Dutch racing driver Giedo van der Garde has been confirmed as Charles Pic's team mate at Caterham for 2013.
The confirmation ends huge speculation and interested over who would get the remaining seat. 2012 Caterham driver Vitaly Petrov was favourite, Bruno Senna and Heikki Kovalainen were also mentioned but the speculation has now ended with the news.
The 27-year-old drove for the Caterham GP2 team in 2012, finishing on the podium six times. Two of those were victories and he ended the season sixth overall.
An experienced racer in GP2, many have said he was in the series for too long. He has tested Formula 1 cars for Super Aguri, Spyker, Force India and Renault before being picked up by Caterham as their reserve and test driver in 2012.
He drove in six Free Practice One sessions in 2012, as well as completing the Young Driver Test. He said on the confirmation “I am absolutely delighted to confirm that I will be racing in the 2013 F1 World Championship with Caterham F1 Team. I want to thank Cyril, Tony Fernandes, McGregor and everyone who has worked so hard to make this happen.
“I know I am ready to take the step up to F1 and all the work I have done throughout my career, and particularly in the last year with this team, has brought me to my ultimate goal. Throughout 2012 I was able to fully integrate myself into the team, both through the FP1 sessions I ran at a number of tracks that were then new to me, and as Reserve Driver, fully embedded with the team throughout the season.
“Now I can continue to learn at the highest level of motorsport and show that I am ready for F1. I cannot wait to start work.”
Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul said on the decision “Everyone in the team is delighted that we can finally confirm that Giedo will be racing for us in the 2013 FIA Formula One World Championship. He has been part of our family since early 2012 when he joined our GP2 team and was appointed as Reserve Driver for the F1 team. He acquitted himself extremely well in both his GP2 season and his six FP1 sessions, progressively improving his outright pace, technical feedback and his relationship with his engineers and mechanics, giving us the clear justification for promoting him to F1.
“This is the next natural step for Giedo with our team. We continue to grow as a team and we are committed to giving young talent across the motorsport industry the chance to grow with us and this is Giedo’s opportunity to show he deserves his place at the very highest level of global motorsport. He and Charles have been team-mates before so he is an excellent choice to partner Charles in what is going to be another very interesting season, and we are all looking forward to seeing Giedo continue to progress as he takes on the ultimate challenge of F1.”
The move has created concern for the back markers, with two relatively inexperienced drivers filling their line up. However Pic impressed for Marussia in 2012, but it does create the question. Do Caterham need an experienced racer to front their team? Only time will tell.
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| (c) Sky Sports F1 |
The 27-year-old drove for the Caterham GP2 team in 2012, finishing on the podium six times. Two of those were victories and he ended the season sixth overall.
An experienced racer in GP2, many have said he was in the series for too long. He has tested Formula 1 cars for Super Aguri, Spyker, Force India and Renault before being picked up by Caterham as their reserve and test driver in 2012.
He drove in six Free Practice One sessions in 2012, as well as completing the Young Driver Test. He said on the confirmation “I am absolutely delighted to confirm that I will be racing in the 2013 F1 World Championship with Caterham F1 Team. I want to thank Cyril, Tony Fernandes, McGregor and everyone who has worked so hard to make this happen.
“I know I am ready to take the step up to F1 and all the work I have done throughout my career, and particularly in the last year with this team, has brought me to my ultimate goal. Throughout 2012 I was able to fully integrate myself into the team, both through the FP1 sessions I ran at a number of tracks that were then new to me, and as Reserve Driver, fully embedded with the team throughout the season.
“Now I can continue to learn at the highest level of motorsport and show that I am ready for F1. I cannot wait to start work.”
Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul said on the decision “Everyone in the team is delighted that we can finally confirm that Giedo will be racing for us in the 2013 FIA Formula One World Championship. He has been part of our family since early 2012 when he joined our GP2 team and was appointed as Reserve Driver for the F1 team. He acquitted himself extremely well in both his GP2 season and his six FP1 sessions, progressively improving his outright pace, technical feedback and his relationship with his engineers and mechanics, giving us the clear justification for promoting him to F1.
“This is the next natural step for Giedo with our team. We continue to grow as a team and we are committed to giving young talent across the motorsport industry the chance to grow with us and this is Giedo’s opportunity to show he deserves his place at the very highest level of global motorsport. He and Charles have been team-mates before so he is an excellent choice to partner Charles in what is going to be another very interesting season, and we are all looking forward to seeing Giedo continue to progress as he takes on the ultimate challenge of F1.”
The move has created concern for the back markers, with two relatively inexperienced drivers filling their line up. However Pic impressed for Marussia in 2012, but it does create the question. Do Caterham need an experienced racer to front their team? Only time will tell.
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