Breaking News: Nick Heidfeld to Test the New Pirelli Tires
Nick Heidfeld has been appointed the official Pirelli tester for the rest of the season. Previously he was signed in as the reserve driver for Mercedes GP but had been released from the contract with mutual consent to carry out his new assignment.
Pirelli returned to the Formula One after a long time as the event’s sole tire supplier, finalizing its contract with F1 this June, and taking over the place of Bridgestone who announced its withdrawal. All the teams contesting the event will be provided with rubber tires and the contract is to last for three years. On the other hand, Heidfeld has been part of the F1 caravan for over a decade now and enjoys vast experience and understanding. He has been signed in by the Italian company to undergo a series of tests and to assist it in carrying out the development work on the compounds that are to run in 2011 races. The first test of this long chain is to start at the Mugello circuit in Italy.
Heidfeld, while reacting to his new appointment, thanked Mercedes GP’s Ross Brawn, Norbert Haug and Nick Fry for allowing him the opportunity to become Pirelli's official test driver. He said that they had always extended him their full support and never were there any obstacles in his way if ever an opportunity aroused. He said that he felt very excited and thrilled as he takes his new role.
The 33-year-old has also previously worked with McLaren as its test driver after which he stayed with Jordan and Prost before joining BMW Sauber. Last year, he packed and shifted to Mercedes GP for the 2010 season. The GP team’s principal, Ross Brawn while praising Heidfeld said, “He is an extremely experienced driver and we are confident that his racing knowledge and technical feedback will prove useful to Pirelli and will also be beneficial to the sport as a whole.”
The Vice-President of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, Norbert Haug while wishing good luck to Heidfeld for his new job commented that there could not have been a more experienced and knowledgeable driver than him to carry out the task for Pirelli. He said that the entire Formula One team felt grateful to Heidfeld for having accepted this responsibility. He added that in the last nine months that Heidfeld spent with Mercedes, he proved to be an asset for the team and he strongly desires to see him in a competitive car for the world championships next season.
Heidfeld did not have any confirmed racing contract for his 4th year but now many are already speculating that with the new assignment his race value will increase many folds and several teams would be eager to have such a driver like him who has vast tire knowledge. Heidfeld would be driving a Toyota TF109 car which was also used last season.
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