Sauber signs veteran de la Rosa

Date published : 19 Jan 2010 - 12:58:40

Pedro de la Rosa will race alongside Kamui Kobayashi at Sauber in 2010, the team has announced.The Hinwil-based squad, which was threatened with closure in the wake of owner BMW's decision to withdraw from F1 before being rescued by founder Peter Sauber, confirmed its driver line-up on Tuesday morning.De la Rosa, 38, has been a McLaren test driver for seven years and last raced regularly in Formula 1 with Jaguar in 2002.But team principal Sauber said the Spaniard's wealth of experience made him an ideal partner for his feisty Japanese rookie team-mate.Pedro has spent many years working for a top team at the highest technical level, noted 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.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 said more restrictive testing rules had made him determined to return to a race seat.I always firmly believed I would be given another chance as a team driver, he said.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 1 ever since 1993.