A long legal battle between Formula Virtual team BMPS Scuderia Meteor and former driver Mario Juan Lopez has finally concluded with the verdict favouring the Argentinian driver. The case dates all the way back to 2019 when the Meteor International FV Team was bought by Italian businessman Piercarlo Caliri who renamed the team Scuderia Meteor. Caliri installed Shane O’Connell as Team Principal and placed his son, Guido Caliri, in the position of Deputy Team Principal, as well as bringing in more of his own people to run the operations of the team. The team quickly decided to bring in Lewis Ellington who had previously raced and won for the team. Ellington would replace either Jules Simon or Mario Juan Lopez depending on who impressed the most in the next race. In the end it was Simon who lost his seat ensuring Lopez would stay for the remainder of the season as a result of a new rule which prohibited teams from running more than three drivers. In the eyes of the watching world Ellington shone scoring two second places with 76 points overall from 8 races, proving the car which was built by previous owner Kazuki Armos and his team was one which could challenge at the front. Even Lopez’s results, it has to be said, improved to the end of the season but he was consistently many leagues below his teammate. Lopez was removed from the team following the season but did make comments to the media suggesting what was to come. Lopez filed a lawsuit against Scuderia Meteor last year claiming a breach of contract as well as gross negligence and after the initial hearing said: “I can’t say much. The process is ongoing right now so I won’t talk much until we’re done. What I can say, what is already known, is that they neglected me within the team and gave me fewer opportunities than Ellington. Also, they promised me that my race for 2020 would be safe if I met the conditions. These conditions were met but I was unfairly fired.” Having now concluded after all the evidence was gathered, the court has ruled that Lopez was indeed a victim of gross negligence in his time with the team. The jury heard that Lopez was continually disregarded by most of the team following the takeover, given old parts as Ellington received the new ones, and was even forced to work on his own car multiple times as there simply were not enough mechanics to service both cars. Lopez told the court how the team were ‘totally incompetent’ and ‘had no idea how to run a Formula Virtual team’. Ultimately, the court ordered Scuderia Meteor to pay Mario Juan Lopez €10m as a result of loss in career earnings and future opportunities. Speaking to the media afterwards, Lopez said: “The justice is finally served. Now it will be known the truth behind my time there in 2019, how I was treated by them. It feels good. Now, for me, I hope to return to racing with no dark clouds about the past. Formula Virtual is now behind but I will like to go to eVirtual or maybe VTC. I don’t know. One last thing to say is that of course I have bad blood for the Caliri family and their circle but I do not include everyone from Scuderia Meteor in this. I will like to say thank you to Shane O’Connell who tried to push against the wishes of the bosses to help me and to Andrea Belli who is the Director Tecnico, also some other people in the team know who they are.” For Scuderia Meteor, the financial blow will hurt the team who already struggle to make spare parts for the cars and have not qualified for a race since over one year ago, but the most worrying outcome is the reputation damage. During the trial, numerous incriminating stories were heard which raise countless questions over the people in charge of the Italian team. One such story revealed how many of the former Meteor International employees were simply never replaced. The few who were replaced by the Caliri family were reportedly replaced with employees of Piercarlo Caliri’s window manufacturing company. In addition, it seems as if Guido Caliri has the power to rule the team, leaving O’Connell to pick up the pieces as everything goes wrong. It will now be telling to see the reaction of those associated with Scuderia Meteor. Team members, drivers, sponsors and of course Lamborghini may turn their back on the incompetent team.
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