Giedo van der Garde reaches settlement with Sauber

He has confirmed via his Facebook page that his contract has been ended by mutual consent - and admitted that he thinks his career in Formula One is now over.

"As a passionate race driver, I feel sad and am very disappointed," he said in a statement. "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 Formula One 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 Formula One is probably over."

He was highly critical of the team and its principal Monisha Kalterborn, adding that his own sponsors had advanced money to Sauber to enable them to survive in 2014: "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."