TBK-Light.com

he's Ferrari backed, right? Makes sense given the engine deal.

Hmm, good point (or not). He's been with Merc since his F3 days, but his Wikipedia page hasn't been updated for a year.

he is confirmed for Renault 3.5. I have checked the calenders and it is not possible to do both, with 3 double bookings (one of them is Monaco so that might be possible to do).

He would have to have the worlds worst manager if he didn't have an opt out clause for a higher series such as F1 or Indycar.

it's Mark Blundell.

According to Adam Cooper he is favourite for the second seat at Manor.

http://beta.formula1.com/content/fom-we ... #Your_Time

beta version=> 30min sessions

Hopefully it will remain the previous layout cause this beta one is shiiiiiiiiiiiiit

Manor have arrived and are setting up. Just making the 107% will be a miracle for them.

Looks like they caught the organisers by surprise too as they don't have any drivers/team name above the garage... Good luck to them for this weekend though...

When you think about it, listening to the Sauber situation with the lawyers saying it'd be wreckless to allow a certain driver to race their car, I wonder what they'd say about both Marussia/Manor drivers? I don't recall reading anything about the car even being given a shakedown?

Saubers argument is weak, very weak.

We're only being fed snippets of the case though. We don't necessarily know if those details are the basis of their argument or peripheral details.

What needs to be addressed is that had Sauber not terminated the agreement with VdG and Sutil, taking the sponsorship of Nasr and Ericsson, then it's likely the team would have ceased trading and hundreds of people would now be unemployed. So much for VdG having a 'guaranteed' 2015 race seat.

_________________
BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

Well I guess Sauber should have thought of that before they closed that agreement.

Every agreement has get out clauses, exceptions and enables amendments to be made by all parties. Let's not assume the agreement was watertight for VdG. Like I said previously, the original (Swiss?) court that VdG filed this complaint in, ruled in his favour. Yet his status within the team remains unchanged. I cannot be the only person wondering why.

_________________
BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

lol

Isn't the issue that Sauber wanted both their cake and to eat it?

They took VdG's money, agreed to give him X, Y and Z, gave him X then told him to take a hike.

I cannot see how they didn't think that was going to end badly for them, the argument of the team going under is a heart strings puller, it has no merrit to the case, if you're running your company so badly that the only option is to steal someone's money to stay afloat, you really don't deserved to be in that position in the first place and deserve everything you are going to get for hoodwinking someone of VdG's stature.

VdG should perhaps be going after compensation instead of trying to get the Court to give him the race seat, if he wins he's not exactly going to be Mr Popular with the people spannering his car, but if what happened is what we've been lead to believe and Sauber were robbing Peter to pay Paul, then I have no sympathy for them.

Isn't the issue that Sauber wanted both their cake and to eat it?

They took VdG's money, agreed to give him X, Y and Z, gave him X then told him to take a hike.

I cannot see how they didn't think that was going to end badly for them, the argument of the team going under is a heart strings puller, it has no merrit to the case, if you're running your company so badly that the only option is to steal someone's money to stay afloat, you really don't deserved to be in that position in the first place and deserve everything you are going to get for hoodwinking someone of VdG's stature.

VdG should perhaps be going after compensation instead of trying to get the Court to give him the race seat, if he wins he's not exactly going to be Mr Popular with the people spannering his car, but if what happened is what we've been lead to believe and Sauber were robbing Peter to pay Paul, then I have no sympathy for them.

I agree with you entirely Ian. As normal.

But this isn't an unusual situation for F1 teams and drivers to find themselves in. We've seen multiple times that contracts often mean nothing in F1, whether you're a driver, sponsor, chief designer (Newey, McLaren, Jaguar... for example) or anyone else.

Sauber are in a sticky legal spot and there is a clear way out, but VdG seems to want something he cannot get.

_________________
BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

It's official: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117975

well, it's not the first time someone ignored a courtruling.

I think team vdGarde isn't necessarily out for a seat with Sauber. I assume they're smart enough to know it's not preferable as he wont get full support anyways.
I think its more about getting (part of) their money back so they can buy a seat with Manor or another racing series.

Yeah he's going after them for the wrong resolution.

Yeah I think you're onto something and maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way. Perhaps he and his sponsor are trying to back Sauber so far into a corner that the resolution they are working for is that they recover the majority of their original investment and take that to another team. Like Manor.

The question then becomes, does Sauber have the assets to repay VdG and his sponsor?

_________________
BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk