Giedo van der Garde. The man, the myth, the legend.
Okay not really. He is a okay driver though, and after years of speculation and hype in his motherland he finally made his Formula 1 debut last season with Caterham. Not exactly the best team to make your debut with but van der Garde did what he's always done: drive the car without making a complete fool of himself.
His path to a race seat in Formula 1 was a long and unspectacular one, spending a lot of time in lower series without winning a championship apart from the 2008 Formula Renault 3.5 championship, which he won with a 29 point lead over the next competitor. Unfortunately for him that was the end of his winning ways, moving up to GP2 in 2009 and managing only one more top 3 championship finish, in the 2011 GP2 Asia Series.
After one more season in GP2 his hard work was finally rewarded when he managed to get enough money to buy himself a racing seat with Caterham. His steady but unspectacular driving continued and he was only able to finish in front of Max Chilton. After that he did not get a new contract with Caterham, signing with Sauber instead, as a test driver. It looks as if his F1 adventure is all but over...
Or is it? Reports from the Netherlands are saying he could return as early as this season, replacing Adrian Sutil at Sauber.
What do you make of van der Garde? A guy who simply needs a chance in a better car (he was part of the McLaren Young Driver Programme at one point) or a future page on f1rejects.com?
Okay not really. He is a okay driver though, and after years of speculation and hype in his motherland he finally made his Formula 1 debut last season with Caterham. Not exactly the best team to make your debut with but van der Garde did what he's always done: drive the car without making a complete fool of himself.
His path to a race seat in Formula 1 was a long and unspectacular one, spending a lot of time in lower series without winning a championship apart from the 2008 Formula Renault 3.5 championship, which he won with a 29 point lead over the next competitor. Unfortunately for him that was the end of his winning ways, moving up to GP2 in 2009 and managing only one more top 3 championship finish, in the 2011 GP2 Asia Series.
After one more season in GP2 his hard work was finally rewarded when he managed to get enough money to buy himself a racing seat with Caterham. His steady but unspectacular driving continued and he was only able to finish in front of Max Chilton. After that he did not get a new contract with Caterham, signing with Sauber instead, as a test driver. It looks as if his F1 adventure is all but over...
Or is it? Reports from the Netherlands are saying he could return as early as this season, replacing Adrian Sutil at Sauber.
What do you make of van der Garde? A guy who simply needs a chance in a better car (he was part of the McLaren Young Driver Programme at one point) or a future page on f1rejects.com?
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