It’s taken a bit longer than expected, but Pedro de la Rosa has been officially named as Nick Heidfeld’s replacement as a test driver for Pirelli as it works on developing its new F1 tyres.
However, the Spanish racer, who was dropped by Sauber for the final five races of the season and replaced by Heidfeld, will be sharing the job with GP2 racer Romain Grosjean.
Infact, Grosjean has already settled into the role of test driver for the Italian tyres manufacturer, after completing a series of tests at Monza last week.
But now Pirelli has confirmed that de la Rosa will join Grosjean in the remaining tests to be held prior to the F1 season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Francesco Gori, chief executive of Pirelli, said: “So far, our work has been done by Nick Heidfeld, but since he has returned to racing, he will be replaced by Pedro de la Rosa and Romain Grosjean.
“They will test until the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and after that the teams will use the new tyres.”
Alex Kapadia, Operations Team