Sauber Insanity...

[00521]

Unbelievable.

Sauber's cars may be impounded for failure to 'respect' van der Garde's contract.

Can anyone remember another spat like this that nearly sidelined a team just 96 hours before the season opener?

Pretty unprecedented and ugly in the way that its unfolding.




Cordial Best,

00521

[F1 forever]

Absolutely horrible management at Sauber. They way they've treated Giedo there...shameful. I was really rooting for him since he obviously had a valid contract.

[Jarnooo]

They are just lucky Sutil hasn't joined in the fun. Poor form from Monisha and the rest of Sauber's management.

[F1 forever]

Made me recall her ominous quote from a few years ago:

It is a lot of responsibility because if you mess it up it is even worse than if a man were to do that.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/19906491

[Panda]

This seems to be the word in the paddox right now: "We have a stand off. Bailiffs are sitting outside the paddock gates ready to confiscate Sauber's assets." (@GrandPrixTimes)

[F1 forever]

Kaltenborn doesn't seem to care much about honesty...or integrity...or laws...or contracts...or court orders. It's going to come back to bite her one day. Maybe sooner than she thinks.

[F1 forever]

Some background info:

http://www.sportinglife.com/formula1/news/article/669/9754862/formula-one-giedo-van-der-garde-stands-on-the-brink-of-driving-in-this-weekends-australian-grand-prix

Meanwhile, drivers like Hülkenberg, Button and team officials like Lauda have also voiced their support for GvdG's actions.

[Mika-Juan-Kimi]

Sauber no doubt is in the wrong and Kaltenborn is ruining the sauber name

but........ suing to get a race seat is ridiculous imo. How you dont feel like a piece of **** is beyond me. He has to know he will never get a seat in f1 after this fiasco is over

[Jarnooo]

I dunno M-J-K. If I signed a contract to race in F1, and then someone else got the drive, I wouldn't take it lying down either.

[esterence]

But I think it's pretty retarded from everyone involved, especially GVDG. It's such a lose lose situation.

How do you sue someone and then expect to drive for them? It's going to be so awkward in the team. Sauber will not care less about him and his car after that.

Not to mention, in the first place Sauber chose the other 2 drivers because they are struggling financially and need those extra money they bring. Now, they have to pay off one of them, let GVDG drive and risk bankruptcy in which case GVDG won't have a seat too.

[F1 forever]

esterence, what you're missing is that he had to take these steps just to get Sauber to talk to him! It was them who kept this going for weeks and weeks despite losing in court time and time again. Once they agreed to talk to his legal team, things settled down very quickly:

http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/194399.html

Sometimes, you have to take stand, or you end up with nothing. Sauber has supposedly already received millions from GvdG's camp in expectation of the drive this season. I'm glad that finally someone stepped up and said, "enough already!"

There are at least 2 other drivers (in addition to the three mentioned) that have been promised a seat at Sauber for 2015. At least Sutil is only going to sue them for compensation.

[esterence]

I see, thanks for the heads up.

Makes more sense now that VDG is backing off to continue talks next week. Just accept compensation and move on, best for all parties.

Sauber is a huge mess with this woman leading the team. To think she's a lawyer...

[00521]

Seems, He wanted to get into a seat that's sold to the highest bidder.

Somebody had a higher bid, but I cannot believe that he could not have settled this more quietly and diplomatically without all the leaks and hysteria from his side.

Seems his father or someone is a Billionaire who put the money up... so "he was entitled to the seat".

He's toast. ByeBye.


http://autoweek.com/article/formula-one/sauber-f1-teams-settles-van-der-garde-16-million


Cordial Best,

00521

[esterence]

It reflects so badly on Sauber at the same time.

[JPS4ever]

The fact they performed so well in Melbourne out weighs any PR damage this has done. If they continue to show well, nobody will remember it by mid season.