Giedo van der Garde hoping for Caterham to sign him for 2013 – Formula 1 news
Giedo van der Garde, who is a Dutch GP2 driver and also a test driver at Caterham, is waiting for Caterham to sign him on as an official driver for the 2013 F1 season.
“We had hoped for clarification last week, but Caterham has moved the decision forwards,” the 27-year-old told Dutch magazine Formule 1. “The decision is theirs and we can do nothing but wait and see. If all goes well, we will know in two weeks.”
Former Marussia driver Charles Pic has already announced his transfer to Caterham. Van der Garde will be replacing either Heikki Kovalainen or Vitaly Petrov, who were the part of the driver line up for 2012.
Caterham and Marussia had been in fight for the tenth place on the constructors’ grid most of the season and Caterham was reported to sign on another driver alongside Pic in case they do not achieve that place.
However, Caterham regained their tenth position after the season ending Brazilian GP and that has changed their financial situation so the decision for another driver has been delayed.
Van der Garde has taken part in many motor-racing competitions that include Karting, Formula 3 Series, Formula Renault and Formula Renault 3.5 Series. Racing in GP2 was part of his deal when he became the test reserve driver for Caterham.
However, he could not keep consistency with his race victories and finished in sixth place over all. He initially stepped into Formula 1 by participating in the McLaren Young Drivers Programme in 2006.
Caterham had originally established their team in 2010 with the name of Lotus which had brought the name of Lotus among the F1 community for the first time since 1994. The team is based in United Kingdom and was one of the best new comers in F1. In 2011,
the team changed their engines from Cosworth to Renault and renamed themselves as Caterham in 2012.
Earlier in November, Cyril Abiteboul was named as new team principal which makes him the youngest team principal in F1. Caterham has been maintaining its tenth place on the constructors’ grid for the last three years.
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