De la Rosa Leaves Prost to Join Jaguar

Pedro de la Rosa has joined the Jaguar Racing team as test driver, finally ending the speculation about the possibility that he would replace Eddie Irvine this season.

As it was revealed by Atlas F1's The Daily Grapevine on Monday, and in one of the most bizarre events of the pre-season, the Spaniard has broken his two-year contract with the Prost team only ten days after signing with the French outfit.

De la Rosa, who was left out in the cold by Arrows in January when they announced he would be replaced by Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi, tested for Prost at the Estoril circuit earlier this month, and he was also the team's reserve driver.

However, after a lot of rumours about replacing Irvine at Jaguar following the harsh comments the Irishman made about the performance of the new R2, de la Rosa has joined the Milton Keynes-based team as test driver, joining South African Tomas Scheckter.

De la Rosa has signed a three-year deal with Jaguar.

"Pedro demonstrated last season that he is a quick and able driver and his input will be invaluable as we develop our R2 Formula One car over the course of the coming season," said Jaguar boss Bobby Rahal.

"By hiring Pedro, we are sending out a clear signal of our intention to develop Jaguar Racing into a championship challenging team in the future".