Dutchman Giedo van der Garde has allegedly begun legal proceedings in Australia after the Sauber F1 Team reneged on their decision to offer him a race seat for the 2015 Formula 1 season.
Van der Garde was under the impression he would be offered the race seat this season after spending last year as the team’s official test driver, but Sauber ultimately decided to sign Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr, leaving the Dutchman on the sidelines. The twenty-nine-year-old is claiming unfair dismissal.
Having joined the team after racing for the Caterham F1 Team in 2013, van der Garde participated in seven free practice sessions with Sauber during the 2014 season, with the first being in Bahrain in April and the last in Italy in September.
So far, Sauber have not been available for comment, but with the first practice session of the new Formula 1 season just a week away, it is more hassle the team will have to contend with.
The team endured their first point-less season in their history in 2014 with Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez behind the wheel of their Ferrari-powered C33. As well as van der Garde, both Sergey Sirotkin and Adderly Fong had an outing each during free practice, in Russia and Abu Dhabi respectively.
