2006 saw van der Garde being brought into the
McLaren Young Drivers Programme. On 15 December 2006, van der Garde was confirmed as the
Super Aguri Formula One team's test and reserve driver for the
2007 season. in free practice for the
2012 Japanese Grand Prix. On 1 February 2007, van der Garde was unexpectedly announced by
Spyker F1 as the team's test and reserve driver. On 2 February 2007,
Super Aguri confirmed their belief their existing contract with van der Garde was still in force, stating "Super Aguri F1 Team has a valid contract with Giedo van der Garde to drive for the team in the position of Friday and Test Driver for the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship. The contract was submitted by the SAF1 Team to the
Contracts Recognition Board on 23rd January 2007." However, on 20 June 2007, van der Garde tested at
Silverstone with Spyker, indicating the contract dispute had been resolved. Spyker originally intended van der Garde to be the team's Friday driver at the
Australian Grand Prix, but he failed to obtain the necessary
superlicence from the
FIA in time. Van der Garde's first Friday practice session came at the
2012 Chinese Grand Prix; he went on to complete six Friday practice sessions throughout the 2012 season. On 1 February 2013, van der Garde's management announced that he would drive for Caterham as their second driver for the
2013 Formula One season, next to
Charles Pic. Van der Garde finished his first Formula One race with an 18th place at the
2013 Australian Grand Prix. At the
2013 Monaco Grand Prix, van der Garde achieved Caterham's highest ever qualifying place with 15th, this was also the first time that a Caterham made it to Q2 in the 2013 season. Van der Garde equalled his career best 15th during the race despite an early collision with
Williams F1 driver
Pastor Maldonado. He later improved on this performance by finishing 14th during the
2013 Hungarian Grand Prix, ahead of his teammate Pic as well as
Marussia drivers
Jules Bianchi and
Max Chilton. Van der Garde then bested his previous best qualifying position at the
2013 Belgian Grand Prix by qualifying 14th after electing to go on slicks on a continuously drying track, having finished the Q1 session in third place after adopting a similar strategy. But despite a good start that saw him remain in touch with the more established teams for the first few laps, he was unable to improve upon his grid position and finished 16th, a lap down on the leaders.
Sauber (2014–15) ;2014 On 21 January 2014, it was announced that van der Garde had joined
Sauber F1 Team as a reserve and test driver for the 2014 season. He took part in the first free practice session in seven of the season's Grands Prix in this role. During events that became public in 2015, van der Garde has claimed that, although in June 2014 he was guaranteed a position as one of the Sauber's two nominated race drivers for the Formula One season, by November 2014, the team informed him that he was no longer required. The team instead announced
Marcus Ericsson and
Felipe Nasr as their race drivers for the 2015 season, causing Van der Garde to file an
international arbitration complaint with the Swiss Chambers’ Arbitration Institution in December 2014. On 11 March 2015, van der Garde obtained Court orders enforcing his Swiss award thus compelling Sauber to permit Van der Garde to participate at the
Australian Grand Prix held in
Melbourne, with F1 sessions scheduled from Friday, 13 to Sunday, 15 March. Sauber's response was to appeal that decision and publicly announce that they would not compromise the safety of the team or other drivers by putting van der Garde in the car, because the
Sauber C34 chassis had been tailored to fit Ericsson and Nasr who, through their lawyers, also joined in the appeal. The appeal was heard the following day, on Thursday, 12 March 2015, at which time Sauber also argued that van der Garde's contract had been terminated by the team in February with the approval of the
FIA's
Contract Recognition Board and that Van der Garde violated the confidentiality clauses of the contract by discussing it with the media. Lawyers representing Ericsson and Nasr further argued that Van der Garde had not followed due process by failing to give prior notice of his legal action until after it was instituted. Further, the court adjourned the hearing until the following day to hear submissions on
contempt of court proceedings brought by Van der Garde's lawyers against Sauber's team principal,
Monisha Kaltenborn. Due to the risk of having its assets seized for disobeying court orders, Nevertheless, based on media speculation about
Bernie Ecclestone's intervention to avoid further negative publicity on the sport, Ericsson and Nasr did participate in Friday afternoon's second practice session. On Saturday, 14 March 2015, the dispute reached a temporary resolution thanks to van der Garde announcing that he would forego racing in Melbourne, with a view to finding a more permanent solution in the future. The Sauber team and its new drivers for 2015, Ericsson and Nasr, were thus able to complete the Australian Grand Prix's Saturday qualifying session and Sunday race. On 18 March 2015, van der Garde confirmed that he and Sauber had reached a settlement after he relinquished, once and for all, his rights to race in F1 with the team. In return for termination of the contract by mutual consent, it is reported that van der Garde received compensation in the amount of US$16 million. .
Post-Sauber (2015–) In April 2015, van der Garde's manager downplayed rumours of a return to Formula 1 during that season, with
Manor Marussia, adding that the focus was for a 2016 race seat in
DTM or
LMP1.
TV career As
Max Verstappen joined Formula 1 in 2015, van der Garde was often asked for his analysis in Dutch TV Shows. Between 2015 and 2021, van der Garde was a usual guest in several Dutch TV shows to talk about Verstappen in Formula One. In December 2021, it was announced that van der Garde would join the analyst team of
Viaplay from 2022 onwards. At the new Dutch sports channel, van der Garde is accompanied by other analysts such as former Formula One driver
Christijan Albers and racing driver
Tom Coronel. ==Sportscar career==