Former grand prix racer Pedro de la Rosa was handed a Formula One lifeline by McLaren-Mercedes today when the London-based team signed him as their second test driver. De la Rosa visited the McLaren factory in January and impressed the team after being given a chance to test for them last month. He has now been signed on a permanent basis and McLaren managing director Martin Whitmarsh said: "We have been impressed by his feedback and application and he is a valuable addition to the team."
32-year-old Spaniard De la Rosa was given a chance to shine when regular test driver Alexander Wurz, of Austria, was sidelined after going down with suspected Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) fever last week. Wurz has now recovered and De la Rosa said: "I am really excited about joining McLaren and I am looking forward to fully immersing myself in the development programme alongside David (Coulthard), Kimi (Raikkonen) and Alex."
McLaren, who are currently racing last year's car, hope to continue their winning start to the season and will begin to test their new car for the first time after this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix.
De la Rosa, who raced in Formula One for two years with Arrows and Jaguar before making his testing debut for McLaren, will be given the responsibility of running the dual development of the current MP4-17D and the new MP4-18.
Filed by James Boylan.
