Why Sauber Ended Up With Too Many Drivers In 2015 | Formula One
Do you remember when the Sauber F1 team and driver Giedo van der Garde kicked off the 2015 season with a legal battle over the Dutchman’s position at the team? You don’t have to be a mathematician to work out that three into two doesn’t go – but back in 2015, it didn’t stop Sauber from signing three drivers to pilot its F1 cars. After a miserable 2014 in which the Swiss team failed to score points, the team was struggling to survive with a reduced constructors’ championship payout – and let go of drivers Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez at the end of the year. In their place, the team signed ex-Caterham driver Marcus Ericsson and GP2 driver Felipe Nasr – who had just finished third in the second-tier category. But reserve driver Giedo van der Garde also laid claim to the seat, and infamously emerged in the Sauber garage at the Melbourne season opener following an Australian court ruling that he had the right to drive for the team in 2015. Although van der Garde never raced, and later settled with Sauber over the controversy, the legal wrangling hardly looked good for the team. What exactly happened? Let’s get into the story of van der Garde’s battle with Sauber during the Formula One season of 2015...