De la Rosa returns to McLaren; Pirelli to announce new F1 test driver
Pedro de la Rosa, who last September stepped in to replace Nick Heidfeld as Pirelli’s Formula One test driver following the German’s unexpected and ultimately short-sighted departure, has rejoined the McLaren F1 team as official test and reserve driver. De la Rosa originally joined McLaren back in 2003 and worked with the team for more than seven seasons, helping develop cars that scored 29 victories, not to mention the drivers’ world championship with Lewis Hamilton in 2008.
“Of all the teams I’ve driven for in Formula One, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is the one that really feels like home,” commented de al Rosa. “So I’m very excited about returning to the team to help push the development of the MP4-26. Lewis and Jenson already have an extremely positive and productive working relationship – so, building on and adding to their existing rapport, I’m aiming to do everything I can to help them get even more from our car, our engineers and our technical resources back at the McLaren Technology Centre.”
De la Rosa has started 84 Grands Prix with several teams, but it’s his testing expertise that McLaren most highly prizes. In the course of his career the Spaniard has driven 361 F1 test days, covering 22,763 laps and 104,248 kilometres. “I know I speak for all my colleagues when I say that I’m delighted that Pedro has chosen to return to Vodafone McLaren Mercedes,” said McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh. “He rejoins us with even greater experience, and his motivation and attention to detail remain as sharp as ever. His recruitment adds considerable strength in depth to our driver line-up.”
Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery has wished de la Rosa all the best with McLaren, reflecting upon the departure of yet another test driver with good humour: “We’d like to thank Pedro for all his valuable work with us and wish him the very best for the future. It’s a shame that we won’t be able to benefit from his experience any more in 2011, but we will be announcing our new test driver shortly. It seems that every time Pirelli employs a test driver, they become immediately more attractive to Formula 1 teams – so maybe we should look at taking a commission on their future earnings from now on!”
Following Nick Heidfeld’s departure from Pirelli, the German driver replaced de la Rosa on the F1 grid with Sauber. However on October 4, 2010 the team announced Heidfeld was not part of its driver line-up for the next season. Heidfeld remained seemingly without a berth for the 2011 until signing with Renault as replacement for the injured Robert Kubica in February.
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