Sauber won't be drawn into 'mud fight' with van der Garde

Sauber has responded to Giedo van der Garde's statement officially ceding his claim to an F1 race drive with the team for 2015, saying it has 'good answers' to a slur of accusations but is choosing not prolong its bitter dispute with the driver.

Sauber and van der Garde have been embroiled in a legal battle over the last few months after the Dutchman claimed he had a signed contract for a race drive in 2015 before the team went on to sign Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr.

The matter would come to a head in the run up to the Australian Grand Prix when van der Garde won a Supreme Court ruling that stipulated he was legally obliged to drive in Melbourne, effectively leaving Sauber with three contracted race drivers.

The feud would continue into the race weekend until van der Garde opted to back down in the interests of the team members, including the drivers, and has since reached a settlement with Sauber that will see him formally sever ties.

With van der Garde going on to release a personal statement in which he squarely laid the blame at the team, Sauber has countered, saying it is 'surprised' by many of his claims. It also says it would be compelled to argue back, but is does not to want to prolong the dispute in a public forum.

"Many of you read the statement on Giedo van der Garde's Facebook page," Sauber's Facebook post said. "So have we and we were, indeed, rather surprised. We don't know about Giedo's intentions. He may try to present himself as a winner, while we had actually hoped to come to rest after our agreement. Giedo decided to take a different approach - the reasoning behind we cannot understand.

"We'd have very good answers to the many statements and accusations in Giedo's post. But to expand on this wouldn't help our race team nor our fans and partners. It would only encourage a mud fight via the media and we will not lend ourselves to that. The next race in Malaysia is where our focus is and that's where we will build up on last weekend's success together with our drivers Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr. All our efforts are drawn to this objective.

"With this in mind we'd like to encourage you to form your own opinion about what happened, however critical it may be. From our side we herewith close the matter and look already forward to celebrating future achievements at the race track together with you."

Sauber went on to footnote its Facebook post with the hashtag #LetsRaceNotFight