The Giedo van der Garde case will continue into Saturday after a short session in court Friday afternoon - but a resolution appears to be at hand.
The two sides are now clearly talking and attempting to come to a solution without the drama of bailiffs entering the paddock to seize the cars. A source told FOX Sports that both sides are keen for the cars to race this weekend.
Van der Garde's lawyer told the court that there had been “constructive discussions between the parties which are expected to continue this evening,” and Sauber's legal representative concurred.
Meanwhile, Justice Croft told both sides: “I do wish the parties to talk seriously about resolving this matter by agreement.”
After the team voluntarily missed the first session as a legal move, Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson took to the track in FP2, reflecting the fact that there appears to be a more positive outlook.
Everyone will be back in court at 9:30 a.m. local time, and it's possible that the two sides will tell the judge that they have come to some sort of resolution.
Meanwhile, Monisha Kaltenborn was not very chatty when she met the F1 media at Friday's FIA press conference, and inevitably she ducked questions about the team's current troubles.
“That's a topic I can't say anything about,” she said when asked about the situation. “Just to make it clear I guess any questions about that I won't be able to answer.”
Asked specifically about why both cars sat out the first session she said: “It's a topic which I cannot talk about, that's all I can say.”
Later however she did expand a little when asked about the impact on the team.
“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 team, and we are acting accordingly. There's nothing much more I can really say to that.”
She was also asked about her comments in Brazil when the multiple driver contract saga first started, and how she views it now: “We have a very clear view of what we did, we had taken action after a while, we thought about it very well. For us it as very clear. The outcome here is different, and that's all I can say to it.”
She was also asked on several occasions about her capacity to run an F1 team, and if there were any doubts about her future.
“This whole matter doesn't have any effect on the way we work, the way the team works.”
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