As all available driving positions had been completed for the 2011 season, Spaniard F1 veteran driver Pedro de la Rosa ended to his usual McLaren role as its official test and reserve driver.
De la Rosa had been in the Woking based outfit since 2003 and last year he was chosen as the experience driver of Sauber F1 Team. However his disappointed performance obliged Peter Sauber not to renew his contract and he found a temporal testing role at Pirelli while at the same time he was trying hard to find another driving position for the 2011 season. Yet, his efforts had no success and he decided to return to his old position in order to help in the developing of the current MP4-26 that seems during the preseason testing to be out of a pace.
De la Rosa commented on his return:
"Of all the teams I've driven for in Formula 1, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is the one that really feels like home. So I'm very excited about returning to the team to help push the development of the MP4-26.
Lewis and Jenson already have an extremely positive and productive working relationship - so, building on and adding to their existing rapport, I'm aiming to do everything I can to help them get even more from our car, our engineers and our technical resources back at the McLaren Technology Centre."
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh welcomed de la Rosa back in to the team, while also confirming that Gary Paffett would be retained in the testing role as well while competing in the DTM championship.
"I know I speak for all my colleagues when I say that I'm delighted that Pedro has chosen to return to Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. He rejoins us with even greater experience, and his motivation and attention to detail remain as sharp as ever. His recruitment adds considerable strength in depth to our driver line-up. With two world champion race drivers in Lewis and Jenson, and two of the world's most experienced and capable development drivers in Pedro and Gary, we feel we have a quartet of talent that is absolutely second-to-none. Meanwhile, we wish Gary a very successful season in the DTM series with Mercedes-Benz - and are delighted that, away from the world's racetracks, he'll continue to give us the benefit of his considerable technical and developmental abilities."
