Giedo van der Garde

DPA/Berlin

Dutch driver Giedo van der Garde said yesterday he has reached a settlement with the Sauber Formula One team after not being picked for the 2015 season despite having a contract.
“We have reached a settlement with Sauber and my driver contract with the team has been ended by mutual consent ... Sauber paid significant compensation to avoid honouring the contract they had with me,” Van der Garde said on his Facebook page.
He did not go into details but the figure is estimated at 15 million euros (15.9 million dollars).
Van der Garde, 27, had a contract to be one of Sauber’s race drivers this season. But the team then unveiled Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr as their drivers and both were also at the weekend season-opener in Australia.
Court rulings supported Van der Garde’s claims but a settlement was now reached in a case in which the driver named the struggling team’s financial decision-making as “bizarre.”
Van der Garde admitted that “my future in Formula One is probably over” but that he aimed to stay in motorsport. He raced for Caterham in 2013 and was a Sauber test driver last year.
Van der Garde said he took action because early payment of sponsorship money for the 2015 season in mid-2014 should have secured him a place on the team. The sum is believed to have been 13 million euros and was badly needed by struggling Sauber at the time.
“My sponsors paid the sponsorship fee related to the 2015 season in its entirety to Sauber in the first half of 2014. 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 advanced payments that helped the team survive in 2014,” he said.
 But Nasr and Ericsson appear to have been able to bring in even more sponsorship money which could have prompted team principal Monisha Kaltenborn to pick them.
The Australian court ruling is then believed to have forced the team to compensate Van der Garde because losing either Ericsson or Nasr would have been even more costly and possibly the end of Sauber in F1.
Sauber, who will save some money after announcing Singapore Airlines as a new partner yesterday, did want to comment for confidentiality reasons who it came up with the settlement payment.
That has led to plenty of speculation such as the current team sponsors helping out to restore peace within the team, or even F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone contributing - which is normally forbidden but could spare the sport from losing yet another team.
Van der Garde meanwhile expressed his hope that “what has happened to me will start a movement aimed at setting new standards and bringing about new regulations to help 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.”
No 2015 German Grand Prix: Hockenheim boss
The boss of Hockenheim insists there will not be a German Grand Prix held there in 2015 despite a leg of the Formula One championship scheduled to take place at the circuit on July 19.  
Georg Seiler, managing director of the Hockenheim track, told German daily Bild they will not be ready to host the race in time.
“We have no hope any more of having a Formula One race here,” he said.
“The time in which to organise a race has expired, otherwise the quality of the event would have suffered.”
Hockenheim hosted last year’s German Grand Prix, but is supposed to alternate each year with the Nurburgring, which has new owners and no contract for 2015.
Formula 1 magnate Bernie Ecclestone said in January that Hockenheim would again host this year’s race and the official 2015 calendar does not yet specify a venue for the race.
Seiler says a call from Ecclestone, who told the English media on Monday that Hockenheim is the only viable option in Germany, could rapidly change the situation, but the German is not waiting for the phone to ring.
“If Mr. Ecclestone would call tomorrow, we would have a new situation. But I don’t believe he will,” said Seiler.
There are several problems including ticket sales as the Hockenheim race has yet to be confirmed and there is now not enough time left to sell the necessary tickets, according to Seiler, who plans to host the German GP in 2016 and 2018.
“We’ve already lost three or four months worth of ticket sales, including the lucrative Christmas market,” he explained.
“And we didn’t want to impair on our fixed dates for 2016 and 2018 with  moderate sales performances this year.
“And next year we want a nicely filled full house with two Germans on the podium.”
Seiler insisted Hockenheim’s failure to host the event is down to Nurburgring’s financial difficulties.
“We love Formula One, but without financial support our hands are tied,” Seiler told Germany’s Motorsport Magazin.com.
“I want it to be understood that we are not responsible for the fact that it won’t work out.
“On the contrary, we have done everything to hold the event as Nurburgring was not able to be the venue in 2015.
“However, it is not in our hands. The main things it comes down to are money and time.”