Niente da fare per la Sauber, che aveva presentato appello contro la decisione della Corte Suprema di mercoledì di reintegrare Giedo van der Garde, ex-pilota di riserva del team che aveva un accordo per correre nel 2015. Il verdetto è stato confermato e nel comunicato della Corte si legge: “Non riteniamo che l’appello sia nell’interesse della giustizia. E’ stato rigettato perché non vediamo errori nelle motivazioni del giudice”.
Parte dell’appello della Sauber si basava su rischi legati alla sicurezza nell’usare un pilota che non conosce la monoposto 2015 e anche questa motivazione è stata respinta. “Come osservato dal giudice, questi eventi sono controllati in modo severo e siamo certi che saranno osservate tutte le richieste sulla sicurezza”.
La Sauber ha quindi a tutti gli effetti tre piloti – van der Garde, più i due iscritti per il 2015, Marcus Ericsson e Felipe Nasr – per due macchine. Ma la saga non finisce qui, perché Van der Garde ha presentato una richiesta di sequestro dei beni della Sauber nel caso in cui non gli fosse assegnato il sedile, nel qual caso partirebbe anche una denuncia contro il team principal Monisha Kaltenborn.
Una situazione sempre più brutta, per tutti. E viene da chiedersi con quale spirito il team possa affrontare il weekend in pista che inizia tra poche ore. Ammesso che per la Sauber ci sia un GP d’Australia 2015. Da parte del team fino a questo momento nessun comunicato ufficiale.
E adesso si innescherebbe un altro problema (se mai ce ne fosse bisogno): sembra che Van der Garde non abbia la superlicenza… La saga continua!
Barbara Premoli
Nel frattempo i piloti si sono espressi sulla vicenda. Ecco alcune dichiarazioni:
“The bit that surprises me most is the comments from Sauber saying it is a safety issue with him driving the car,” Button told Sky Sports News HQ. “For me it is a shame that they have gone in that direction, because safety is always a concern in motorsport and we shouldn’t be throwing it around lightly. Personally him driving the car is not a safety issue. I think it is unfair to use that against Giedo.”
The court case has completely overshadowing Sauber’s build-up to the race, and their former driver Sergio Perez has voiced his support of van der Garde’s stance. “It shouldn’t be the way people should be treating drivers. They should respect drivers,” Perez told reporters in the Melbourne paddock on Thursday. “A driver can be quite powerful. We are working here. We need this work and this career, so it’s not fair when people are not treating you the way you have to be treated. It doesn’t matter if you are a driver or an engineer, everyone has to be treated fairly and if there’s a contract it should be respected because there are rules and they have to be followed. Sometimes in Formula 1 you hear drivers of having a contract with the teams and they just get kicked off [the line-up], or drivers who are owed money from three or four years [previously]. I think Giedo is a good example: a driver should stand up for their rights. I see it as a good thing for not only drivers but anyone who works in Formula 1, who should be treated like any other worker in the world.”
Another ex-Sauber driver, meanwhile, Felipe Massa also expressed his dismay at the situation surrounding his old team. While stressing he didn’t know the ins and outs of the case, the Williams driver said: “I think it’s sad, to be honest, to see what’s going on with the team to have three drivers signed for the championship. Maybe they already had one driver signed and then signed with another two drivers. I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t like to say something that’s not correct, but it’s sad. To see that on the first race of the season is really not nice and sad for the sport. Formula 1 is not in the best moment compared to what we saw in the past and then you still see this situation. It’s not nice.”
