SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Grosjean replaces Heidfeld in Pirelli test role

Nick Heidfeld has completed another two-day test for new F1 tyre supplier Pirelli at Jerez this week. However, with the announcement that the German will replace Pedro de la Rosa at Sauber for the rest of the season, further Pirelli testing will be conducted by Romain Grosjean, beginning at Monza next week.

Nick Heidfeld has completed another two-day test for new F1 tyre supplier Pirelli at Jerez this week. However, with the announcement that the German will replace Pedro de la Rosa at Sauber for the rest of the season, further Pirelli testing will be conducted by Romain Grosjean, beginning at Monza next week.

Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery commented: "We'd like to thank Nick for his very valuable contribution to our tyre development programme and we wish him all the best for the future.

"In order to avoid favouring any individual team, we have jointly decided to release Nick from his contract and now we have chosen Romain to test for us in Monza. He's packed a lot of experience into a short space of time, including all our GP3 tyre development, so I'm sure he'll be able to give us some very useful feedback. The tests at Jerez have gone extremely well and we completed all the work that we planned over the two days. Now we move onto Monza, where our task will be to finalise the construction before we focus further on compounds."

Heidfeld, at the wheel of the Toyota TF109 used for Pirelli's pre-season development, completed nearly 100 laps on the opening day in temperatures that peaked at 38C and a similar distance on day two. Giorgio Pantano also drove the new GP2 car, which will run on Pirelli rubber from next year.

At the same time as the construction work, Pirelli's development engineers also tried out a range of different compounds as they focus on preparing the four slick options that will be offered to F1 teams next year.