René Binder was born in Innsbruck, Austria. His father, Franz, was also a racing driver, and he is the nephew of former Formula One driver Hans Binder. His family owns Binderholz, a solid wood products manufacturer which generated 1.3 Billion Euros in revenue in 2018.
Binder began his racing career in karting in 2002, competing in the category until 2008. He achieved third place in the German Junior Kart Championship in 2007 and was runner-up in the German Challenger Kart Championship in 2008. In 2009, Binder transitioned to formula racing, joining Abt Sportsline in the ADAC Formel Masters series. He finished seventh in the championship with three podium finishes, while teammate Daniel Abt won the title.
Binder progressed to the German Formula Three Championship, driving for Motopark Academy in 2010 and finishing twelfth overall with a best result of third. He moved to Jo Zeller Racing in 2011, improving to eighth in the championship despite missing a round. In 2012, he drove for Van Amersfoort Racing. He also participated in one round of the FIA Formula Two Championship at the Red Bull Ring in 2011.
He debuted in the GP2 Series at Spa-Francorchamps in 2012, replacing Giancarlo Serenelli at Lazarus, but did not score any points. He remained with Lazarus for a full GP2 season in 2013, achieving three points finishes including a sixth-place result at Monte Carlo, ending the season 23rd in the standings. A move to Arden International followed in 2014, where he partnered André Negrão, but he only amassed three points to finish 25th.
Binder partnered Raffaele Marciello at Trident Racing for the 2015 season, but a streptococcus infection caused him to miss a round at Spa. He later moved to MP Motorsport, securing a pair of points finishes, but ultimately finished 22nd overall.
In 2016, Binder switched to the rebranded Formula V8 3.5 Series with Charouz Racing System-run Lotus, finishing seventh with five podiums. He remained with Lotus in 2017, securing his first podium at Spa-Francorchamps and winning both races at Monza, temporarily leading the championship before finishing sixth overall. He added a third race win at Austin and finished the season fourth, level on points with Roy Nissany but ahead on wins. He participated in a private test with the Renault Sport F1 Team at the Circuit Paul Ricard at the end of 2017, driving a rebadged Lotus E20.
In 2018, Binder competed in six races of the IndyCar Series with Juncos Racing, achieving two top-twenty finishes. During the same year, he spun out during full-course yellow conditions while driving an LMP1 car for ByKolles Racing at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, failing to finish the race.
In 2019, Binder began a focus on endurance racing, partnering Will Stevens and Julien Canal at Panis Barthez Competition in the LMP2 class of the European Le Mans Series, and joining Juncos Racing's DPi project for the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup rounds. He continued in the ELMS with Inter Europol Competition in 2020, achieving a pair of top-ten results.
He won the 2021 Asian Le Mans Series with Yifei Ye and Ferdinand Habsburg, with victories at Dubai and the following day’s race secured by a fortunate pit stop under full-course yellow conditions. In the ELMS that same year, he drove for Duqueine Team, finishing second at Spa-Francorchamps and fifth overall.
In 2022, Binder, alongside Daniil Kvyat and James Allen, were originally slated to join G-Drive Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine led to their entry under the Algarve Pro Racing banner. They secured a class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and another at Monza, finishing second in the Pro-Am classification.
In 2023, after a driver ranking upgrade to gold, Binder returned to the ELMS with Duqueine, partnering Neel Jani and Nico Pino, winning at Barcelona. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, they finished third overall despite a broken suspension on the final lap. He participated in the WEC rookie test with Proton Competition, driving a Porsche 963, and returned to the team in December for the Asian Le Mans Series.
Binder remained with Proton Competition for the 2024 ELMS season, driving in the Pro-Am lineup alongside Bent Viscaal and Giorgio Roda. They achieved a second-place finish at Le Castellet after a fifth-place result at Barcelona.
Binder married Melanie in November 2017.
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