I'm absolutely thrilled to have had the chance to interview this guest, former F1 star, Giedo van der Garde!
The 37 year old Dutchman spent the 2013 season racing with the Caterham team, making 19 appearances for the former British F1 team which dissolved at the end of 2014 following financial troubles.
📸 Giedo van der Garde also represented Sauber as a test driver but never in a race.
Giedo himself is still racing, competing in the IMSA Sportscar Championship with TDS Racing alongside former 'A Bunch of Questions' guest Dylan Murry, Frits van Eerd as well as an outing with IndyCar star and fellow Dutchman, Rinus VeeKay in the LMP2 category of the IMSA series.
📸 Giedo's IMSA LMP2 machine he shares with fellow Dutchman Frits van Eerd, American Dylan Murry and for one round, IndyCar star Rinus VeeKay.
Giedo has also become well known for being outspoken and entertaining on his social media channels!
Onto Giedo's answers!
1. Understeer or oversteer?
I’ll go for oversteer because when you correct yourself, you still have an epic drift when everything goes well.
2. What’s your favourite circuit you’ve raced on?
It’s difficult to say, because each track has it’s own uniqueness. Gun on my head I’d say Spa Francorchamps, but recently I’ve raced Watkins Glen and that track rapidly became one of my favorites too.
📸 Scenic Spa.
📸 Giedo at Watkins Glen, a new favourite for him.
3. Is there a favourite you’re yet to race on? A few new tracks that have been added to the F1 calendar, but more out of curiosity. I’d love to race Vegas, for example. Also for the afterparty, gotta admit...
📸 Giedo wants a go at Vegas, but maybe not necessarily just for racing...
4. You’ve had a career with plenty ups and downs? What would you say is your greatest moment to date? Just getting into F1 was a great moment itself. I think people and fans watching F1 don’t realize the hard work and long road getting into F1. When you drive at the back, people often say you’re there because of luck or a big bag of money. It’s a money driven sport, I won’t deny that, but to get to those 20 drivers on track - there’s so much more needed.
📸 F1 was always the goal for Giedo, and it took a lot of hard work.
5. What keeps you motivated during the lows? The next race. When you’ve had a good race, don’t reflect on it for too long. Analyse it, accept it and pump yourself up for the next one.
6. You’ve raced Le Mans, what makes that particular race so good?
The history, the people around it, the fact that in 24 hours everyone will get to a low point eventually. It truly is a miraculous feeling when you drive into sunrise. Cars get dirty, there’s still people on the side of the road and you still have 8 hours or so to go. It’s a feeling you’ll get nowhere else.
📸 It's pretty spectacular to be fair.
7. Pierre Gasly recently suffered with stomach pains during a race(Saudi Arabia), what’s the strangest thing to happen to you inside of a race car in any series? Luckily I’ve never felt sick or anything. I do remember, I think it was Malaysia 2013, when the mechanic left his equipment in the car. Team didn’t think it was funny when I said to them on the board radio that there was ‘something swinging between my legs’ - until they understood.
📸 Wording is everything, particularly if it's a problem between your legs.
8. If you were a young driver right now, which F1 academy would you join if you had the choice? For now I’d choose Mercedes. I always think they’ve handled their talents in the right way and they search for opportunities for their drivers beside their own team.
📸 George Russell is an example of Mercedes giving drivers chances, having brought him to the team as an F3 driver, and moulding him to their top team over the years.
9. Who was your best teammate in any series? Back in 2006, Sebastian Vettel. Although we had amazing battles, with Lewis sometimes watching our rear wing, I knew at that time he’d become World Champion F1 some day.
📸 Young Giedo and Sebastian.
10. Who was your favourite teammate in any series? Same answer. Next to being an incredible driver, Seb’s also an amazing human being.
📸 Sebastian Vettel, "an amazing human being".
11. Favourite ice cream flavour? Anything but vanilla. Gotta stand out.
12. How much of a career changer has being vocal on Twitter been? Difficult to measure, but I know the vibe in endurance racing is much more relaxed than in F1. It was so serious, there were rules to life by in terms of media behavior. Also when I look back at it myself, maybe I took myself a bit too serious. I’m not that kinda guy. When the visor goes down, I am. I’m serious and need to be the fastest on track. But once I’m outside of the car, it should also be about having fun - and where’s an easier way to do that than Twitter?
📸 Giedo on Twitter: "it should be about having fun".
13. Do you pay much attention to the current lower formula ladder? If you do who would you say is the current 'one to watch'? Is it too easy when I say (Felipe) Drugovich?
📸 This year's F2 Champion and now Aston Martin driver, Felipe Drugovich.
A huge thanks to Giedo for taking the time to answer these, and a special thanks to Joost Hofman for putting me in touch with Giedo and ensuring this interview could take place! Hopefully I'll get a chance to speak with Giedo again and ask more questions!
📸 Image credit(s): Sky Sports, Formula Motorsport Limited, Giedo van der Garde, 24h du Mans
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