31 replies to this topic

[midgrid]

Charles Pic, the former Marussia and Caterham driver, and Lotus's test and reserve driver in 2014, has taken Lotus to court over not giving him the contracted number of test days in the car this year.  As part of his legal proceedings, he has obtained an order from a Belgian court that will impound the team's cars and equipment within the circuit after the event if a settlement cannot be reached.  Lotus has also broken the curfew rules this weekend as three senior team members remained in the garage after-hours to guard the cars.

 

Source

[OvDrone]

Ah, here we go again.

 

But it was funnier when it was Sauber

[BRG]

It's all Monisha's fault!  She must go!

[Fastcake]

I wouldn't be surprised if Lotus have left this one running for so long in order to dump it on Renault.

[RainyAfterlifeDaylight]

"cars being unable to leave Spa following Sunday's Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix"  

Just ban Lotus from racing on Sunday, so MclarenHonda could be two slots closer to the front.

[Volcano70]

Most fans that aren't diehards or follow the sport closely have forgotten him now, similar to van der garde. This will be interesting

[superden]

More dirty linen in public, just what F1 needs.

[Hans V]

Pic cerainly can afford really good lawyers so it'll be interesting to see how this one pans out. Pic Renault F1 team?

[zanquis]

Maybe that was the meeting van der Garde was having legal advice how to drag your team to court....

[Laura23]

He'll be paid off by Sunday evening a la VDG.

At least he lost his 'drive' to a race driver rather than someone who was signed to the team after him. Lotus took the choice because they clearly didn't think Pic was giving them suitable feedback from his runs and would have rather had the race drivers in the car. Can't say I blame them for that even if it has led to this issue. A team in less financial trouble and we wouldn't have heard a peep about this.

[Fisico54]

He'll be paid off by Sunday evening a la VDG.

At least he lost his 'drive' to a race driver rather than someone who was signed to the team after him. Lotus took the choice because they clearly didn't think Pic was giving them suitable feedback from his runs and would have rather had the race drivers in the car. Can't say I blame them for that even if it has led to this issue. A team in less financial trouble and we wouldn't have heard a peep about this.

Rubbish, no difference whatsoever to the Sauber situation. Pic had a contract to test and they have had others test rather than him. As with Sauber it's again purely financial and has happened many times in the past. Just now Bernie doesn't have the iron grip to make sure these situations don't go public

[Viryfan]

Knowing the ties between Pic family , Renault and Total, i would not be surprised to see this as a move in order to put pressure on Lotus for Renault sale.

[ANF]

He'll be paid off by Sunday evening a la VDG.

At least he lost his 'drive' to a race driver rather than someone who was signed to the team after him. Lotus took the choice because they clearly didn't think Pic was giving them suitable feedback from his runs and would have rather had the race drivers in the car. Can't say I blame them for that even if it has led to this issue. A team in less financial trouble and we wouldn't have heard a peep about this.

Charles Pic > Formula One > Lotus: "After being dropped by Caterham, Pic signed for Lotus F1 as their official reserve driver. This was announced at the car launch in Bahrain on 20 February 2014."

Jolyon Palmer > Formula One: "On 20 January 2015 it was announced that Palmer had signed as test and reserve driver for the Lotus F1 Formula One team for 2015."

[DarthWillie]

if they let Maldonado drive there probably aren't that many cars left after the race to impound 

[TIPO61]

Maldonado says it was "the medias fault."

Damn Lotus team for putting up 'media walls' on the racetrack...

 

on purpose damnit!

[warp]

if they let Maldonado drive there probably aren't that many cars left after the race to impound 

 

Actually... that's a good plan. Make Maldonado total two the two cars, crashing into RoGro and voila, nothing to impound.

Who could prove it was fabricated by the team? It's not like it hasn't happened before. 

[Peter0Scandlyn]

He'll be paid off by Sunday evening a la VDG.

At least he lost his 'drive' to a race driver rather than someone who was signed to the team after him. Lotus took the choice because they clearly didn't think Pic was giving them suitable feedback from his runs and would have rather had the race drivers in the car. Can't say I blame them for that even if it has led to this issue. A team in less financial trouble and we wouldn't have heard a peep about this.

 

And you know this how?? Exactly??

[chunder27]

You get the feeling these has been F1 drivers are using no win no fee lawyers here.

Embarassing, pathetic and totally selfish in its timing.

Never did anything when he was in tge sport and now trying to attack it as he cant get back in with some 'fags can cause cancer cant they Phillip Morris, give us billions, lawyer

[grandepreuve]

You get the feeling these has been F1 drivers are using no win no fee lawyers here.

Embarassing, pathetic and totally selfish in its timing.

Never did anything when he was in tge sport and now trying to attack it as he cant get back in with some 'fags can cause cancer cant they Phillip Morris, give us billions, lawyer

 

What are you on about? If you had a contract with, let's say, a builder to do some work; you paid him and he never did the work....would you just let it lie? Would you think about the timing because the builders are in financial trouble? This is, essentially theft through fraud. If you make contractual agreements with individuals or companies, take the money and then don't deliver...this is what happens. Why is there this bizarre idea that ...somehow, because they are F1 teams, it is ok to break contracts after the money has been paid?

[Youichi]

He'll be paid off by Sunday evening a la VDG.

At least he lost his 'drive' to a race driver rather than someone who was signed to the team after him. Lotus took the choice because they clearly didn't think Pic was giving them suitable feedback from his runs and would have rather had the race drivers in the car. Can't say I blame them for that even if it has led to this issue. A team in less financial trouble and we wouldn't have heard a peep about this.

 

He didn't loose his drive to anyone, he was supposed to do the tests 2014, but the renault engine was so unreliable, they race drivers had no mileage, so the team chose to put Romain and Pastor in the car for mileage instead.

 

This case is just about how much cash they pay him back.

[LORDBYRON]

here we go again. More dirty linen in public, just what F1 needs.

[F1matt]

It just shows the lack of professionalism amongst these teams, things never change, hardly surprising the sport has no long term vision.

[ensign14]

The thing is, if these drivers were any good, they wouldn't need to sue to get into a team - their talent would supplement their money.

[pdac]

The thing is, if these drivers were any good, they wouldn't need to sue to get into a team - their talent would supplement their money.

 

Yeah, but the teams should not take out contracts with them in the first place. If those teams had any thought for the sport they would take on some of those drivers that are showing some promise.

[ensign14]

Yeah, but the teams should not take out contracts with them in the first place. If those teams had any thought for the sport they would take on some of those drivers that are showing some promise.

 

`They can't afford it.  It costs £x million to run a Formula 1 team, and they have £x - y million to do it.  So they need £y million from somewhere.

 

Meanwhile, some of that £y million that they could get from participating in F1 goes to Ferrari and Red Bull for shits and giggles.

[pdac]

`They can't afford it.  It costs £x million to run a Formula 1 team, and they have £x - y million to do it.  So they need £y million from somewhere.

 

Meanwhile, some of that £y million that they could get from participating in F1 goes to Ferrari and Red Bull for shits and giggles.

 

So their solution is to 'employ' poor  drivers and try to screw them over.

[Peter Perfect]

Yesterdays qualifying performance came at a suspiciously good time for the team. Was I the only one to notice that the car was bottoming out far more than any other car?

[ionutf1fan]

I guess the impounded car of Grosjean will have a bigger value after this podium.

[turssi]

I guess the impounded car of Grosjean will have a bigger value after this podium.

 

For sure. Maybe enough value to eliminate the need to impound Pastor's car. Any news on this?

[Cloxxki]

Yesterdays qualifying performance came at a suspiciously good time for the team. Was I the only one to notice that the car was bottoming out far more than any other car?

Interesting observation. 
Lotus performing so well comes as a bit of a surprise. Smells a bit like Maldonado's win?
Impounded cars cannot be checked by FIA. 

[Fisico54]

Interesting observation.
Lotus performing so well comes as a bit of a surprise. Smells a bit like Maldonado's win?
Impounded cars cannot be checked by FIA.

What a crock of sh**

[Cloxxki]

What a crock of sh**

Tough crowd, even for a Monday.