News broke last week that ousted Sauber reserve driver Giedo Van der Garde had launched a last minute legal challenge to try and reclaim a Sauber race drive he was promised last year. The verdict was expected to come today, however this has now been pushed back until Wednesday as the uncertainty remains.
Van Der Garde has already been reported on here last week, although today a decision was expected to be made in the Australian courts. After the day's hearing, the case was adjourned, with the courts Twitter page stating "Judgement reserved in F1 driver Giedo van der Garde dispute against Sauber, to Wed, 10am."
In today's proceedings, Sauber's defense lawyer Rodney Garrett QC put forward the teams argument that it would be unsafe for Van Der Garde to be re-installed to the team with only a number of days before the start of the 2015 season.
He stated on behalf of the team "Mr Van der Garde has no experience driving the C34 Ferrari and would not have sufficient time to learn." He later also added that giving Van Der Garde the drive with no previous testing going into the season "would result in an unacceptable risk of physical harm or even death."
On the other side, Van Der Garde own lawyer Tom Clarke stated that the team could make adjustments to the car to suit every driver, before adding "Sauber does have the ability to substitute Mr Van der Garde this weekend for one or another driver without falling into breach of those existing contracts."
This now means that the Judge Justice Croft will deliver a verdict on Wednesday morning on this case. For either side this is a undesireable situation, with both sides in the dark going into the beginning of the 2015 F1 season. For both sides this is the worst possible way to begin the season, as both will have been severely distracted this week and if Van Der Garde does reclaim his seat it will leave him woefully unprepared for the 2015 season. It shall be interesting to see who comes out on top in this bizarre court case on Wednesday.
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