"I had a very good relationship with the team and I still have a very good relationship with the team. I’m looking forward to racing this weekend. I’m happy we won the case and now I’m looking forward to getting back to business."
I spit my coffee when I read that this morning. OK Giedo, that's why you had to sue for your drive.
Before blaming Sauber it's important to know the background: Sauber was to run Bianchi for his Ferrari engine dowry and van der Garde to pay for tires and catering with his father in law's money.
You all know what happened to poor Bianchi so Sauber had to scramble for funding. Now one hates to be harsh but if you're a pay driver, the only reason you're driving is because of the size of your sponsorship wallet, not because they like you or they think you're good. Van der Garde is not Fernando Alonso, he's a 29 year old driver with a nondescript minor formula record and a billionaire father in law. Ericsson raised a bigger bundle and Nasr raised a bundle, the correct way to get the seat back in this sorry situation would be for van der Garde to raise an even bigger bundle.
In any case, it would not be F1 without some sort of ridiculous drama now, would it?
Well paydrivers existed since day of the F1... the problem in the past it was part of the F1 culture and it was not made public.
ReplyDeleteWasn't there an old Stones song that went a little like..
ReplyDelete"Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth..and I love to race!!!"
Lets have no sympathy for this devil. Back marker Giedo needs to stay home or look to Nascar to get his thrills.
Nice title.... yes ridiculous, but due to the actions of Sauber, not Van Der Garde. He had a VALID contract. The actions of Sauber in its efforts to survive are what caused this mess. I am stunned by the comments of a few that Van Der Garde should not pursue the legal avenues open to him pay driver or not.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a wake up call for F1 and the ongoing issue of smaller teams finances. What Sauber has done is out of desperation, and they have been caught out.
today sky is reporting that GVG paid 8 mil for seat this year and had contract in place, i do not like pay drivers as well, but sauber cannot simply take money and not honor the contract, ridiculous !!
ReplyDeleteDid they take the money (which I'm sure was not paid up front anyway) or did they enter into a more lucrative contract with someone else?
ReplyDeleteyes they took the money according to sky who say they got the info from danish reporters , even adam cooper is reported in below link. initially adam was saying he may not race, the lawsuit is to get the money back, as you can imagine it will be awkward to race with the same team, but you never know http://adamcooperf1.com/2014/11/06/kaltenborn-dodges-questions-on-sauber-contract-saga/
ReplyDeleteThere us no doubt Sauber should return any moneys it received under the terms of the contract. But if it was the case of Sauber simply stealing money then it would be a much simpler legal case. Plus GVDG did not sue for the return of the money but for his drive. I'm sure GVDG did not just hand over a suitcase with $8M to the team.
ReplyDeleteAgreed that Sauber is the party at fault, not the driver. Further, if Sauber thinks walking out on a valid contract is acceptable, you have to wonder what its sponsors are thinking. ("Sorry, but we got a better offer from another sponsor so we're scraping your name off the car...") Also surprising is that Kaltenborn is a lawyer, who in her past may well have found herself in court fighting the very sort of action she's taking now.
ReplyDeletenot everyone legal case is for money, but in the end they go for financial settlements, anyway that's what happened here in the end, looks like they settled the case.
ReplyDelete