In today’s episode of “As The Wheel Turns”, the soap opera surrounding Dutch driver Giedo van der Garde and his attempt to force Sauber to let him drive one of their cars in a Formula One race this year, an agreement was reached that will allow Sauber to “compete” in this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.
Sauber had initially signed a contract with van der Garde to have him be one of their drivers for the upcoming 2015 racing season, but that was before Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson came at the financially strapped team with more money, and when that happened, Sauber promptly dropped van der Garde like the proverbial hot potato. But van der Garde said – “not so fast” – and had his lawyers sue Sauber’s team for breach of contract. An Australian court agreed with van der Garde’s lawyers and that created a situation where Sauber would have to either allow van der Garde to drive or – in a worst-case scenario – sit out the Australian Grand Prix.
Neither will happen, as the two sides came to an agreement which has not yet been revealed but which is likely to have Nasr and Ericsson race for last place in the Australian Grand Prix and then have van der Garde replace Nasr in the Malaysian Grand Prix in two weeks allowing Sauber to possibly fulfill their contractual obligation before dropping van der Garde altogether.
The 2015 Formula One season begins with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 15, 2015.