Sauber found themselves on the track and in court at the same time as the new Formula One season began in contentious circumstances.

Over the past few days Sauber have dominated proceedings via a legal battle in the Supreme Court of Victoria with last season's reserve driver Giedo van der Garde.

That will continue on Saturday as Van der Garde pursues enforcement of the order allowing him to drive, otherwise Sauber risk being in contempt of court.

The court upheld an initial Swiss arbitration panel hearing that the team cannot deny him his right to drive given he has a contract for a full-time seat for this season.

Sauber's problem is they also signed Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr towards the end of last year before - according to team boss Monisha Kaltenborn - cancelling Van der Garde's deal in February.

With three valid contracts and only two race seats available, Sauber and Kaltenborn have found themselves mired in controversy.

Sauber have been forced to detail their assets, which could be impounded, to the court while the worst case scenario is Kaltenborn faces imprisonment if she fails to comply with the order.

The legal argument resulted in Sauber failing to take to the track for the opening practice session of the year at Melbourne's Albert Park.

Come FP2, and with lawyers for both parties also back in court just a few miles away, it was Ericsson and Nasr behind the wheel, with Van der Garde unable to acquire the necessary super licence required to drive in F1.

In court Justice Croft ordered a further recess until 9.30am local time Saturday (10.30pm Irish), with constructive talks understood to have taken place, leading to the possibility of a conclusion.

Meanwhile, Kaltenborn has no intention of quitting as team principal of Sauber.

Kaltenborn's position has been drawn into sharp focus as the controversy rumbles on.

Pressed on whether she had considered resigning, Kaltenborn said: "I've not considered that. This whole matter does not have any effect on the way we work, the way the team works."

On track, Ericsson's session lasted 14 laps as his suffered a left-rear suspension failure, leaving him 15th on the timesheet, while rookie Nasr was 11th, three seconds adrift of Mercedes pacesetter Nico Rosberg.

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Sauber have been forced to detail their assets, which could be impounded, to the court while the worst case scenario is Kaltenborn faces imprisonment if she fails to comply with the order.

That's insane if it comes down to this. Can they not just pay one of them off and be done with it?

Also lol at the fact that Van der Garde doesn't have his super licence yet.

The mind just boggles at this point.

Pay one of them off? They signed those two because they were skint xD

Sauder are utter morons for doing this...

realt wrote:

Quote :

Sauber have been forced to detail their assets, which could be impounded, to the court while the worst case scenario is Kaltenborn faces imprisonment if she fails to comply with the order.

That's insane if it comes down to this. Can they not just pay one of them off and be done with it?

Also lol at the fact that Van der Garde doesn't have his super licence yet.

The mind just boggles at this point.

I agree, save the court costs and the mess it's creating by just buying out somebody's contract, then deal with the whole situation preferably not in the middle of a race weekend.

With regards to the super licence, I read somewhere that it's because Sauber is refusing to sign the paperwork for Van Der Garde. If Sauber comply with the court order, they could get a super licence for Van Der Garde in time, but they'd obviously be lacking a considerable amount of testing and the right car set-ups for him.

I don't think they could settle out of court if they wanted. Van der Garde wants the race seat, not money.

Fox Sports Australia has just reported that Van Der Garde has withdrawn his contempt of court action against Sauber after overnight negotiations. His lawyers told the court this morning that they've settled the matter with the team.

Well then. So much for my theory