The unseemly row between driver Giedo van der Garde and Formula One team Sauber has reached an amicable settlement.
The 29-year-old issued a statement saying his contract has been “ended by mutual consent”.
“This dream has been taken away from me and I know that my future in Formula 1 is probably over,” he said.
The Formula One season kicked off last week with more excitement in the Australian courts than on the track in Melbourne after they backed the Dutch driver’s claim he had a valid contract before his dismissal last season and that he should drive in Melbourne .
That meant that Sauber risked having its assets seized and team principal Monisha Kaltenborn arrested if he was prevented from doing so.
But Van der Garde dropped his legal action on Saturday, allowing Marcus Ericsson and rookie driver Felipe Nasr to race for the team as planned, and now the two sides have ended their dispute.
On the track after their worst ever year in the sport where they failed to win a single point, things look much brighter for Sauber.
Nasr produced the best result by a rookie driver for Sauber by finishing fifth, while Ericsson became the first Swede to score a point in an F1 race since 1989 with his eighth-place finish.
The Formula One road show now ups sticks and heads out to Malaysia for the second race of the season over the weekend of March 27 to 29 where the hopes are the entertainment on the track will be the main talking point of the weekend.
Lewis Hamilton remains favourite to pick up the world title at 1.38.
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