Australian bailiffs were given permission to “enter upon and take possession of the real and personal estate of Sauber” after the court rejected an appeal by the team, prompting a series of last-ditch conference calls. The Supreme Court of Victoria announced later that there would be a further hearing on Saturday. Sauber’s cars emerged for second practice later in the day, indicating there had been some progress.
Under pressure: Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn Photo: REX FEATURES
Kaltenborn, ironically a former lawyer, faced a series of questions over her position. Asked if she had considered resigning, she said: “I have not considered that.”
She added: “It’s definitely a very negative impact on the team, because the situation was for a while unclear. We now have certain actions taken against the time and we are acting accordingly. There’s nothing really much more I can say to that.”
Meanwhile, despite making it all the way to Melbourne, Manor’s remarkable return to racing in Formula One may have to wait until the second race of the year. The team came up against the sport’s remarkable complexity, with a software failure meaning they could not make it out of the garage.
Short circuit: The Manor team mechanics work on one of their cars – which failed to make its way out of the garage due to a computer malfunction Photo: REX FEATURES
In short, the computer said no. When Manor were in administration over the winter, there had been plans to auction the team’s hard drives, which held all the information required to get a Formula One car going. However, in anticipation of being sold off, the memory was wiped. They came to Australia anyway but are now working desperately reinstall the necessary programmes.
It seems unlikely Manor will race on Sunday. Graeme Lowdon, sporting director, said: “There’s a lot of issues none of which are a big surprise when you consider the work to get the team here in a very short space of time.”
Elsewhere in the team principals’ press conference, McLaren’s Eric Boullier revealed that Fernando Alonso’s place on the grid for the Malaysian Grand Prix at the end of the month is now in the hands of FIA doctors. The Spaniard suffered a concussion in a testing accident on February 22 and will have to be cleared by motorsport’s governing body to race.