The F1 2015 thread…

TBH Sauber come off really badly here. I almost hope that they refuse to let him race and their kit is impounded. However, I suspect given the impact on their overall business it would be catastrophic if they didn’t drive at all as I doubt they are terribly solvent at the moment.

I can’t see that Sauber would be prevented from racing. They’d just be held to account for losses/damages/failure to deliver against GVD’s contract (or more to the point, his sponsors’ contracts). That’s where the pain will be – I doubt Sauber have the money to pay back…

He is now waiting for his super licence, which may prove the final sticking point.

I can just imagine the slow wheels of bureaucracy causing this to crash despite all the court rulings.

He needs a race seat as well, as he hasn’t had one moulded yet.

The seat only takes a short while to make.

Can they make it in Australia or does he have to head to the factory for measurements, get it made and then get it sent out. There’s less than 24hrs to go to first practice.

There’s nothing to physically stop him racing – it’s just down to licenses, etc. Interestingly this link suggests that Sauber having equipment confiscated if they don’t comply is a realistic prospect so it’s likely that it’ll be one of the other two drivers dumped. I can imagine that having given him the drive at Oz, Sauber will be able to dump GVD just like any other gets dumped mid season, having had a bit of time to work out the finances of it all…

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2015/03/another-fine-mess-as-sauber-legal-row-overshadows-new-season-start-in-melbourne/

Justice Clyde Croft has ordered the team pay legal costs and to provide a list of their assets in Australia by tonight (Thursday). He will take further action on Friday morning depending on what happens next.

Jesus the other two drivers also have contracts to drive. This could be messy with one of them if dropped?

I never thought Sauber could get in such a mess.

Yes, they’ll all have legitimate claims but given that the other two drivers presumably are providing more money (which would be why they were chosen ahead of GVD) and are intending to drive for the team for the rest of the year, one will no doubt step aside and not make too much fuss, for the good of the team, for one race.

Since you clearly love a good conspiracy theory, Hora:

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/what-now-for-sauber-after-court-loss

Yes, they’ll all have legitimate claims but given that the other two drivers presumably are providing more money (which would be why they were chosen ahead of GVD) and are intending to drive for the team for the rest of the year, one will no doubt step aside and not make too much fuss, for the good of the team, for one race.

The judge further added that the ruling applies “to the whole of the 2015 Formula 1 season – not just in relation to the coming few days in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix”.

Something will have to give, there’s an appeal this evening so we’ll see

He needs a race seat as well, as he hasn’t had one moulded yet.

Can they make it in Australia or does he have to head to the factory for measurements, get it made and then get it sent out. There’s less than 24hrs to go to first practice.

The seat only takes a short while to make.

[/quote]

When Hamilton went sick during testing, Merc quickly drafted in Wehrlein and simply put him in the car without a seat being made specially for him.
Not ideal but Sauber claiming a safety issue by doing similar is stretching it a bit.

Since you clearly love a good conspiracy theory, Hora:

Alonso’s latest news story saying hes looking forward to driving the car etc etc really helped with the negativity 😀

word on the wire today, FIA still investigating , funny though they stated “still working with McLaren ” and “Our medical department is talking to people who treated him”
hmmmmm perhaps the 2 sides of the story dont match up yet.

Perhaps they should speak to Ron…?
😉

The judge further added that the ruling applies “to the whole of the 2015 Formula 1 season – not just in relation to the coming few days in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix”.

But drivers are always being changed mid season so there must be some getout clause in there – I expect that it relates to ‘performance’ though and they can’t claim that if he hasn’t been in the car yet…

As I understood it, the appeal was today (which since it’s in Oz was late yesterday) and now that’s been rejected, Sauber are stuck with it and pretty much have to put GVD in the car this weekend to avoid contempt of court.

As I understood it, the appeal was today

There are some more court proceedings (not sure what exactly) 10:30 local time Friday

That’s for the court to check that Sauber are complying with the ruling…

http://www.motorsport.com/all/article/?id=483856

Is, do you think, van de Garde’s intention to drive the team out of business?

Who knows… stranger things have happened…

Probably not though – more likely is he just wants to race.

Is, do you think, van de Garde’s intention to drive the team out of business?

He probably just wants to get what he’s paid for so far and for the team to honour it’s contract with him.
Not unreasonable.

Just because someone came along later with more money shouldn’t mean they can ignore him, they’ve had plenty of time to deal with it but chose not to do so.

That’s fair enough – it’s just, like.. In his efforts to get what he (or somebody else) paid for, I fear he’s going to break Sauber. 🙁

Given that the team boss is a lawyer, you would have thought they could and should of mitigated that risk.

That’s fair enough – it’s just, like.. In his efforts to get what he (or somebody else) paid for, I fear he’s going to break Sauber.

Happens all the time, management getting themselves in a mess because they’re greedy and get complacent. A big national business was built up by a guy in a town where I used to live and he sold it, problem was the buyer didn’t put a clause in the contract to stop him from doing the same again (start a similar business, which apparently is a standard clause), so he duly did start again and it is at least as successful as the original!

The obvious way out for Sauber would be to get Ferrari to twist Manor’s arm a bit to take one of the three.
Whether they’d do it and how much it’ll cost Sauber may make it difficult but unless VdG backs down, they don’t have many other options.
Ferrari certainly have some leverage in both teams so not impossible, especially if a master broker like Bernie puts his mind to it and gets people talking.

Sauber sit out P1 and then send out Nasr and Ericsson in P2

VdG got his circuit passes and had a seat fitting with Sauber so it looks like the licence issue is holding things up.

I liked Brundle’s take on how the relationship would go

radio
VdG “massive oversteer into turn 1”
Eng “copy that Giedo, just turn the steering wheel a bit more”

So, results so far largely as expected – Merc, Ferrari, Williams, RB give or take.

Buttons comments are bad news for McL fans though – no RB2014 type step forward from the last test to Oz GP by the looks of it – JB basically said he hopes that Manor get their car together otherwise McL will be filling the back row of the grid 😕

Helmut Marko isn’t a happy chap!…

Marko: We have taken a step back with Renault

That makes me happy 🙂 While I like RB as a team, I’ve never liked Helmut.

Anyone want to take any bets that RBR will still be with Renault by end of this season – would no surprise me if they “purchase” ‘renault power unit’ division out-right!

McLaren – will Ron last 4 races if they are battling for the rear of the grid-
could Honda be waiting for something like this to swoop in a fully takeover McLaren as a full works 2016 team??

would no surprise me if they “purchase” ‘renault power unit’ division out-right!

That rumour has been doing the rounds for a while now, it may even happen 🙂

No chance of McLaren selling out to Honda.

would no surprise me if they “purchase” ‘renault power unit’ division out-right!

What would be more likely is Renault buying the RBR outfit outright, then restore it to a Renault works team.

would no surprise me if they “purchase” ‘renault power unit’ division out-right!

There have also been rumours recently that Renault will buy a team and become a full works entry again.

Red Bull with the Austrian/German links may be able to tempt one of other German marques back in?

would no surprise me if they “purchase” ‘renault power unit’ division out-right!

The rumour mill is in overdrive here too. There’s speculation that VW’s hiring of outgoing Ferrari principal Stefano Domenicali may have something to do with an Audi or Porsche readying a power unit for Red Bull in 2017. While it may seem very far-fetched, it should be noted that Audi is scaling back it’s Le Mans presence this year and that the VW group has almost committed to F1 on three separate occasions, indeed in the late 1990s it was revealed that a VW 3 litre V10 power unit was being dyno tested. The common theme has been the mutual loathing between VW’s Ferdinand Piech and Bernie.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Renault bought a struggling F1 team outright, one with a decent chassis but hitherto unexpectedly high legal costs…or failing that, Force India for a song.

i really dont think though that RBR would want to try an untested power unit, more over that they would purchase Renault and make any and all modifications for the engine to suit their car – RBR cannot afford to spend this season waiting for 2016 for a new engine supplier and then wait on that season to “see how it goes” – especially if the 2017 season is all about new 1000bhp power units anyway!

EDIT:
as for McLaren-Honda – why wouldnt McLaren sell out? they sold out to Middle Eastern buyers a few years ago until Ron came back…
it would still be called McLaren Honda, it would just be that Honda would pick and choose staff – goodbye Ron.

Rumours of RB buying Renault engines have been around for ages – they’d then be comparable with Merc and Ferrari in doing it all under one roof which is reckoned to be an advantage.

I can’t see McL selling to Honda – they consider themselves a marque in their own right and selling would fundamentally change that. Besides, Honda didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory during their car foray until 2009 (and yes, I know ref Brawn but they largely got themselves into that position by taking two years to design the car while their main competition raced themselves into the ground and missed out on a loophole).

Small PSA – if you don’t have the Sky F1 channel but have Sky 1, you can still watch (record) the qualifying live as it’ll be on Sky 1 tomorrow morning (BBC at 1pm – eg not live)

VDG won’t be racing for Sauber this weekend:

Statement from @GvanderGarde makes it clear @FelipeNasr and @Ericsson_Marcus will be in Sauber cars this weekend.

— Andrew Benson (@andrewbensonf1) March 13, 2015

With respect to the interest of motorsport, and F1 in particular, I have decided to give up my legal rights to race this weekend at the Melbourne Grand Prix.
As I am a passionate race driver this decision has been very difficult for me.
However I also wish to respect the interest of the FIA, Sauber Motorsport, as well as Nasr and Ericsson.
My management will continue talks with Sauber early next week to find a mutually acceptable solution for the current situation that has now arisen.
I am confident such solution will be found and I will inform the media once done.

His FB page