De la Rosa Signed as McLaren Test Driver

Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa has officially joined the McLaren team as a test driver, the Woking-based outfit announced today.

The 32-year-old Spaniard made his testing debut with McLaren last month at the Jerez circuit, and participated in his second session last week in Barcelona, setting some impressive times.

De la Rosa, who was dumped by the Jaguar team at the end of last season, will join McLaren's other test driver Alexander Wurz, who would remain as reserve driver, in assisting racing drivers David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen.

"I'm really excited about joining the West McLaren Mercedes team as test driver," said de la Rosa. "I have already taken part in a couple of test sessions for the team and am impressed with the professionalism of everybody involved.

"It was a good feeling to be back behind the wheel of a Formula One car again, and I am looking forward to immersing myself fully in the development programme alongside David, Kimi and Alex."

De la Rosa made his Formula One debut in 1998 as test driver for the Jordan team, before racing for Arrows and Jaguar.

"As a consequence of the demands of our intensive test and development programme, we felt that it would be beneficial for the entire team to have an additional permanent driver resource," said McLaren's managing director Martin Whitmarsh.

"We have already used Pedro for a couple of tests immediately following the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix, and the team was impressed with his feedback and application."