Former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde has announced retirement from racing in order to focus on his family and other non-racing ventures.
Former F1 driver van der Garde has decided to leave his racing career behind to focus on spending time with his family and pursue entrepreneurial ventures in the time to come. He will also continue to be a Formula 1 pundit for Viaplay in 2024.
Having won the 2008 Formula Renault 3.5 Series, van der Garde took a step up to GP2 level. After few seasons of racing, the Dutchman got his first F1 break with Caterham in 2013 but it was short-lived which included controversies especially with the Sauber move.
He was involved in the famous lawsuit with Monisha Kalternborn, where he claimed that Sauber had agreed to put him in one of the F1 seats for 2015 but eventually backtracked to have Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr instead, which kicked-off a lawsuit.
It was eventually settled outside court as van der Garde switched to compete in the LMP2 class in WEC. He spent most of the time with Racing Team Nederland whether in WEC and or most recently in IMSA. But this year, he raced for TDS Racing in IMSA and did a couple of races with United Autosports in WEC.
With the travel back and forth, van der Garde realised the toll it was putting on him and his family which is why the decision was taken up eventually leave racing and focus on other ventures, while also spending time with his family in Netherlands.
“Today I say goodbye to racing,” said van der Garde “A little sad? Maybe, but proud and happy all the same. It has been quite a ride. I have had the privilege of following my passion since childhood. It was a fantastic time. I became world champion twice and was able to fulfill my dream – to reach Formula 1.
“I am grateful to everyone who was involved in my career and helped me, especially my parents, my father-in-law [Marcel Boekhoorn] and my wife Denise. Without them I could not have done what I did. Although I was still competitive every race last year, I would like to spend more time with Denise and our three children.
“I have also become increasingly active as an entrepreneur and investor, as well as Viaplay’s F1 analyst. I want to devote more time to that as well. I therefore look back on my racing life with pride and look forward to the future with great pleasure!”
Here’s a video statement: https://www.instagram.com/p/C059BHpMNh5/?hl=en
