De la Rosa confirmed at Sauber

Sauber has announced that veteran racer turned test driver Pedro de la Rosa will race alongside Kamui Kobayashi this year. The 38-year-old Spaniard has 71 Grand Prix under his belt and worked with McLaren as a test and reserve driver for seven years.

“Pedro has spent many years working for a top team at the highest technical level,” explained team principal Peter Sauber. “We as a team stand to gain from his experience and the same goes for young Kamui. The combination of a seasoned racer and an up-and-coming young driver has repeatedly proved a very fruitful one.”

“I don’t expect either of them to disappoint in 2010,” he continued. “Of course it is also crucial that we provide them with a decent car; I feel positive about our in-house progress on that front too. We were able to continue work on our 2010 car as scheduled throughout the recent period of uncertainty.”

De la Rosa started his Formula One career with Arrows in 1999 before beginning a two-year stint with Jaguar in 2001. After a largely unsuccessful race career in far from competitive machinery, he moved to McLaren as test and reserve driver and competed in a number of grand prix in 2006 subbing for NASCAR-bound Juan Pablo Montoya.

“I always firmly believed I would be given another chance as a team driver,” de la Rosa stated. “Since the number of test drives were radically reduced, this was what I was working towards. I’m really excited about the season with Peter Sauber’s team, which has been a solid fixture in Formula One ever since 1993.”