Sauber has locked Adrian Sutil, Esteban Gutierrez and Giedo van der Garde out of formula one for now.
The Swiss team has instead signed Williams reserve Felipe Nasr, and his sponsor Banco do Brasil, to be Caterham refugee Marcus Ericsson’s teammate in 2015.
It leaves not only Sauber’s existing drivers Sutil and Gutierrez looking for seats, but also the well-sponsored Dutchman van der Garde, who may be surprised to have missed out on his return to F1 with the team next season.
Sauber’s reserve, van der Garde, had said this week that despite Ericsson’s confirmation for 2015, his prospects were “looking good”. “I think we will have clarity within the next two or three weeks,” he had told Dutch television Sport1 mere hours ago.