Giedo van der Garde was born – the man who sued his way to the grid

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Giedo van der Garde was born on April 25, 1985, in Rhenen, Netherlands. He drove 19 Grands Prix for Caterham in 2013, finished none of them in the points, and quietly became one of the more unusual footnotes in recent Formula 1 history. Not for anything that happened on track, but for what he did when a team tried to pretend his contract didn’t exist.

Van der Garde came up through the junior ranks the long way. GP2, A1 Grand Prix, a stint as a test driver with Force India, he spent years orbiting Formula 1 before Caterham gave him a race seat for 2013. It was a seat at the back of the grid with a team that would never score points, but it was a Formula 1 seat, and he took it seriously. Nineteen races. No points.

Giedo Gijsbertus Gerrit van der Garde

• Races (starts):19
• Wins:0
• Podiums:0
• Pole positions:0
• Fastest laps:0
• Driver of the Day:0
• World titles:0
• Points (total):0

Data source: F1DB (GitHub)

What followed is where the story gets interesting.

Van der Garde had a contract with Sauber for the 2015 season. Sauber, facing the financial pressures that plagued several midfield teams in that era, signed Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson instead, both drivers who came with more backing. Van der Garde’s contract was, from the team’s perspective, a problem to be managed rather than an obligation to be met.

He disagreed. Strongly. And expensively.

On the eve of the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, a court ruled in van der Garde’s favour and ordered Sauber to allow him to race. For a brief, surreal window, it looked like one of the most chaotic season openers in recent memory was about to unfold; a team legally compelled to put a driver in a car it had already allocated to someone else. Sauber appealed. The situation was eventually settled out of court, van der Garde received compensation, and neither Nasr nor Ericsson had to share their garage.

He never raced in Formula 1 again. But for a few days in Melbourne, he made more noise than most drivers manage in an entire career.

FAQ

How many Formula 1 races did Giedo van der Garde start?
Van der Garde started 19 Grands Prix, all with Caterham during the 2013 season.

What is Giedo van der Garde best known for?
Alongside his 2013 Caterham season, van der Garde is widely remembered for his legal dispute with Sauber ahead of the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, where a court briefly ordered the team to honour his driver contract before the matter was settled out of court.

Is Giedo van der Garde still involved in motorsport?
After his Formula 1 career ended, van der Garde continued racing in other categories, including endurance racing.

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