Category Archives: Grand Prix News

March 12, 2015 · 1:21 am

Appeal court to rule on Van der Garde at 1630 today

The Victoria Court of Appeal is to hand down its judgement on the Giedo Van Garde case at 1630 today after hearing submissions this morning.

Sauber had appealed against Wednesday’s judgement in favour of the Dutch driver, and after a brief hearing yesterday, the case was postponed until today. Over the course of a two and half hour session they heard from lawyers for Sauber, Marcus Ericsson/Felipe Nasr, and Van der Garde.

Van der Garde was not present in court today – not surprisingly he opted to clear his head and get some training in – but Monisha Kaltenborn appeared for the first time this week, although she was just an observer.

Among the interest facts to emerge today was news that Monisha Kaltenborn had written to the Contract Recognition Board on March 4th, after the recent Swiss arbitration judgement around which the case revolves, to say that van der Garde’s contract had been terminated on February 6th. Sauber’s lawyer later claimed that Van der Garde had breached confidentiality by talking to the media.

The lawyer for Ericsson and Nasr claimed that his drivers might face a legal challenge from Van der Garde should they deprive him of his seat, but when quizzed by the judges – who one of whom thought such an outcome would only happen “in the far outer reaches of the galaxy” – Van der Garde’s lawyer confirmed that wouldn’t happen.

Much was made of Van der Garde’s current lack of a superlicence, but the application process is in fact the responsibility of the team.

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March 11, 2015 · 5:29 am

Van der Garde case drags into Thursday as Sauber appeal continues

The Giedo van der Garde v Sauber case will drag into Thursday after Sauber submitted an appeal.

This morning Justice Croft handed down a judgement in favour of Van der Garde, in effect demanding that Sauber put him in the car. He also noted that it “applies to the whole of the 2015 Formula 1 season – not just in relation to the coming few days in Melbourne for the Australian GP.”

Sauber then submitted an appeal which led to a hurriedly convened Court of Appeal hearing this afternoon, presided over by Justices Beach, Whelan and Ferguson.

They hadn’t had much time to learn about the case and were not very familiar with the way F1 works, and after a brief discussion, mainly involving Sauber’s lawyer Rodney Garrett, they decided to await submissions from those involved and reconvene at 9.30am on Thursday.

That delay starts to make things even more complicated in terms of getting van der Garde fully prepared to drive should the Swiss team finally accept that it has no choice.

Garrett repeated his safety arguments today – on the basis that it takes two weeks to get a driver fitted for the car.

The judges were intrigued to know how the sport is governed, and were told it was by the FIA. In response to the discussion about safety, the judges made the point that whatever they decided might be irrelevant if the FIA wasn’t happy.

Justice Whelan made a logical suggestion to Garrett: “I don’t really understand why the FIA can’t come along and tell us what the situation is regarding safety.”

Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr were represented in court, their lawyer noting that “My clients are expecting to drive. However neither driver, nor anyone from Sauber, was present in person.

Thursday could be a long day as the judges decided that those representing Van der Garde will have two hours to state their case, those representing Ericsson and Nasr half an hour, and Sauber one and a half hours.

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March 11, 2015 · 12:32 am

Giedo van der Garde Q&A: “I’m looking forward to getting back behind the wheel…”

Giedo van der Garde’s victory in a Melbourne court today was an extraordinary outcome, and one that the Sauber team itself has admitted it didn’t expect. The fact is that the Australian legal system has backed up a judgement made in Switzerland last week and told Sauber that Van der Garde should race. How that impacts Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr, and what happens over the next 48 hours remains, to be seen. This writer had an exclusive chat with the Dutchman on the steps of the courthouse.

Q: This applies to Australia, but what about the other 18 countries?

“I think this is something else that the lawyers have to speak about and solve it. I’m just looking forward to start this weekend. Like I said before I had a very good relationship with the team, and I still have. I think the team made a very good step during the winter. I’m glad about it, I’m looking forward to working together again, and to do well this weekend.”

Q: You say you have a good relationship but it’s going to be a very strange atmosphere. Everyone’s wondering how a team can work with a driver they were fighting in court?

“I don’t see any problems because in the end we had a good year last year, not only the results [of testing], on a personal side it was very good. I don’t see any problems with it. On the other hand now we have to stick together, put our heads in the same direction, and push very hard to get our first points.”

Q: A lot of people don’t realise that you only found out about Felipe Nasr after the press release came out in Brazil last year. How bad was that?

“Well, I think it’s not a good thing to speak about it now. I’m happy with this news and I’m looking forward to getting back behind the wheel again. It’s been a while, so let’s focus on that.”

Q: And all that stuff about the seat and so on – obviously that can be sorted quickly.

“I think you know and other people know that it can be sorted out quite quickly. In three or four hours you’re done with the seat, and you have a proper seat for the weekend.”

Q: The team’s argument was that it needed the drivers with the biggest sponsorship, and the future was under threat. That’s obviously the bigger story, isn’t it?

“Well that has been discussed already, and in the end this went off from the table. I’m happy to win this case now. Let’s focus on the weekend.”

Q: And it’s important that in a case like this a driver has actually won? We’ve seen similar case in the past…

“Oh yeah, I’m happy with that…”

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March 11, 2015 · 12:11 am

Monisha Kaltenborn: “We are disappointed with this decision…”

Sauber has responded to the Giedo van Garde verdict by once again bringing up the safety argument in relation to how prepared the Dutchman is.

In a statement the team said “the outcome is unfortunately not as expected.”

Monisha Kaltenborn added: “We are disappointed with this decision and now need to take time to understand what it means and the impact it will have on the start of our season. What we cannot do is jeopardise the safety of our team, or any other driver on the track, by having an unprepared driver in a car that has now been tailored to two other assigned drivers.”

The team said that “further details will be published at a later stage.”

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March 10, 2015 · 11:39 pm

Giedo van der Garde: “I’m happy that we won the case…”

Giedo van der Garde has won his arbitration case in the Supreme Court of Victoria, following a judgement by Mr Justice Croft.

The case concerned the enforcement of a judgement against Sauber that was made in the arbitration court in Geneva last week, so as such the Australian proceedings did not cover the rights and wrongs of the contract and so on.

In essence the judge dismissed Sauber’s arguments about safety as not relevant to the case.

“I’m very fit and very strong,” said the Dutchman. “I’m looking forward to going back to the team and we’ll work hard to do our best for this weekend. I’m the fittest ever, I’ve been training the last three months flat out, and I’m looking forward to going back to the team. I had a very good relationship, I still have a very good relation with the team. I’m looking forward to racing this weekend.”

Regarding the other drivers he said: “It’s up to them what they are going to do, and up to the team. It’s not my thing.

“I’m happy that we won the case, and that we stand here. Now I’m looking forward to getting back to business.”

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March 10, 2015 · 5:42 pm

Haas adds Agathangelou as recruitment drive continues

Haas has announced Ben Agathangelou as its new head of aerodynamics, and the team says that the Briton is already working on the project in the Ferrari wind tunnel.

Agathangelou joins chief designer Ben Taylor, who was announced some weeks ago. Both men have previously worked with Haas team principal Gunther Steiner.

The 43-year-old Agathangelou’s impressive resume includes stints with Tyrrell, Jaguar, Red Bull, HRT and latterly Ferrari. He also worked at Dallara on the DW12 Indycar project.

Haas continues to sign up F1 veterans, with the list including former Jordan and Marussia man Dave O’Neill as team manager. Handily he ran the Marussia operation from the same base that Haas recently purchased.

“While there is still a lot of work to do, a lot has already been accomplished for Haas F1 Team to be competitive when we join the F1 grid in 2016,” said Steiner. “Our technical partnership with Ferrari has allowed us to develop our car and our people at an exceptional pace.

“The way we’re going about our F1 team is new and different, but it’s working. We’re committed to our plan, we’re committed to F1 and, most importantly, we’re on schedule. This time next year, our cars will have already been tested and we’ll be readying them for Melbourne.”

News that the team is already working in the Ferrari tunnel will be greeted with interest by rivals. Teams face tight restrictions on tunnel hours and Haas will have to make it clear that Ferrari is gaining no advantage from the hours that the US team is using.

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March 10, 2015 · 1:41 am

Merhi confirmed at Manor, test role for King

Manor has now confirmed that Roberto Merhi will partner Will Stevens in what it calls “the opening rounds” of this year’s World Championship, as predicted here yesterday.

In addition GP2 racer Jordan King, whose father Justin is the interim chairman of the team, has been announced as a development driver.

John Booth said: “Not only are they very talented young drivers with exciting futures ahead of them, they have also been ‘graduates’ of Manor Motorsport in the junior formulae, which is obviously very rewarding for us, given that the development of young talent is an important part of our philosophy.”

“I am incredibly excited to be making my Formula 1 debut with Manor Marussia F1 Team in Melbourne this weekend,” said Merhi. “It is a big responsibility but I feel ready to make this step in my career and to show that I can make an important contribution to developing a team.”

“This is such an exciting project, full of great people and with a real chance of success,” Said King. “This is another great step closer to my ultimate goal of racing in Formula 1.”

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March 9, 2015 · 2:55 pm

Merhi favourite for second Manor seat

Roberto Merhi has emerged as the prime candidate for the second Manor seat, despite the Spaniard having recently agreed a deal with Pons Racing for the Renault 3.5 series.

It’s understood that Manor has applied for a Superlicence for Merhi. He took part in FP1 for Caterham at Monza, Sochi and Suzuka last year, but at that stage had only been granted a licence for Friday running.

The 23-year-old has a solid record, having won the Euro F3 title in 2011, before moving to DTM. He was third in last year’s Renault series.

It remains to be seen whether his deal covers only the early races, or if he is giving up the Renault 3.5 seat. The Renault series does not kick off until April 25-26, and there are few clashes.

Merhi is managed by former F1 driver Mark Blundell.

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March 9, 2015 · 5:16 am

Sauber: Risk of “physical harm or even death” if Van der Garde races

Sauber has used the issue of safety in its desperate fight to stop Giedo van der Garde from racing its car in the Australian GP.

The team has been in a court case in Melbourne today. Van der Garde won an arbitration judgement in Switzerland last week, and in essence the case is about that judgement being upheld in Australia.

As reported by Radio Australia, Sauber’s lawyer Rodney Garrett said that Van der Garde was not covered by the team’s insurance and brought up the question of safety of spectators at the event. He claimed that the C34 was custom built for Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson, and there were issues about seats and seat belts.

Garrett said: “Sauber could not allow him to race… it would be reckless and dangerous to do otherwise. It would result in an unacceptable risk of physical harm or even death.”

Readers may recall that in 2011 Pedro de la Rosa stepped into the Sauber on Friday lunchtime in Montreal after Sergio Perez was declared unfit…

Drivers jumping into cars with no testing and compromised seats is part of F1. It might concern the FIA that a team has chosen to link it to safety – and even death – in a court of law.

The judgement has been deferred until 10am on Wednesday.

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March 8, 2015 · 8:31 am

Bernie Ecclestone: “We are in the entertainment business…”

Bernie Ecclestone has expressed his frustration at being unable to push through his plan to offer teams a low-cost customer chassis package.

In an interview Ecclestone told the Mail on Sunday that he wants to charge teams £15m for a pair of chassis which would use engines supplied by Cosworth or Renault. Ecclestone has been pushing his idea, which has sometimes been described as ‘GP1,’ for some time. However, he says that the teams won’t accept it.

“Some of the other teams are saying, ‘Well, this isn’t Formula One, this would be downgrading Formula One’,” he told the newspaper. “I can’t see that. I’d call these four or five teams that we supplied chassis to the “Team Championship”. They would all be in the Team Championship but they wouldn’t be able to win the Constructors’ Championship.

“But to all intents and purposes, nobody would ever know. The public would never know. It would not alter the way they see the races. It wouldn’t change the spectacle. It would just mean that instead of incurring big losses, these teams would be able to make a profit.

“I have come up with something that could make a difference between the people that don’t have to worry about spending and those that do. But the bigger teams say it’s downgrading. They have been living in a very rich area and they think this would be like living in a poorer neighbourhood. So they don’t want to be associated with it.”

Ecclestone says he’s frustrated by the way teams spend money: “When I ran Brabham in the Seventies, it was on a ‘be reasonable, do it my way’ dictatorship system. We were racers and we found the money to keep ourselves going. There were always the haves and the have-nots and there was always Ferrari with a lot more money.

“Nowadays, there is a big difference. There are teams that spend maybe £500m a season and other people that are trying to work with a £120m budget, which is still too much. The regulations don’t hurt the people that can spend but hurt the people who are trying to put a team together.

“When you consider teams take maybe 120 people to race two cars and spend up to half a billion pounds to be there, it’s not too logical. The Mercedes unit that they take to races and put in the paddock, it takes 24 trucks to carry the parts to assemble it. The FIA believes it keeps the world alive because F1 cars don’t use any fuel. Not true. They use a few per cent less than a normal engine.

“But some teams have 24 trucks to build their motorhomes, which use a lot of fuel. So it is all nonsense. It is all complete hypocrisy, which upsets me. It is complete stupidity. So everyone has got their corner they want to fight for. The FIA want to be green, the teams are split on what they want to do and we want to make sure the championship is successful. We are in the entertainment business.”

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