The Sauber Van der Garde Dilemna

[Duncan]

Finally, a team is forced to realize that it can't just renege on its contracts.

Will Buxton on NBC was suggesting that Giedo is actually quite a popular man in the paddock right now for this reason.

[Tazio]

Will Buxton on NBC was suggesting that Giedo is actually quite a popular man in the paddock right now for this reason.

I fear he may be the Curt Flood of F1 however. Of course his situation was different, but it pretty much ended a great career!
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/1844945/

Flood v. Kuhn (407 U.S. 258) was a 1972 United States Supreme Court decision upholding, by a 5–3 margin, the antitrust exemption first granted to Major League Baseball (MLB) in Federal Baseball Club v. National League. It arose from a challenge by St. Louis Cardinals' outfielder Curt Flood when he refused to be traded to the Philadelphia Phillies after the 1969 season. He sought injunctive relief from the reserve clause, which prevented him from negotiating with another team for a year after his contract expired. Named as initial respondents were baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, MLB and all of its then-24 member clubs.
Although the Court ruled in baseball's favor 5-3, it admitted the original grounds for the antitrust exemption were tenuous at best, that baseball was indeed interstate commerce for purposes of the act and the exemption was an "anomaly"

[Duncan]

I fear he may be the Curt Flood of F1 however. Of course his situation was different, but it pretty much ended a great career!
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/1844945/

I think this situation is a bit different; in that case, Curt Flood was challenging already established (if arguably unjust) law and the well understood rules. In this situation, Giedo is merely asking Sauber to uphold commitments made in a contract that they freely entered into (and in respect of which they already took his money...).

[Tazio]

But it still had to be challenged. I mean Catfish Hunter was the first recipient when gardening leave was rightfully excluded as if one team refuses vto pay his salary, another does!

[journeyman racer]

I'd been surprised at the amount of local press this situation has gotten. Even led some headlines.

[Duncan]

I think it may not be insignificant as far as Giedo's future prospects go that he actually won his case. That is to say, when the arguments were examined by more than one independent group of arbiters, they concluded that he was right.

Starting a big legal fight and then being judged to have been wrong all along would have been more damaging...

[Jag_Warrior]

Why is Peter Sauber keeping this rolling nightmare, Monisha Kaltenborn, as team principal? Political correctness or is she writing a check to the team, kind of like a pay driver: Pay Team Principal? The biggest joke is that she had been mentioned as Bernie's replacement. The only worse choice for that that I can think of would be Tony George. I would say Bernie Madoff, but I guess he'll continue to be "on vacation" until he's worm's food.

[Doc Austin]

Why is Peter Sauber keeping this rolling nightmare, Monisha Kaltenborn, as team principal?

A better question might be "how can he fire her when the team is third in the constructor's championship?"

However, I agree that as a lawyer, she had to see this coming. I can't imagine how she got herself into that position unless she was just so desperate for funding that she was willing to risk it.

Maybe the problem is less with the entrants and more with the system that makes the rich even richer and the poor even poorer. You will do a lot of crooked things when your survival is on the line.

The biggest joke is that she had been mentioned as Bernie's replacement.

Like Bernie never got into $100 million of legal trouble?

The only worse choice for that that I can think of would be Tony George.

Or anyone who ran champcar onto the reef.

[anfield5]

At least Kaltenborn hasn't done what a nameless team boss who departed and came back used to do ie. blame everyone else in the team, state that he knew nothing about it and can't be expected to know every little thing that goes on at McLaren *(oops I mean in his team) and shrug it off as someone elses problem. It is her mess and at least she has stood up with it and answered 'Geidogate". I am not for an instant defending her actions in hiring 3 (or 4?) pay drivers for two seats, but as Doc said you take risks when your survival is at stake and maybe Geido's cash is the reason Sauber could develop a decent car and are now competitive, so maybe it was a risk worth taking? And if Sauber goes on to have a good season due to the extra money they had pre-season, maybe she will come out of this looking better than she does now.

[Jag_Warrior]

A better question might be "how can he fire her when the team is third in the constructor's championship?"

Depending on her financial stake in the team, it should be rather easy: "You're fired." Sauber is using Ferrari engines. If he needs suggestions or ideas, Peter could call the HR dept. at Maranello and I'm sure they could explain to him how to do it. A lucky (and temporary) 3rd place in the WCC means little when your team was this close to having its assets seized because of the actions of this slickster.

However, I agree that as a lawyer, she had to see this coming. I can't imagine how she got herself into that position unless she was just so desperate for funding that she was willing to risk it.

From the description of the circumstances I heard, it sounds like she's running something akin to a racing Ponzi scheme over there.

Maybe the problem is less with the entrants and more with the system that makes the rich even richer and the poor even poorer. You will do a lot of crooked things when your survival is on the line.

True enough, the distribution of income in F1 is skewed. But many of us have faced hard times. And yet, we didn't use that as an excuse to go crooked. I accept that they need pay drivers. But you don't sell the same seat multiple times and then keep people's money. She's lucky she didn't wind up in steel bracelets for contempt.

Like Bernie never got into $100 million of legal trouble?

Given his positive contributions to the sport over the decades, I'm willing to give the dwarf a pass every now & again. Kind of like if Satan helped an old lady across the street once or twice a year. Apart from her gender, I can think of no reason why Kaltenborn's name was ever mentioned for such a position.

Or anyone who ran champcar onto the reef.

Jargon Joe Heitzler, Tony George or Monisha Kaltenborn... who would I LEAST want to run my racing team (or series)? Tough choice. Really tough choice!

I liked Tom Walkinshaw. But he was also a crook. So even though I liked what he did in racing (especially with Jaguars), I never denied that he was as crooked as a dog's hind leg. Kaltenborn appears to be a crook, and she hasn't accomplished anything of note in racing to balance it out, IMO. The sooner she's gone, the better.