Sauber quiet on F1 prospects

Sauber team boss Monisha Kaltenborn has stayed mum on her Formula One team’s chances of resolving their bitter legal dispute.

Dutch driver Giedo van der Garde’s legal challenge to his dumping will continue on Saturday, as Sauber’s nominated drivers Magnus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr qualify for the Australian Grand Prix.

On Thursday, van der Garde was successful in obtaining a Victorian Supreme Court ruling to reinstate him in the beleaguered team.

Unhappy with Sauber’s efforts to Unseat him for the season-opening race, he was back in court on Friday with a contempt of court charge for Sauber.

The Dutchman’s lawyer Jim Peters QC went so far as to suggest detaining Kaltenborn in Victoria should the team not comply with the court order.

But the woman at the centre of the storm has very little to say about it.

Sauber has maintained a media blackout at Albert Park since their arrival in Melbourne.

But Kaltenborn honoured a pre-arranged press conference for team principals on Friday evening, where she took aim at van der Garde’s actions.

“It’s definitely had a very, very negative impact on the team,” Kaltenborn said.

“The situation was for a while unclear, we now have certain actions taken against the team.

“We are acting accordingly and there’s nothing more I can say to that.”

Under a barrage of questions, Kaltenborn said she had not considered resigning over the matter, ducking and dodging questions from the international press pack.

She did suggest the dispute was behind the team’s decision to keep the cars in the garage for the first practice session, saying “it’s a topic I cannot talk about”.

Supreme Court Justice Clyde Croft urged van der Garde and Sauber to resolve the issue between themselves.

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