Official: Pedro de la Rosa signs with Sauber for 2010!

The BMW Sauber team and Pedro de la Rosa have concluded a contract for a race driver position for 2010. The Spaniard will thus drive for the Swiss team, leaving his position as a test driver at McLaren.

De la Rosa is 38 years old and has been the reserve driver for McLaren-Mercedes for 7 years now. With the acquisition of the BMW Sauber team by Peter Sauber, following BMW’s withdrawal, the team had to find new drivers. The young Japanese Kamui Kobayashi, a talent revealed at the end of last year, will drive the number one car. Pedro de la Rosa will complete the Swiss team’s lineup and bring his experience.

Pedro [de la Rosa] spent many seasons working for a top team at a very high level, explains Peter Sauber. We want to benefit from his experience for the team as well as for Kamui Kobayashi.

The combination of an experienced driver like De la Rosa and a young driver like Kobayashi has proven its worth in past years in F1, and I expect it to do the same in 2010 with our team.

Certainly, they will need a fast car for that, and I am sure it will be the case. Even though we had a period of doubt about the team’s future, we have always continued our work and we are on schedule with our planning.

The Spanish driver, of Catalan origin, has not raced since 2006 when he replaced Juan-Pablo Montoya at McLaren. He then raced in the last eight Grand Prix of the season without shining, finishing 11th in the final standings. However, De la Rosa did finish on the podium in Hungary, with rain in attendance.

Pedro de la Rosa was once sought after by Campos Meta. But the negotiations were cut short and it was Sauber who contacted him: « I always knew I would get a new chance to race in the Grand Prix. Since the number of private tests has been reduced, that’s what I was focusing on… I’m very happy to have been contacted by Peter [Sauber]. The team seems to have been functioning well since it started in Formula 1 in 1993. »