Pedro De la Rosa will replace Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya for the McLaren-Mercedes Formula One team, it was announced on Tuesday.
The Spaniard will compete for McLaren for the first time as a first-choice driver at this Sunday’s French Grand Prix, the team said.
”Team McLaren-Mercedes and Juan Pablo Montoya have mutually agreed for him to step down in the forthcoming races of this year’s Formula One World Championship,” a press release said.
”The team has decided that Pedro De la Rosa will join Kimi Raikkonen in the race driver line-up.”
The 30-year-old Montoya had already announced that he would be leaving the world of Formula One and instead competing in Nascar series racing in the United States.
”We believe that Juan Pablo’s decision to move to Nascar is very important for him professionally and we will give him every support to ensure that it is a successful transition,” said Norbert Haug, the vice-president of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport.
De la Rosa will make his second race appearance for McLaren in France following a thrilling points scoring debut in the 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix. He had been the third-ranking driver with McLaren.
”I’m extremely thrilled to have this opportunity to race the MP4-21, a car in which I’m really comfortable,” he said.
”I know the MP4-21 better than anyone else and I’m confident that I can achieve important world championship points for the team.” — Sapa-AFP