Finn to take part in practice sessions in Bahrain and Spain
Wednesday 17 April 2013 11:04, UK
Caterham have confirmed that Heikki Kovalainen is to rejoin the team as a reserve driver and will run in practice at the Bahrain and Spanish Grands Prix.
However, Kovalainen never severed his links with the team and will now perform what they described as "a formal technical development role" in support of Pic and Van der Garde. "We are delighted to welcome him back into the team," said Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul. "He has six years of F1 experience behind him so he is perfectly placed to provide us objective feedback on the various types of configurations we will run and to give us an objective view of the 2013 tyres against his experience with the 2012 compounds. "Having invested in Heikki for our first three years of competition it would be a waste not to leverage the valuable expertise he brings." The move comes as part of what Caterham said is a "restructuring" of their driver line-up. Kovalainen joins Alexander Rossi as one of two reserves, the American youngster also replacing China's Ma Qing Hua in their GP2 line-up. Ma took part in P1 at his home race in Shanghai last weekend and had initially been nominated as a reserve alongside Rossi. The team added that Ma "remains a core member of Caterham F1 Team's driver roster and an announcement about his revised race plans in 2013 will be made in due course". SKY SPORTS F1's BAHRAIN SCHEDULE