Giedo van der Garde wins court case against Sauber; but Sauber lodge an formal appeal

Giedo van der Garde wins court case against Sauber; but Sauber lodge an formal appeal

It was announced late yesterday evening in the UK but on Wednesday morning in Melbourne that Gideo van der Garde has won his legal case against the Sauber team after the Supreme Court of Victoria upheld his claim that he should race in the Australian Grand Prix this weekend that was brought before a court in Switzerland previously.

Van der Garde was Sauber's reserve driver last season and has sought legal action against the team after he believed that the team had breached his contract that was signed last season by signing former Caterham driver Marcus Ericsson and former Williams Test driver Felipe Nasr for this season.

He has always maintained to the media that he has a valid contract to drive for Sauber this season and this was appeared to be vindicated earlier this year when the case was brought to the attention of a court and a judge in Switzerland.

The Sauber team have stated to the media previously that there wasn't enough sufficient time for Van der Garde to have a car that would fully prepared to race for him this weekend in Melbourne.

However, Judge Croft has now stated that Sauber must provide van der Garde with the car starting this weekend after ruling in favour of van der Garde.

Judge Croft has stated in his judgement today that the ruling and van der Garde's application 'was successful and will be enforced'.

In a statement from his lawyers, van der Garde has stated that he is 'Ready and able' to race this weekend and is keen to get his race seat sorted as soon as possible with Sauber.

In a press statement released after the court case with former driver Gideo van der Garde, Sauber have stated that they will not risk safety of any driver who will race in their cars this weekend at the Australian GP despite the verdict from the legal case with van der Garde today.

In a press release issued today by the Sauber team, Team Principal Monisha Kaltenborn has stated the following regarding the verdict of the case as follows:-

'We are disappointed with the decision and now we need to take some time to understand what it means and the impact it will have on our season.

'What we cannot do is jeopardise our safety of our team, or any driver on the track, by having an unprepared driver in a car that has been tailored to two other assigned drivers.'

It has been also been announced today that the Sauber F1 Team has formally lodged an appeal against the Supreme Court of Victoria regarding running former driver Giedo van der Garde this weekend in one of their cars at the Australian GP.

The verdict stated that van der Garde had a legal and binding contract with the Sauber team to drive for them for the whole season. As a result of this; this would then mean that Sauber would have to drop either Marcus Ericsson or Felipe Nasr who they signed this season to give van der Garde a race seat.

In a press release to the media (see earlier in this article for further details), Sauber have expressed disappointment at the decision and still believe that it would be unsafe to put a driver in who has no experience in the Sauber C34.

The decision has been been accepted by the court and the case will be heard on Thursday morning. A final decision won't be announced until Thursday afternoon and this is due to van der Garde's legal team wanting adequate time to present their case to the court fully. Also Ericsson and Nasr's legal teams will have time to present their case as will the Sauber team legally too.

If the verdict is upheld by the court, Sauber will be in a right legal mess with four drivers contracted to drive for them this season, two of which bring much needed funds to the team.

But at the moment, this one big legal mess that Sauber do not need right now. Even though the judge has ruled in favour of van der Garde, Sauber could also see themselves in the same situation once again after it is to be believed that their former driver Adrian Sutil is also taking legal action against the team for the same reason.

If Sutil is successful with his claim, this then could see Sauber embroiled into a further legal mess by having four drivers contracted to drive for them this season.

If van der Garde and Sutil are legally allowed to race for Sauber and their contracts stand, this will then impact their current driver line up of Ericsson and Nasr who also have contracts this season and have provided Sauber with much needed sponsorship that they need to compete in the sport as a result of securing their services.

If that was to happen, Ericsson and Nasr would also have a legal case themselves against the team; thereby adding to the legal mess Sauber are already involved in and may be just too much for the Sauber team to take.

I should also point out that Sauber's Team Principal Monisha Kaltenborn has a legal background and will do whatever means necessary to appeal the decision using her knowledge while also looking out for Sauber's best interests.

But it is clear that there is more than meets the eye regarding the situation Sauber find themselves in and that this is only the beginning of a long legal process that will benefit everyone involved and ultimately will decide which direction driver wise Sauber may have to undergo this season; even if they like it or not.

At this moment in time; I cannot predict what will happen and we should leave to the legal channels to determine the best way Sauber can go with regards to their driver line up.

But this is something that they didn't wish for and don't need especially with the first practice session of the season being a day away in Melbourne and what is clear for us all to see is that Sauber have got themselves into this situation and it is up to them to get themselves out of it as soon as possible for their own sake.

Sarah Jones