The Giedo van der Garde v Sauber case looks set to come to a conclusion in the next couple of days after the parties finalised a settlement.
The bones of the deal were put in place in Australia on Friday, which is why the court action was dropped, and Sauber was able to compete.
It’s understood that the figure involved is €15m, a substantial sum given the obvious financial predicament of the team.
Adam Cooper's F1 Blog 
I’m sure Felipe Nasr’s banking buddy backers can stump up some extra cash. The alternative is losing the exposure their $millions have already stumped up for the advertising down the cars’ flanks.
Talk about good money after bad, but what’s the alternative?
Ouch! If this had been sorted sooner I wonder if he could have got a seat at Manor?
I’m sure Manor can find a slot for him with that sort of money (assuming they had decent contract lawyers!)
I think there is still time RM was only on a one race deal.
This surprises me …
Do not understand this.. WHY he took the money ? he had a strong case..
Now Again a F1 team gets away with this B-Shit.. Contract don’t mean a thing in F1.. very sad news.. and the career from Giedo is over….. 😦
One must assume that the sponsor or sponsors of the two that drove on Sunday came up with this money. Perhaps they waited until the outcome of the race to decide the amount.
Does this put Giedo in the black for his racing career? Anyway, a really nice payout for him and his backers, though one might wonder how Sauber intends to cover this and whatever they’ll settle with Adrian Sutil for eventually.
That would be rather amusing for him to walk over to one of the other teams and buy a ride. But then is this really “his” money per se, or does it go back to sponsors? And as someone else has posted here, how much does he owe attorneys for this fiasco? By the time it’s all done he might have enough for a ride in F-1 or he might have enough for a ride in a Cart.
Sauber pays legal fees, is what I have read on another site. Which makes sense as the judges in Australia had already said that Sauber was responsible for these fees.
It is claimed that the headline figure of €15 million that Sauber are paying to him includes the cost of van der Garde’s legal fees, so the actual amount going to his sponsors will be lessened somewhat.
” I want to drive, I want to drive”, what happened to his so called “principles”?
Guess he’ll be driving to the bank. Or daddies bank. If his father in law spent $24M for his legal assault, how does this make sense?
Where did you get $24 million in legal fees? That is very, very hard to believe. At a billable rate of $1,000 per hour that is 24,000 billable hours. At a 12 hour billable day that is 2,000 man days. No way.
Read it in passing somewhere LRM. probably incorrect as you point out.
It is claimed in some quarters that the reason why van der Garde backed down was because Bernie pressurised him into doing so.
It is being suggested the reason why he interceded on Sauber’s behalf is because he feared that there would be less than 16 starters for the race if van der Garde went ahead with his threat to have Sauber’s cars impounded. That, in turn, would have then caused Bernie to be in breach of his contracts with the broadcasters, potentially leading to substantial claims for damages from FOM – something that Bernie would not be willing to accept.
There were less than 16 starters anyway…so was Bernie in breach? Interesting to know either way.
Just a thought here,
Marcel Boekhoorn buy his self in to Manor, with Mcregor as Sponsortitle,
Manor was just waiting on VDG and his team and money,
Can it be like this `?? i am pretty sure this has al to do with each other..
Lets find out in a couple of days…..
Ah…. now we’re back to the Formula One I’ve grown to know and tolerate.
“SHOW ME THE EURO’S!!!”
😉
You left off the kicker Adam; Sauber fined by the FIA for bringing the sport into disrepute.
Well no fine…..Surely though it should be considered as the whole dispute could have been avoided?
FIA has completely ignored the whole thing, and I can’t see that changing. Worst thing was the way they brought up safety re GVDG not just on court but in a press release
Nasr & Ericsonn must be concerned. They would be wondering where their euros are going. Into the cars development of the Dutchman’s pocket? They are in effect funding the settlement, not the F1 programme.
What an astonishing screw up by Sauber, how precarious is their financial position?
€15m worse than yesterday!
Sauber just announced a new partnership with Malaysia airlines. So if you’re wondering where the money comes from… Their recent show of success apparently pays off.
It’s a shame and I heard they did the same thing to Sutil. He has the advantage of the precedent now. I’d say go for it!
It’s not good for F1. But an example must be set. I feel sorry for all mechanics, engineers, etc at Sauber. But they’ve taken money from drivers to fund their business and afterwards basically turned their backs on them. I’m surprised none of the sponsors have started suing. Van der Garde’s sponsor apparently received their money back.
I have a feeling this isn’t over yet. More court cases will follow.
It’s Singapore Airlines and won’t be a deal that brings in €15m overnight…