MOTORSPORT: What Sauber row was all about

The row over Formula One team Sauber's surplus driver that occupied a Melbourne court for most of last week has been settled – and now it's clear what it really was over.

Announcing on Facebook that he had reached a settlement with the Swiss team, Dutchman Giedo van der Garde revealed that, when he signed last June to drive for it this year, the agreed sponsorship money from his backer was paid there and then.

While van der Garde did not mention the amount, it is believed to have been at least eight million euros – about A$11.2 million at today's exchange rate.

Van der Garde's career is bankrolled by his father-in-law Marcel Boekhoorn, one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in The Netherlands, reportedly worth about 1.3 billion euros.

Late last year financially-embattled Sauber signed two other drivers to race for it this season who brought even more money with them – Swede Marcus Ericsson and Brazilian rookie Felipe Nasr, leaving van der Garde surplus to requirements even though the team had his money.

Nasr may have tipped in as much as 20 million euros to Sauber. He is backed by Brazil's state-owned and oldest bank, Banco do Brasil.

A European arbitration tribunal, Mr Justice Croft in the Victorian Supreme Court and later a panel of three judges sitting as an appeal court ruled that van der Garde's contract had been wrongfully terminated and he should be given his race seat.

Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn even faced contempt of court proceedings late last week and could have had her team's Ferrari-engined cars and her passport seized before Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Van der Garde realised by late Friday night that he was not going to drive for Sauber in Melbourne and put his legal action on hold, saying now that he did not want to destroy the team.

Nasr finished an excellent fifth on his F1 debut at Albert Park and Ericsson eighth, giving Sauber 14 points in the world championship after not having scored at all in last year's 19 GPs.

Van der Garde now says that, as part of the settlement, he has been compensated by Sauber – presumably meaning over and above a refund of the money paid in the middle of last year.

However, he has said there need to be new rules to protect other drivers having their F1 dreams shattered by teams reneging on contracts.

He has turned his own mind to competing in the World Endurance Championship, including the Le Mans 24-hour sports car classic, or the DTM – the German touring car championship.

"We have reached a settlement with Sauber and my driver contract with the team has been ended by mutual consent," van der Garde said.

"As a passionate race driver, I feel sad and am very disappointed. I have worked very hard my entire career, ever since starting with go-karts at the age of eight, to live my dream and become a successful F1 driver.

"I had hoped at last to be able to show what I am capable of, driving a car for a respected midfield team in the 2015 season. This dream has been taken away from me and I know that my future in F1 is probably over.

"There has been a lot of speculation in the media over the past week, so I want to set out clearly that my sponsors paid the sponsorship fee related to the 2015 season in its entirety to Sauber in the first half of 2014.

"This was simply in good faith and to help the team deal with its cash problems at the time. Effectively, it was my sponsor's advanced payments that helped the team survive in 2014.

"Sauber's financial decision-making in this case is bizarre and makes no sense to me.

"I am not at liberty to discuss details, but Sauber paid significant compensation to avoid honouring the contract they had with me.

"Only in that respect can I be satisfied that my rights have finally been recognised and that at least some justice has been done."

Sauber said it was "surprised" at van der Garde's account of events and could refute it, but simply wanted to move on from the affair.

"He may try to present himself as a winner, while we had actually hoped to come to rest after our agreement," Sauber said.

"Giedo decided to take a different approach – the reasoning behind [which] 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 [on March 29] is where our focus is ... all our efforts are drawn to this objective."

Van der Garde admitted that had he pressed his legal action further in Melbourne last Friday it "might have brought down the team".

"It would most certainly have wrecked the opening GP because the team's cars would have been seized by the court, [and] it may have ruined the careers of two young drivers in Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr," he said.

"Possibly the team's directors would even be taken into custody.

"I decided I did not want to live with that idea, even though it was only the team's management that was responsible for the bizarre situation I found myself in."