Giedo van der Garde has resorted to legal action against Sauber over the teams 2015 lineup claiming that he had already signed to drive one of the teams cars for the 2015 campaign before the signings of Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson.
The Dutchman, who raced for Caterham in 2013 before taking up a reserve role at the Swiss team last season, has submitted documents to the Victorian Supreme Court in Melbourne in an attempt to secure one of Sauber’s race seats for the Australian Grand Prix.
Van der Garde claims that Sauber guaranteed him a spot on the 2015 grid during the middle of last season before the team went back on their agreement to sign Nasr and Ericsson.
Either side are yet to comment publically on the issue, but after such a strong pre-season campaign for the team this situation could well sour things before the cars take to the track in Melbourne in just over a week’s time.