Sauber F1 Team 2015

[Phil]

I do too [feel sad about Giedo]. But being realistic, they were many unfortunate circumstances that ment that he likely wouldn't have driven anyway. If he had enforced his contract with Sauber, Sauber might not be on 2015 grid. Result: no race seat.

Had he not wasted time with Sauber - pulled out early and devoted his time in finding an alternative drive - I can't see where he would have raced either. Lotus? Nope - they're set with Maldonado ($$$) and Grosjean. Toro-Rosso? Nope - RedBull junior team. ForceIndia? Nope. Hulkenberg and Perez have contracts. Manor? Maybe - but I'm doubtful they'll actually drive this year. This was an off chance ever since they went into administration. So essentially, even if Sauber are the bad guys here, there's absolutely no realistic chance Giedo would have gotten a race seat. His net-loss over this entire saga is at the end of the day, not huge. Any money that he or his backers invested, he likely got back with the payoff (if not more, considering he had the team by the balls).

Giedo is just another driver with a sad story on his journey to get into F1. Don't blame the team, blame F1. If F1 was a much healthier business for all involved, teams would be less reliant on drivers paying for seats in the first place. Contracts would be simpler too. And perhaps we would see talent over money in many teams.

[bill shoe]

Yea, it feels like GVDG lost out here even with the settlement. I think his reputation as a driver will continue to be OK, i.e. decent speed and not a crasher. There are currently very few pay-seats available in F1, but if he's the high bidder for one in the future then he'll get it. I don't think anyone in the Paddock really has a problem with how he treated Sauber. At the end of 2008, did anyone seriously suggest that Fernando Alonso would drive again for Ron Dennis and McLaren? The paddock is nothing if not pragmatic.

It's amazing that GVDG apparently forced Bernie to part with money, or at least to pay Sauber's money early. This was due to Bernie not wanting further low-grid publicity and contractual problems with car-count. I can't think of any other situation in memory where Bernie was forced to pay extra FOM money to keep the show going. That was a really remarkable performance by GVDG and his lawyers.

[Richard]

I can't think of any other situation in memory where Bernie was forced to pay extra FOM money to keep the show going.

Brawn GP had a similar advance from Bernie.

I don't think FOM paid extra money, they simply brought forward Sauber's prize money.

[FW17]

Can the Mods pls take the pic of VdG from the thread image, better things have happened over the weekend

[knabbel]

https://twitter.com/autoracesponsor/sta ... 9552445440

https://twitter.com/SauberF1Team/status ... 0109813760

Official tweet from Sauber F1, So I assume this partnership is includes free freight of equipment?

Airlines are great in overbooking of seats

[Jonnycraig]

"Dear Sauber F1 Team fans,

Many of you read today’s statement on Giedo van der Garde’s Facebook page. So have we and we were, indeed, rather surprised. We don’t know about Giedo’s intentions. He may try to present himself as a winner, while we had actually hoped to come to rest after our agreement. Giedo decided to take a different approach – the reasoning behind we cannot understand.

We’d have very good answers to the many statements and accusations in Giedo’s post. But to expand on this wouldn’t help our race team nor our fans and partners. It would only encourage a mud fight via the media and we will not lend ourselves to that. The next race in Malaysia is where our focus is and that’s where we will build up on last weekend’s success together with our drivers Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr. All our efforts are drawn to this objective.

With this in mind we’d like to encourage you to form your own opinion about what happened, however critical it may be. From our side we herewith close the matter and look already forward to celebrating future achievements at the race track together with you.

Yours sincerely,
Sauber F1 Team

#LetsRaceNotFight"

Where on earth did Sauber get their PR team

[Manoah2u]

Official Statement from Giedo van der Garde:

Giedo van der Garde statement
....an insanely long story without spacing...

jeesh, still not over?

http://www.worldcarfans.com/11503189073 ... bably-over

Giedo van der Garde on Wednesday admitted the Sauber legal affair has probably ended his formula one dream.

The Dutchman's management confirmed reports that a settlement with the Swiss team has resulted in the end of his 2015 race contract "by mutual consent".

Reports had suggested van der Garde, 29, and his backers had been refunded EUR 15 million including legal costs, but the driver said it only left him "sad and very disappointed".

He would not comment on the actual figure, but confirmed that Sauber paid "significant compensation".

"This dream has been taken away from me and I know that my future in formula one is probably over," he said in a statement posted on Facebook.

Van der Garde was critical of Sauber team boss Monisha Kaltenborn, revealing she was "adamant not to let me drive" in Melbourne.

He said he ultimately agreed to settle only because pushing forward might have "brought down" Sauber, "wrecked" the season opener and "ruined the careers" of Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson.

"I decided I did not want to live with that idea, even though it was only the team's management that was responsible for the bizarre situation I found myself in," said van der Garde, who revealed that his sponsors paid for his 2015 seat in full early last year.

"This was simply in good faith and to help the team deal with its cash problems at the time. Effectively, it was my sponsor's advance payments that helped the team survive in 2014," he explained.

He said he will now try to resurrect his career at Le Mans or in the DTM series.

Van der Garde thanked F1 drivers and personalities for privately and publicly backing his stance against Sauber, and hoped the case would help set "new standards" to "protect the rights of drivers".

"I would like to think that the values and business ethics that apply in any other business should be equally applicable in formula one," he said.

notwithstanding that i think he's living on another planet, he's indeed right about his F1 career and we all should accept and agree now.

I indeed agree that this GvdG headline should be changed from the topic, it leaves a sour taste in the mouth contineously seeing that headline whilst Sauber finally can focus on being Sauber again; racing.

Glad to see the Singapore airlines partnership. Some damn good news, they can use all the partners they can get.
Though i'm wondering; isn't Emirates the number 1 flight company right now? Wouldn't a Emirates partnership be more lucrative? I remember they were on the Mclarens if i remember right. What happened?

[FW17]

Emirates I think got poached by FOM

I hope Singapore Airlines is paying enough to put some stickers on the car rather than just free tickets.

M2u, what would a Sing Air logo look on sauber?

[bdr529]

https://twitter.com/autoracesponsor/sta ... 9552445440

https://twitter.com/SauberF1Team/status ... 0109813760

Official tweet from Sauber F1, So I assume this partnership is includes free freight of equipment?

Airlines are great in overbooking of seats

Well played my good man

[Cuky]

Emirates I think got poached by FOM

I hope Singapore Airlines is paying enough to put some stickers on the car rather than just free tickets.

M2u, what would a Sing Air logo look on sauber?

Logo looks almost like it was meant to be placed on current Sauber car

[Manoah2u]

wow! =D>

[bill shoe]

I can't think of any other situation in memory where Bernie was forced to pay extra FOM money to keep the show going.

Brawn GP had a similar advance from Bernie.

I don't think FOM paid extra money, they simply brought forward Sauber's prize money.

The Brawn advance was something that Bernie undoubtedly thought was good for his long-term profit, but my understanding was that he didn't have to do it at the time. In contrast when the Sauber thing became a crisis, Bernie was forced to act to prevent the various FOM contracts from crumbling due to car-count issues. I think an unprecedented example of an individual forcing Bernie's hand with money.

I suppose Bernie may be charging Sauber a high interest rate for the effective loan, in which case Bernie was arguably acting for profit, not because he was forced into it.

[Moxie]

I suppose Bernie may be charging Sauber a high interest rate for the effective loan, in which case Bernie was arguably acting for profit, not because he was forced into it.

Why do you think these two things are mutually exclusive. Bernie being the greedy buggar he is, will find a way to make a profit, even if he is forced into it.

[Vettel Maggot]

I hope they roll out in Malaysia like this photoshop I made:

[Wayne DR]

I was actually disappointed with Ericsson's drive on Sunday. The car looked better, it would have been interesting to see what Van der Garde could have done. So while they celebrate their success, I think they should have achieved more, burying Red Bull and Force India...

I agree with the comment above that Kaltenborn needs to go, ethically this all reflects very poorly on her and the team. Maybe they could look into hiring just one social media expert instead of FOUR drivers. What a PR disaster!!