After four seasons and several wins in the GP2 Series, van der Garde signed for Caterham in 2013, having previously tested for Super Aguri and Spyker, as well as being a member of the McLaren Young Driver Programme in 2006.

Despite being contracted as a full-time driver for 2015, Sauber signed Felipe Nasr, resulting in a multi-million pound settlement after van der Garde sought international arbitration.

[2] On 17 December 2006 Van der Garde also announced that he would drive in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series for Victory Engineering, a team that works together with Carlin Motorsport.

He drove for the same team in the 2010 GP2 Series season, equalling his seventh place in the drivers' championship, whilst team-mate Sergio Pérez was runner-up.

[5] Van der Garde remained with Barwa Addax for the 2011 GP2 Asia Series season, with Charles Pic replacing the Formula One-bound Pérez as his team-mate.

He held second place in the championship until the last round of the season at Monza, where he had a disastrous weekend and slipped back to fifth in the standings, behind Luca Filippi, Bianchi and Pic.

He returned to the winner's circle with race victories at Catalunya and Singapore, but again was not consistent enough to mount a championship challenge, finishing sixth in the points standings.

[10] 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.

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.

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.

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 2015 Formula One season, by November 2014, the team informed him that he was no longer required.

[18] 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.

[20] Due to the risk of having its assets seized for disobeying court orders,[13] Sauber opted to abort participation in Friday morning's first practice session for the Australian Grand Prix.

[21] Nevertheless, based on media speculation about Bernie Ecclestone's intervention to avoid further negative publicity on the sport,[22] Ericsson and Nasr did participate in Friday afternoon's second practice session.

[23] On Saturday, 14 March 2015, the dispute reached a temporary resolution thanks to Van der Garde announcing that he would forego racing in Melbourne,[24] with a view to finding a more permanent solution in the future.

[25] 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.

[26] In return for termination of the contract by mutual consent, it is reported that Van der Garde received compensation in the amount of USD$16 million.

[22] The controversy, however, continued thanks to a statement released by Van der Garde revealing further background and indicating that his intention had also been that of promoting the rights of racing drivers whose contracts are often not honoured.

[27] 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.

[31] Partnering with Simon Dolan and Harry Tincknell, the Dutchman went on to take the title in his debut season, with the outfit having taken victory at Silverstone and Estoril.