Giedo van der Garde does have race seat with Sauber F1 team, Australian court rules

An Australian court has ruled that Giedo van der Garde does have the right to race for Sauber in Melbourne this weekend.

Van der Garde last week asked the Supreme Court of Victoria to enforce a previous ruling that he is entitled to a race seat with the team this season.

And a delayed judgement on Wednesday came down on the side of the Dutchman, who will now hope to race in this weekend's opening grand prix of 2015 at the expense of either Marcus Ericsson or Felipe Nasr.

 Formula 1

Sauber admitted the court's verdict was "unfortunately not as expected" and reiterated previously-stated concerns over the safety of allowing Van der Garde to race. The team are appealing the ruling, with a hearing set for Thursday morning in Melbourne.

“We are disappointed with this decision and now need to take time to understand what it means and the impact it will have on the start of our season," said Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn.

"What we cannot do is jeopardise the safety of our team, or any other driver on the track, by having an unprepared driver in a car that has now been tailored to two other assigned drivers.”

Sauber immediately lodged an appeal against the decision with an initial hearing on Wednesday afternoon adjourned until 9.30am on Thursday morning Australian time. 

The team will have to nominate their two race drivers for the Australian GP when their cars pass through scrutineering in the Melbourne paddock on Thursday, although alterations can still be made thereafter.

Van der Garde served as test driver for Sauber last year after being axed by Caterham and claimed he was offered a race seat for this season in June 2014.

He had already taken his case to the Arbitration Institution in Switzerland, which ruled that Sauber should retain him.

Sauber’s lawyer argued in court that allowing van der Garde to race would be "reckless and dangerous" given his lack of testing and would put other drivers and support staff at an "unacceptable" risk.

But that argument was rejected by Justice Clyde Croft in Melbourne on Wednesday, who said: "The application is successful and...will be enforced."

The court also suggested that the ruling allowing Van der Garde to race "applies to the whole of the 2015 Formula 1 season" and not just this weekend.

The Swiss team opted not to retain any of their 2014 line-up for the forthcoming season, with Ericsson and Nasr replacing Adrian Sutil and Esteban Guterriez as the race drivers and Raffaele Marciello taking the reserve role.