Buried in the Giedo van der Garde saga, Sauber is silent.
The embattled Swiss team has not issued a ‘tweet’ since Monday, and while it is usually one of the first to publish post-session statements to the media, nothing was immediately forthcoming after Friday practice. And when the release finally did emerge, Sauber did not mention the legal shenanigans that have cast a pall over the 22-year-old F1 team’s very future, other than to say it “did not participate in the first free practice session”.
Boss Monisha Kaltenborn did, however, attend the FIA press conference on Friday, despite van der Garde’s lawyer earlier calling for her to be arrested and jailed. Reporters asked if she has considered stepping down from her post. “I have not considered that,” Kaltenborn, herself a contract lawyer, answered.
She would not comment at all on the specifics of the case, but did admit: “It has had a very, very negative impact on the team”. “There’s nothing much more I can really say.” The saga resumes in the Melbourne supreme court on Saturday morning.
