The F1 driver transfer discussion/speculation archiveFormula 1 

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TenEightyOne
An interesting theory that I saw on Facebook (that infamous last-bastion of common sense) was that if Sauber do indeed go bust then VdG's backers may buy the team out for a bargain-basement price.

World's most expensive scalextric for the world's most spoilt boy.
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I wouldn't rule it out. If the litigation and or settlement with VDG adds up to enough, the team will be unable to function for lack of funds, and will be completely unappealing to any normal investor thinking of bailing it out.

On the other hand, anyone associated with VDG will be happy to take the whole team off their hands for pennies on the dollar knowing that they will be able to get him to waive any monies owed, and therefore return the team to it's "true" worth. The owners of Sauber get away without totally losing everything, VDG and his backers get a functioning F1 team.

It's a very cunning scheme and I read something very similar once in a novel called Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Antagonist finds legal loophole and sues company for disgusting amount of money, which is merely an excuse for him to accept big chunks of stock of the company in lieu of a payment that the company has no conceivable way of making. From litigation to company ownership in three easy steps.

I'm not sure how doable it is in the real world, but it's the only moderately sensible plan of attack I can see to the whole thing. Otherwise it's just the world's biggest dummy spit.
 
Imari
..., but Sauber can't give what they don't have.
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Which may exactly be the problem, unfortunately.

I can not imagine Sauber to have overlooked their own paperwork to the extend we have to witness today. Isn’t it conceivable that they stand in a position where they just can not exercise their own exit clauses.

A big conspiracy is convenient to further demonize the Dutchman, but I can’t solve myself to join the stoning.

The fact he opted for an “alternative dispute resolution” hints, beyond the disagreement, a significative form of goodwill (both absolute and particular). While not "internal", the arbitration offered the convenience of discretion. Something Sauber may have needed more than VDG or Sutil. Keeping in mind that having scored no points in 2014 they had to submit their project, financial position and sustainability to the FIA in order to fill their application for the 2015 championship. Not sure, in those conditions, that 2 drivers complaining in front of the CRB would have made the best impression.

I do agree that when it comes to lawyers and courts the target and the goal may differ significantly. So isn’t it just possible that VDG’s sharp action is motivated by the fact he doesn’t want to take any risk of seeing his name ending up in the middle of a long list of creditors?

In the context, blaming him for an eventual collapse of the team represents, in my eye, a slight misreading of the situation.
 
I'm curious what the people who are 'against' VDG's actions saw as the best solution? It is rumored his backers paid a large sum of money last year to have him on the grid this year, about 8 million euros (exact amount doesn't matter, and this seems very plausible otherwise you won't get a seat). Should he just walk away and consider the 8 million flushed down the toilet? Since taking any legal step (to get the money or seat) would jeopardize the survival of Sauber (300 employees) and is less morally justified.

Or if you turn it around; is it more morally justified for the management of a F1 team to commit fraud to save a F1 team (300 people) while only the signed driver and his sponsor are disadvantaged?

If the above is answered with 'yes' then an F1 team can repeat this practice to get their financials sorted if they are on the brink of a collapse. It would be morally right to commit fraud to save the company, if all other options are ran out. Many people will benefit while few will suffer.
 
Let me rephrase it.

Hiring 4 drivers is not an issue. Lotus has had 5-6 at times.

Hiring 4 drivers that believe they're going to be racing for the team for the entire season is a problem.
 
Bram Turismo
So be it.

Now they'll probably have an ever bigger mess to clean up. They dug their own grave.
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Oh it's not that I care for Sauber going bankrupt. It was about the fact that a lot of people here consider VDG's moves immoral and you shouldn't do that because 300 peoples jobs are on stake. So the question to them also was if it is more morally justified for the management to sell the same seat multiple times, if you have no other options and are almost bankrupt.
 
All they needed to do was sign 2 of the drivers to a testing/FP1 role and they would have been just fine. They would have had the money from the drivers and no one would be bringing the courts into the situation.
 
Pilitev
Oh it's not that I care for Sauber going bankrupt. It was about the fact that a lot of people here consider VDG's moves immoral and you shouldn't do that because 300 peoples jobs are on stake. So the question to them also was if it is more morally justified for the management to sell the same seat multiple times, if you have no other options and are almost bankrupt.
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Well if I would have people financially investing a lot of money in me for getting an F1 seat before ultimately getting denied one, I'd be pretty pissed as well.
 
Some here seem to be implying Sauber were just being greedy chancers and tried to sign 4 drivers at once and hope nobody would notice. But as far as I understand it the decisions they had to make were bound by circumstance - specfically, surrounding the Bianchi accident. Here is Joe Saward's explanation:


The original plan, as I understand it, was to have Jules Bianchi and Van der Garde as the team’s drivers in 2015. The inclusion of the Frenchman ensured a top talent and also backing for the team (probably in the form of an engine discount) from Ferrari. Van der Garde was included because he would be able to provide considerable funding for the team, through his sponsors, largely related to his father-in-law Marcel Boekhoorn. After Bianchi was injured in October, it became clear to Sauber that the plan needed to be changed as Ferrari was no longer in a position to help the team as it was going to do. The team still has an arrangement with the Italian team, to have Raffaele Marciello as its test driver, but this meant that the team still has a hole in its 2015 budget. Perhaps more importantly, so I am told, the team was in a cash-flow crisis at the time because of the failure of Russian backers to deliver money that had been promised and because the plan to develop a relationship with Simona de Silvestro had also run into financial trouble. The word is that Marcus Ericsson’s backers were willing to pay Sauber a substantial sum of money on signature of a 2015 contract which meant that the team was instantly out of immediate financial danger, but that still meant that there was more money required to get to a sensible budget in 2015. Thus when Felipe Nasr came along with more money than Van der Garde, it was the obvious solution to the problem. Ericsson and Nasr are pay-drivers just as Van der Garde is a pay-driver, but with more money and no real evidence to show that Van der Garde would produce better results it was logical for the team to secure its financial future and hope to be able to score the best possible results, so as not to risk losing its TV money in 2015.
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If you're struggling to understand why Sauber would have to do this, remember it was only a few months ago that the headlines were the absurd distribution and spending of money within the sport. I don't think it's unreasonable to argue that this is they their hand was forced, and this is what fans should be angry about - not the team, perhaps not even Van der Garde.


Pilitev
Or if you turn it around; is it more morally justified for the management of a F1 team to commit fraud to save a F1 team (300 people) while only the signed driver and his sponsor are disadvantaged?
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It's perhaps not morally right, but surely the solution is to address the root cause, the huge financial problems the sport has - not to screw over an entire team and leave us with an even smaller grid.
 
Regardless of who is right and who is wrong in this situation, VdG has gone about this the wrong way, the way he has done this means if Sauber have to run him he is not going to get any favours from the team at all, leaving him and the team in a very uncomfortable situation if they have to work together...which means no chance of success for any of them. Really VdG should've just taken Sauber to court to get any money back his sponsors had paid and to get compensation for a terminated contract/loss of earnings, then looked for a drive elsewhere. This way both parties could've kept this ugly mess out of the media spotlight.
Going the way VdG has means it's a lose/lose situation for everyone...Him, Sauber, F1, Fans...Everyone !

I'm not saying legally VdG or Sauber are right or wrong, thats for the lawyers and courts to decide, I'm saying from a common sense, logical and even PR point of view VdG has gone about this the wrong way.
 
daan
It strikes me as a bit odd that a team that has a trained lawyer as a team principal would get itself in this situation.
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Very odd indeed. I can only think that Sauber must have thought they had their affairs in proper order. It's clear that it could be sui-team-icide to get something like this wrong (for any team taking money from drivers) and driver contracts are normally haggled down to every single clause.

They must have made a huge mistake somewhere in the contract or VdG's backers have some much more expensive lawyers than Monisha K.
 
Court proceedings are scheduled to get underway in ten minutes for what should (hopefully) be the final chapter of this saga.
 
Not yet.

Edit: it may take some time to get some, VDG's lawyer referred to it as "fluid".
 
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Soundtrack
A settlement has been found!👍
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No it hasn't he just dropped the case until later.

From FB.

'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.'
 
Yellowbeard
At this point I think He'd be completely insane to get in a car prepared for a race by a team of people that hate him ... It only takes one person to not do up a bolt tightly for there to be a massive 'accident' !
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I doubt they'd endanger others by trying to enact some revenge
 
Unless they have a wire transfer ready to go from Nasr's Brazilian bank anything Sauber puts on paper has already been shown to be completely worthless.
 
It's not a question of putting pen to paper. It's essentially a short-term agreement that says Sauber will attempt to resolve the dispute with van der Garde, and that van der Garde will withdraw his complaint and waive his right to compete this weekend.
 
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