Tag Archives: F1

March 12, 2015 · 9:04 am

No issues with my superlicence, says Van der Garde

While the wheels of the court process continue to turn the practicalities of Giedo van der Garde driving a Sauber this weekend have come into focus.

One of the biggest question marks concerns his superlicence, as the FIA has a process that has to be followed. The team has to apply via the driver’s national sporting authority, and Sauber has failed to do that.

Also one of the conditions is that the Contracts Recognition Board is happy with the legal side. It was revealed in court today that Monisha Kaltenborn wrote to the CRB last week to tell them that Van der Garde’s contract had been terminated in February.

Unusually this letter came after the Swiss arbitration court judgement which is at the centre of this week’s proceedings, and which said that the Dutchman should drive. In effect that contract now has to be re-activated at the CRB, and any delay at this critical stage helps Sauber to stop van der Garde driving. A cynic might suggest that contacting the CRB last week was a clever tactic by the team…

Meanwhile it remains to be seen how cooperative the FIA will be. There have been instances in the past where superlicence applications have been rushed through in cases of force majeure.

Van der Garde remains confident that his superlicence can be fast tracked.

“I think so, it’s just a bit of paperwork now,” he told this writer after today’s court proceedings. “And Sauber has to help in filing it. So we’ll see in the next few hours what comes out. The good thing is it’s now early in Europe, so they’ll start working, and still have a whole day. That’s positive.”

He has already set the wheels in motion with the Dutch authorities – the KNAF – who are ready to help.

“Yeah, we’re pushing already for the last few days. Everything is in place, everything is there, the application. I don’t see any issues with the paperwork on my side. Sauber just has to push it.”

Regarding his seat he said: “I don’t see any issue with it. Even if they don’t have my [2014] seat there, it’s done very quickly, in three hours you have a foam seat. I think the mechanics they know very well how to do it, so I don’t see any issue with that.”

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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 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 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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March 6, 2015 · 4:09 pm

Wurz keen for GPDA to learn more about Alonso accident

GPDA chairman Alex Wurz has written to the F1 drivers to reassure them that the organisation would like more information about Fernando Alonso’s Barcelona accident, which would help ascertain if anything can be done to improve safety standards.

Wurz is adamant that the incident did not result from the driver receiving an electric shock, and that safety aspects worked as intended by the rules. However, he says that the GPDA is still keen to learn more about what happened from the FIA and McLaren – while accepting that it will take time to gather all the facts.

Wurz noted in the letter: “In order to get the full picture and understand the accident as a whole, it will take a little longer, and that goes especially for any potential improvements which might or might not be necessary. The GPDA will keep the dialogue with the FIA and McLaren ongoing and for the time being, we wish Fernando a speedy recovery.”

Asked by this writer about the letter, Wurz said: “It is a normal email and communication between the GPDA and the F1 drivers. By nature of the GPDA we stand for safety. As such we support evidence based research and development.

“Analysing an accident is one thing, and drawing conclusions is another. We understand people want answers and conclusions, but to get the full picture, one needs to wait until all facts are collected and understood.

“And in order to keep the drivers informed, and avoid getting them involved into the unfounded speculations, such emails are exchanged. That’s it.

“Just to make it clear, the GPDA did not ask anyone to make an official investigation, as we know that this accident is looked at with great care, and that the crisis management of the McLaren team and the FIA, so lets say F1 as a whole, is very profound. The key stake holders and researchers know that they can count on the support of the GPDA, and regularly use us drivers to help.”

The text of the letter is as follows:

Dear Drivers,

In regards to Fernando’s accident:

The impact:‎

The impact forces were in the lower double digit g numbers. Exact details of the g-forces and the time over which such g-forces accrued on the car, the driver and more important on his head has not been disclosed (yet).

Fact gathering – CAR:‎

The ear accelerometers and the cars data recording should give (once again) an important inside into the accident. Currently it is understood that all the safety precautions of the car worked as intended by the rules‎. So all the rumors of electric shock, etc are false.

Fact gathering – DRIVER:

However, to understand the accident, the causes and the consequences to the drivers safety, we need to wait for the medical reports to understand the full picture. But we will give Fernando, his family and the doctors their space they require. I am not in a position to tell you anything about Fernando’s medical situation.

Conclusions:

In order to get the full picture and understand the accident as a whole, it will take a little longer, and that goes especially for any potential improvements which might or might not be necessary. The GPDA will keep the dialogue with the FIA and McLaren ongoing and for the time being, we wish Fernando a speedy recovery.

I keep you informed, if in the meantime any of you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best regards,
Alex

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March 6, 2015 · 7:06 am

Kaltenborn on Van der Garde: “We will take all necessary steps…”

The case will be heard in Melbourne on Monday

Monday is a holiday in Australia but the court will open especially to hear the case

Sauber says that it will defend the court action launched by Giedo van der Garde in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Van der Garde is hoping that the Australian court will force Sauber to follow a recent arbitration ruling in Switzerland, and allow him to race. The case will be heard on Monday.

“As this matter is currently before the courts it would be inappropriate for me to comment on specific details,” said team boss Monisha Kaltenborn. “However, we will take all necessary steps to protect our company, this team and its interests.

“Last year was a challenging time for us but going into the 2015 season we have been focused on putting steps in place to ensure that we are delivering the best outcomes for F1’s fans.”

In its statement the team explained the Swiss court decision – and spelled van der Garde’s name incorrectly: “In a first partial award of a Swiss arbitral tribunal, the application of Mr van der Garde was upheld, with the tribunal relevantly ordering Sauber to refrain from taking action the effect of which would be to deprive Guido van der Garde of his entitlement to participate in the 2015 Formula One season as one of Sauber’s two nominated race drivers. Mr van der Garde has this week brought an application before an Australian court in Melbourne, the city hosting the first Grand Prix of the 2015 season on Sunday, March 15, to enforce that arbitral award. next week, March 9.”

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