Pedro de la Rosa has signed for the BMW Sauber F1 team, ending a seven-year spell as McLaren's test and reserve driver.
De la Rosa, who last raced in Formula One at the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix, when he stood in for Juan Pablo Montoya, will join Kamui Kobayashi at the team.
"Pedro has spent many years working for a top team at the highest technical level," said Peter Sauber. "We as a team stand to gain from his experience, and the same goes for young Kamui.
"The combination of a seasoned racer and an up-and-coming young driver has repeatedly proved a very fruitful one. I don't expect either of them to disappoint in 2010.
"Of course it is also crucial that we provide them with a decent car; I feel positive about our in-house progress on that front too. We were able to continue work on our 2010 car as scheduled throughout the recent period of uncertainty."
De la Rosa said: "I always firmly believed I would be given another chance as a team driver. Since the number of test drives were radically reduced, this was what I was working towards.
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Re: BMW Sauber signs F1 veteran
Very odd season coming up. First Schumi decides on a come-back , now it's Pedro. Will we see D.C. back on the grid next ?
Re: BMW Sauber signs F1 veteran
Just echoing the congratulations. Well done, Pedro, and good luck.
Re: BMW Sauber signs F1 veteran
I´m glad to see that Pedro finally gets a seat as a proper F1 driver, not only as a test driver. He deservs it, according to all the good reviews he receives from all the other members of his former team, as well as many F1 specialists.
They´ve always said that Pedro is an expert in setting up the car, and with all this experience he´ll be very usefull to his new team.
Congratulations Pedro!