Tag Archives: Sauber

An Australian judge will make a decision this afternoon on whether or not the Sauber team’s equipment will be seized by the court – and team boss Monisha Kaltenborn punished either with a prison term, or a fine.

If Justice Croft decides that an offence of contempt of court had been committed – in other words that the team has not complied with the order to not do anything that would prevent Giedo van der Garde from racing – then the summons would be issued and acted upon.

The summons, addressed to Sauber Motorsport and Kaltenborn, reads as follows:

“You are summoned to attend before the Court on the hearing of an application by the Applicants for the following declarations and orders:

1. A declaration that Sauber Motorsport AG is guilty of contempt of Court as particularised in the accompanying Statement of Charge, for failure to comply with paragraph 2 of the Order of the Honourable Justice Croft made on 11 March 2015 (the 11 March Order).

2. That Monisha Kaltenborn-Narang be punished for the contempt committed by Sauber Motorsport AG, by committal to prison for a period to be determined by Court or, in the alternative, by a fine of an amount to be fixed by the Court.

3. That Stewart Alexander McCallum, Peter Damien McCluskey, James Henry Stewart and Brendan John Richards (the Sequestrators) be appointed as sequestrators of all the real and personal estate of Sauber Motorsport AG situated in the State of Victoria.

4. An order that each of the Sequestrators, or any two or more of them, are authorised and

directed to:

(a) enter upon and take possession of the real and personal estate of Sauber Motorsport AG; and

(b) collect, receive and get into their hands the rents and profits of the real and personal estate of Sauber Motorsport AG; and

(c) keep them under sequestration in their hands until Sauber Motorsport AG complies with the Order of the Honourable Justice Croft made on 11 March 2015 or until further order.

5. An order that the remuneration of the Sequestrators be such remuneration as shall be fixed by the Court.

6. The costs of this application be paid by Sauber Motorsport AG on an indemnity basis.”

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.

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.”

Giedo van der Garde has launched a dramatic last minute legal effort to recover the Sauber race seat that he believes is rightfully his.

The Dutchman has commenced an arbitration action in the Supreme Court of Victoria and is hoping that a positive result could force Sauber to put him back in the car. In essence he wants the Australian court to support a legal decision made in Switzerland in his favour earlier this week.

The joint applicants are the Dutch management company that bears his name, and Van der Garde personally. The case will be heard by Justice Croft in Melbourne on Monday, despite it being a public holiday in Australia.

Van der Garde’s backers paid a substantial sum for him to be third driver last year on the basis that he would graduate to a race seat this season – in theory alongside Adrian Sutil, who had an ongoing two-year contract.

However, late in the season both Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr came on the scene with bigger sponsorship deals, and Sauber opted to take them instead.

Team principal Monisha Kaltenborn, a lawyer by profession, has always insisted that the team is on solid legal ground. Nevertheless van der Garde has continued to prepare for this season as if he was going to race.

Court papers submitted on his behalf indicate that Van der Garde signed a ‘driving, testing and promotional services agreement’ on January 20th 2014, and that on June 28th Sauber exercised a contractual option which meant that he would be a race driver in 2015.

After the team had announced Ericsson and Nasr, on November 24 van der Garde commenced an arbitration proceeding in the Swiss Chambers’ Arbitration Institution. In it he “sought permanent injunctive relief that would have the effect of assuring the Second Applicant a place as a race driver on the Sauber team for 2015.”

A decision, or ‘Award’, was made by the SCAI in favour of the driver on March 2.

The Australian documents note that as a result: “The Respondent [Sauber] was ordered to refrain from taking any action the effect of which would be to deprive Mr van der Garde of his entitlement to participate in the 2015 Formula One Season as one of Sauber’s two nominated race drivers.”

Officially the Australian case is an ‘Application to Enforce Foreign Award,’ ie the judgement made in Switzerland.

The documents add that failing to officially nominate van der Garde as a race driver represents “an intention to breach, if not an actual breach, of the Award by the Respondent.”

Although the language is convoluted the documents hint that there has at least been a discussion between the parties about what happens next: “… since the Award was handed down on 2 March 2015, the Applicants have made several attempts to engage with the Respondent in relation to the Second Respondent’s participation as a driver in the 2015 Grand Prix season (including at the Australian Grand Prix) and the Respondent’s representatives have indicated that the Respondent is considering its position in the light of the Award.”

The bottom line is that the case represents a matter of survival for Sauber, in that the team took the two drivers with the biggest budgets in order to ensure that it made it into the 2015 season. If the Australian court does force it to take van der Garde at the expense of one of the other drivers, the situation could become very messy.

Van der Garde was previously involved in a legal action with Force India, relating to his time as a test driver for the former Spyker team.

Sauber boss Monisha Kaltenborn says that the Swiss team has learned from its difficult 2014 season, and she remains confident that the team will make progress with the new C34.

Sauber slipped to 10th in the World Championship last season after failing to score a point.

“2014 was a very disappointing year,” said Kaltenborn. “However, this is in the past, and we now focus on what comes next. We have learned our lessons and are confident for the new season. We have to improve, and be able to fight for championship points.

“For the Sauber F1 Team 2015 is its 23rd season in F1; it is the fourth oldest of the current brands.”

She has faith in the new driver combination: “I am delighted about our two new drivers who bring a breath of fresh air. Both are young, talented and highly motivated. On their way to Formula 1 both stood out through victories in Formula BMW and Formula 3. Both then finished this career progression off in the GP2-Series. While Marcus looks back to one season in F1, Felipe will have his rookie year in which he comes fully prepared due to his role as test and reserve driver at Williams last year. I feel confident with regard to our drivers.”

Sauber has unveiled its new C34, which will be driven this year by the new pairing of Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr.

As announced in November Nasr’s longtime sponsor, Banco do Brasil, features heavily in the new livery. Ericsson will drive the car at Jerez on Sunday.

Sauber says that chief designer Eric Gandelin focussed on performance in slow corners, weight reduction and braking stability.

Outlining some of the key changes, the team said: “The sidepods of the new Sauber C34, are now slimmer than those of the Sauber C33, despite higher cooling requirements from the new power unit. This has been made possible by modifications to the attachment of the side crash elements. In addition, the architecture of the radiators, which are now positioned horizontally, has been fundamentally revised.

“The engineers also paid great attention to the flexibility of the cooling system, which can be adapted precisely – and individually for the various components – to the ambient temperature and circuit characteristics. For example, small air vents on the side of the cockpit are only used in certain situations. Beyond this, the rear section as a whole is  less voluminous, which benefits aerodynamic efficiency.

“In terms of its concept, the engine is very much comparable with last year’s, but its architecture has changed significantly, necessitating numerous adjustments to the chassis.

“The exhaust tailpipe is again positioned centrally between two pylons, though they are no longer supported by the rear crash element, but by the gearbox housing.

“The spring and damper elements at the rear axle are again pullrod-actuated, but otherwise this is a totally new construction with separate lower wishbone legs. In addition, the engineers worked on improving the mechanical traction. Besides a number of other parts, there will be optimised gear ratios to support this effort.”