ABOUT GIEDO

Date of birth: April 25, 1985

Place of birth: Rhenen, Netherlands

Nationality: Dutch

After a successful karting career, Giedo began car racing in Formula Renault in 2003. He finished sixth in the Eurocup and fourth in his native Netherlands championship. He graduated to Formula 3 aged just 19 in 2004 and finished ninth in the Euroseries standings in his debut year. He raced in the Formula 3 Euroseries for two more years, winning his first race and finishing sixth in the championship in 2006.

He moved up to the World Series by Renault for 2007, ending the year sixth overall. In 2008, he won the World Series championship with five race victories and eight podiums. He also had his first experiences of Formula 1 with test outings for Spyker and Force India during 2007.

Giedo entered the GP2 Series in 2009, winning three races in his debut season and finishing seventh in the championship with the iSport team. He continued in GP2 for the next two seasons, scoring nine more podiums. He has also raced in the GP2 Asia Series for the last three years, finishing third in the standings in 2011.

In 2012, van der Garde joined the Caterham Group family, as a race driver for the Caterham Racing GP2 team and reserve driver for the Caterham F1 Team. He won races in Spain and Singapore and finished joint fifth in the drivers' championship.

Giedo also took part in six FP1 sessions for Caterham, in China, Japan, Korea, India, Abu Dhabi and Brazil, as well as driving for the team at Jerez in the pre-season and Abu Dhabi in the end-of-season tests.

He becomes the first driver to graduate from Caterham's GP2 team into a full-time Formula 1 race seat this year.

Racing history

2012 - Caterham F1 testing; GP2, 6th (2 wins, 2 poles, 6 podiums).

2011 - GP2, 5th (1 pole, 5 podiums); GP2 Asia, 3rd (2 podiums).

2010 - GP2, 7th (4 podiums).

2009 - Renault F1 testing; GP2, 7th (3 wins); GP2 Asia; F3 Sudamerica.

2008 - Force India F1 testing; Formula Renault 3.5 champion (5 wins, 2 poles, 8 podiums); GP2 Asia.

2007 - Spyker and Super Aguri F1 testing; Formula Renault 3.5, 6th.

2006 - F3 Euroseries, 6th (1 win, 2 poles, 4 podiums); F3 Masters runner-up (pole).

2005 - F3 Euroseries, 9th (1 pole, 2 podiums); F3 Masters, 6th.

2004 - F3 Euroseries, 9th (2 podiums); F3 Masters, 13th; Macau Grand Prix, 15th; Bahrain Superprix, 15th.

2003 - Formula Renault Eurocup, 6th; Formula Renault NL, 4th.

1995-2002 - Karting