F1 – 2010 Driver Lineup – Sauber Signs Pedro de la Rosa

The Sauber team has signed 38 year old Pedro de la Rosa to partner with Kamui Kobayashi for their 2010 season.

Pedro dropped off the face of the F1 map some 7 years ago when he signed up as McLaren’s test/reserve driver. During that time he competed in 9 races for the silver arrows. Famously, 8 of those 9 races were in the 2006 season after the USGP where Juan Pablo Montoya ran over teammate Kimi Raikonnen and then retreated to NASCAR.

Before signing with McLaren in 2003, Pedro had stints with Jordan, Prost, Arrows and Jaguar as both a test driver and a race driver. All told his F1 career has lasted since 1998 in which time he has competed in 72 F1 grands prix, garnering 29 points.

Sauber is definitely gaining an experienced veteran who is capable of helping set up a car for his young hotshoe teammate. Unfortunately, I doubt Pedro will fare very well against Kamui though. There is a distinct reason why he has spent so many seasons as a test driver.

Anyway, here is the driver breakdown for the upcoming season. All seats are spoken for except a single vacant seat at Renault, Torro Rosso and Campos, and both vacant seats at USF1.

Team Driver #1 Driver #2
McLaren Jenson Button Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes GP Nico Rosberg Michael Schumacher
Red Bull Sebastian Vettel Mark Webber
Ferrari Felipe Massa Fernando Alonso
Williams Rubens Barrichello Nico Hulkenberg
Renault Robert Kubica TBA
Force India Adrian Sutil Vitantonio Liuzzi
Torro Rosso Sebastian Buemi TBA
Lotus Jarno Trulli Heikki Kovalainen
Campos TBA Bruno Senna
USF1 TBA TBA
Virgin Timo Glock Lucas Di Grassi
Sauber Pedro de la Rossa Kamui Kobayashi

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