Mercedes Grand Prix has confirmed that Nick Heidfeld has been released from his contract as team's official reserve driver in order to join Pirelli as the official tyre test driver.
Mercedes boss Ross Brawn commented:
"Nick is an extremely experienced driver and we are confident that his racing knowledge and technical feedback will prove extremely useful to Pirelli and therefore of benefit to the sport as a whole. Nick has been a real asset to Mercedes GP Petronas since joining our team this year and we are pleased to see his career progressing."
Heidfeld thanked also Mercedes for the opportunity to drive again.
"First of all I would like to thank Ross Brawn, Norbert Haug and Nick Fry for allowing me the opportunity to become Pirelli's official test driver. The team has always said that they would not stand in my way if such a chance arose and they have kindly allowed me to take up this exciting new role," said Heidfeld. "I would like to thank everyone at Mercedes GP Petronas for the great cooperation that we have had this year. I have greatly enjoyed supporting the team in my position as Reserve Driver and have felt welcome right from the outset.
It was impressive to have the opportunity to work with the current world champions and I wish the team all the best for the remainder of the season and beyond."
Nick Heidfeld has raced for many F1 teams like Sauber Petronas, Williams Grand Prix, Jordan Grand Prix, F1 BMW team but never had the chance to join a top team. Since the arrival of Michael Schumacher at Mercedes Grand Prix, "Quick nick" was settled as team's reserve driver but although Schumachaer's mediocre racing performance during his F1 return, he never had a chance to race so far. Furthermore, Schumacher's 3 year contract with the team doesn't leave him many opportunities to race again and for that reason he was obliged to search for other racing opportunities.
