The Sauber Van der Garde Dilemna

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/vic...-1227261071512
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THE legal drama between race team saga and dumped driver Giedo Van der Garde looks set to be put on hold until after Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Lawyers for both parties are now seeking instructions from their clients after Supreme Court justice Clyde Croft said he intended to hear the matter next week saying he couldn’t wait around all night until Sauber’s legal team were ready.

Lawyers for Sauber told the court they needed more time to prepare their defence against contempt of court action, because the team manager had been busy with practice sessions today.

If the adjournment is granted, justice Croft could order Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn to stay in Australia after Sunday’s race until the conclusion of proceedings.

Van der Garde also wants all of Sauber’s Australian assets seized
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Twice this week the court has ordered Sauber to reinstate van der Garde as a driver for this Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.
But the team has failed to tell the sport’s Contract Recognition Board that its contract with van der Garde is valid. It means he has been unable to secure a Super Licence to race.

Will Buxton on NBC (US) just said that the court reconves tomorrow, and that meanwhile the lawyers are negotiating.

My guess: this has always been the plan. vdg's lawyers want something, which might be some interest in the team itself. Both sides are just trying to get leverage in their negotiations. Case will settle at the very last minute. Final drivers will be Ericsson and Nasr.

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Originally Posted by Duncan

Will Buxton on NBC (US) just said that the court reconves tomorrow, and that meanwhile the lawyers are negotiating.

My guess: this has always been the plan. vdg's lawyers want something, which might be some interest in the team itself. Both sides are just trying to get leverage in their negotiations. Case will settle at the very last minute. Final drivers will be Ericsson and Nasr.

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This may very well be the case but I believe that Sauber need to feel quite a significant sting for not upholding their of the contract with VdG. If I were VdG I'd not walk of quietly into the night. If he does he must realize it is the end of his F1 career so he would need reparations for all future earnings lost in my opinion. All the balls are now in his court, literally, with 3 rulings clearly going in his favor. It's also bad publicity for Sauber and if I were on the board, I'd very much be thinking about replacing Monisha. A situation like this for a professional F1 team is unacceptable.

I am not sure what the hell is going on there. In any case Ericsson and Nasr were running in FP2 for Sauber. Is Sauber going to face some sanctions now?

But I am not going into it too much now, let the lawyers sort it out (again).

Well they have until 11pm tonight to sort things out or it's back to court at 9.30am Saturday. What's the weekend rate for the Supreme Court? Wouldn't like to be paying that. Also can't remember the last Saturday sitting of the Supreme Court. Not done very often as public servants don't usually work weekends.

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Originally Posted by Duncan

Do Sauber have an in-house attorney? They really don't seem to have any kind of strategy for how to deal with this, besides hoping that they would win in court.

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Believe it or not their team principal is a lawyer!

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Originally Posted by AndyL

Believe it or not their team principal is a lawyer!

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Haha, yeah that's the humiliating part of it. I guarantee you this would not have happened if Peter Sauber was team Principal.

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Originally Posted by dj_bytedisaster

Sauber have just been hammered the worst way possible. Kaltenborn's Ponzi scheme collapsed and the fucking bitch destroyed Peter Sauber's life work. Shall she burn in hell.

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Stay classy.

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Originally Posted by raybak

Well they have until 11pm tonight to sort things out or it's back to court at 9.30am Saturday. What's the weekend rate for the Supreme Court? Wouldn't like to be paying that. Also can't remember the last Saturday sitting of the Supreme Court. Not done very often as public servants don't usually work weekends.

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Apparently that's exactly what is going to happen, based on a few local papers.

A farce, what else can be sais. Not doing any favours for either party involved. But also bad for the sport.

I have hard time deciding who to support here. VdG is of course doing a lot of good for future drivers, if he can prove that he had a valid contract that was not honoured because other bring in more money. But all contracts have a clause to make them invalid, with possibly some compensation. Why has he only so late began the legal actions?

I also think that a team should be free to choose who drives for them, for whatever reason. And I don't like the fact that VdG is bullying Sauber just because he doesn't have to care about his future financially