Posted on 12th March 2015
It was announced early this morning in the UK but on Thursday morning in Melbourne that the Sauber team have lost their appeal against their legal case against former driver Giedo van der Garde after the Supreme Court of Victoria upheld his claim on Tuesday that he should race in the Australian Grand Prix this weekend, a claim that was previously brought before a court in Switzerland.
On Tuesday, van der Garde won his legal case against the Sauber team after the court upheld the earlier decision made by a Swiss court that he had a legal and binding contract to race for the team this season.
It now remains unclear and uncertain what the next steps between the two parties will be before the start of the first practice session on Friday afternoon in Melbourne. But the fact of the matter currently is that Sauber now has three contracted drivers to race for them this weekend and van der Garde has limited time available to gain an FIA super licence in order to race this weekend as he would like to.
Van der Garde and his legal team's next steps before the start of the first practice session in Melbourne on Friday is to get a court order that enforces the Sauber team to prepare a car ready for him with court proceedings resuming tomorrow morning at 10.30am.
However, the FIA have put forward Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr on the entry list for this weekend as both drivers are eligible to race.
But overall, this is just one big legal mess that Sauber have got themselves into, they tried to get themselves out of it but did not manage to do so.
Over the course of the case so far, it would appear to me that van der Garde and his legal team have presented their case consistently and confidently while Sauber appear to have done the opposite and have been trying everything they can not to uphold the decision made by the court.
But at the end of the day, the court have supported and upheld van der Garde's case and the Sauber team need to respect that and may have to carry out the order; even if they don't want to.
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 legally and also financially.
I should also remind you that Sauber's Team Principal Monisha Kaltenborn has a legal background and will use whatever means necessary to appeal the decision using her knowledge while also looking out for Sauber's best interests.
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 don’t like it.
At this moment in time; I cannot predict what will happen and we should leave it to the legal channels to determine the best way Sauber can go with regards to their driver line up. But something has to be done to resolve this matter quickly and also legally before Sauber lose any more of their reputation in the sport that in my eyes has been completely changed as a result of what is happening now and something that could hurt them now and also in the near future too.
