Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsSauber

Sauber appeals van der Garde verdict

Sauber has launched an immediate appeal against a court decision which says Giedo van der Garde has to race for the team this season.

Van der Garde claimed Sauber had reneged on a deal which would see him racing for the team in 2015, calling for an urgent hearing at the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne on Monday. A decision was made on Wednesday, with Justice Clyde Croft telling the court: "The application is successful and will be enforced."

The court's decision calls for Sauber to put van der Garde in one of the cars for the 2015 season, meaning it would have to drop one of its current race drivers - Marcus Ericsson or Felipe Nasr - despite both bringing substantial sponsorship to the team.

However, Sauber has immediately appealed the decision. With the Australian Grand Prix beginning with FP1 on Friday at 12:30 local time, the appeal will be heard on Wednesday afternoon.

Following the first part of the appeal, the hearing will continue at 09:30am local time on Thursday morning, with Sauber needing to name its drivers for the weekend later the same afternoon.

Sauber claims it would be unsafe to put van der Garde in the 2015 car, with the Dutchman having yet to drive it.

Click here for the F1i 2015 season preview

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.