain a Superlicense in time. The FIA’s Contract Recognition Board must verify a driver’s contract as part of the licensing process, which it is now unable to do.

With the situation at her team slipping out of her control, Kaltenborn was the main subject of questioning at Friday’s team principal press conference. While remaining tight-lipped on the particulars of the case, Kaltenborn was adamant there would be no change to the organisational makeup of the team.

“This whole matter does not have any effect on the way we work, the way the team works and Peter Sauber is the chairman of our company and he’s continued to be in that position.

Asked if she had considered resigning, Kaltenborn – who owns a 33.3% share in the team – responded that she “had not considered that.”

The court will reconvene at 9:30am on Saturday.

Update: The Supreme Court of Victoria has announced that the case has been discontinued, per agreement of both parties. While Sauber is no longer at risk of contempt of court, the earlier ruling upholding van der Garde's case in Switzerland is still in effect.

The parties will now have two weeks until Malaysia to try and reach a settlement.

 
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This is an absolute disaster,law defiance and brainles judgments...If i stole something,i go to jail...now this man,GVdG, was robbed,by the Sauberborn.:thumbsdown:.and the guilty walks free...amazing
 
Why does he not have a superlicense? Surely he got one while he was driving for Caterham, and I thought they lasted for 3 years or something.
 
Why does he not have a superlicense? Surely he got one while he was driving for Caterham, and I thought they lasted for 3 years or something.

It's a yearly basis :)

Bloody expensive too. 10 thousand Euros + another thousand euros for every point you got last year

So Lewis would of been 394 thousand euros or the equivalent in pounds of £280.485.71
 
Ah, a new thread! :p

A deal that can "go in a number of different ways".
Indeed, makes a bit sense as not everyone was going to keep up in the old thread or wanting to read 130+ posts to get to the most recent situation :p

But for the most recent post:
Adam Cooper @adamcooperF1 · 42s43 seconds ago
"It can go in a number of different ways," a member of VDG's legal team tells me. "That's what makes it interesting..."

Supreme Court of Vic @SCVSupremeCourt · 3m3 minutes ago
Court orders made earlier in week upholding international arbitration law still stands @GvanderGarde @SauberF1Team

Adam Cooper @adamcooperF1 · 2m2 minutes ago
Just to clarify the Swiss arbitration judgement, and the Aussie court order, still stand. The contempt of court action is dropped

Giedo van der Garde 4 mins ·
With respect to the interest of motorsport, and F1 in particular, I have decided to give up my legal rights to race this weekend at the Melbourne Grand Prix.

As I am a passionate race driver this decision has been very difficult for me.

However I also wish to respect the interest of the FIA, Sauber Motorsport, as well as Nasr and Ericsson.

My management will continue talks with Sauber early next week to find a mutually acceptable solution for the current situation that has now arisen.

I am confident such solution will be found and I will inform the media once done.

Adam Cooper @adamcooperF1 · 10m10 minutes ago
So now we know - as I said, it's still a fluid situation and really this is just a step to get through this weekend

Adam Cooper @adamcooperF1 · 18m18 minutes ago
A summary of where we are now plus @GvanderGarde's thoughts: http://adamcooperf1.com/2015/03/13/van-der-garde-and-sauber-reach-agreement-but-story-inot-over-yet/

Adam Cooper @adamcooperF1 · 12m12 minutes ago
From yesterday there was no desire from VDG camp to stop NAS and ERI racing, so no surprise at the way that worked out

Adam Cooper @adamcooperF1 · 10m10 minutes ago
The Supreme Court opened on Saturday just for this case. I am the last person in building and security man keen to go home!

Adam Cooper @adamcooperF1 · 10m10 minutes ago
Thanks to @SCVSupremeCourt for their support this week. Great people and very helpful. What an amazing saga - now back to my day job...

Kate Jones @Kate_Jones7 · 21m21 minutes ago
Will be interesting to see outcome of next week's talks between Sauber & van der Garde. Team still can't have 3 drivers for 2 cars. #F1
 
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It seems Sauber is paying van der Garde a lot more than 15 million euro's in order to get rid of the contract he had with Sauber.

It seems Bernie got annoyed with the Sauber / vd G soap and called with Marcel Boekhoorn to end it. Bernie gave Sauber some financial warantees but Sauber still had to pay the money out of their own pocket. If the money wasn't there before Malaysia vd Garde would have taken place in the Sauber, but it seems now he received the money.
 

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