Van der Garde drops Sauber dispute

Giedo van der Garde has dropped his dispute with Sauber and will not be racing in Australia this weekend.

The 29-year-old Dutchman had taken Sauber to court over a contract dispute and the authorities came down on the side of the former Caterham driver.

But Sauber were not willing to budge on their stance of changing drivers with Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr joining the team over the winter.

It is believed that whilst Giedo van der Garde produced valuable financial support to the team during 2014, both Ericsson and Nasr have provided vital sponsorship to secure the teams position during 2015.

Now that the case has been dropped Giedo van der Garde and Sauber will now aim to settle the dispute out of court.

‘My management will continue talks with Sauber early next week to find a mutually acceptable solution for the current situation that has now arisen.

‘I am confident such a solution will be found and I will inform the media once done.’ Giedo van der Garde told the BBC.

A Sauber statement added: ‘Sauber can confirm it has been able to agree with Giedo Van der Garde that he refrains from driving in the Australian Grand Prix so it can keep its original planning,’

‘The Sauber F1 Team, Mr Van der Garde and his management will continue to have constructive talks in order to find a mutually acceptable solution.’