Van Der Garde Signs as Pirelli Tester

[Paul Jeffrey]

Former Caterham Grand Prix driver Giedo Van Der Garde has signed up with Pirelli to be the Italian tyre manufacturors official development driver for the 2016 Formula One season.

Following on from a recent test in a GP2 car fitted with development rubber for the tyre company, Van Der Garde has taken the plunge and signed up full time to the testing role.

Speaking to De Telegraaf newspaper,

"It's a good job that allows me to do many kilometres...They were happy with my feedback, which was in line with the data they had [referring to a recent test session in Spain]... For Pirelli it is important to have a good driver who can help with the development of the tyres."​

The 30 year old Dutchman still hasn't given up hope of finding himself on a race start line in the near future, with recent news that he will test an AMG Mercedes DTM car as part of the German Marque's rookie test at the Jerez circuit in December.

Arguably best know for his fracas with the Swiss Sauber team at the beginning of the current F1 season and his often amusing tweets, the amiable Dutch driver will be looking to put his career back on track with these recent signings.

 

[Andrew Harper]

Slightly off topic but from a fan point of view I would like Pirelli be allowed to run extreme ends of the compound range for each race, so say there's a two second difference between Option and Prime. Would make the "racing" much easier for the drivers and provide more entertainment for us

I see we have the Super Super Super Super (Super) Soft next year so that'll be interesting to see where they use that one.