Heikki Kovalainen rejoins Caterham as reserve driver

The Finn, who was dropped by the outfit at the end of last year, will drive in FP1 at both the Bahrain and Spanish Grands Prix.

He has been drafted in as the team prepares to introduce a package of major updates to its cars that it hopes will lift it ahead of nearest rival Marussia.

Speaking about his opportunity, Kovalainen said: "It's obviously great news that I'll be on track in Bahrain and Spain and I'm really looking forward to getting back to work and helping the team as much as I can.

"I'm physically ready to get back into the car and I know my experience can help give the team new ideas and options for directions to take on set-up and strategy. I'm looking forward to getting back to work."

Team boss Cyril Abiteboul said that it was Kovalainen's experience that attracted the outfit to the idea of bringing him back in to action.

"He has six years of F1 experience behind him so he is perfectly placed to provide us objective feedback on the various types of configurations we will run and to give us an objective view of the 2013 tyres against his experience with the 2012 compounds," he said.

"Having invested in Heikki for our first three years of competition it would be a waste not to leverage the valuable expertise he brings.

"As F1 is a team sport, he will also provide support to Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde, who are both doing a good job in their first months with the team."