Pedro de la Rosa to replace Sergio Perez at European Grand Prix for Sauber if required – Formula 1
Team Sauber has said that Pedro de la Rosa is going to be the driver that would replace Sergio Perez at the European Grand Prix if required.
Perez has not been medically stable since his accident during the Monaco Grand Prix’s qualifying session.
Sauber team principal Peter Sauber stated that the team did not choose to let its reserve driver Esteban Gutierrez drive in Canada since he is not ready for a race yet and the team does not want to rush him.
“I understand this question, but if these people think a little bit it is absolutely clear. We are responsible for him, and have had a contract with him for a couple of years. It is very important to bring him slowly into F1. It would be completely wrong
to put him in the car [in Canada] if there was the possibility - it makes absolutely no sense. It is important that he can concentrate on GP2, which is not easy, and to make progress there,” he said.
Sergio has been performing pretty well in 2011 despite the fact that he has scored just one point finish for his team while his teammate Kamui Kobayashi has scored six point finishes out of seven races.
The 2011 Formula 1 season is Perez’s debut season in the sport and quite miraculously, he is the only driver to pull off a one pit strategy this season which was at the season opening race in Australia and even scored a point finish after that. However,
the team was disqualified from the race due to technical reasons.
Nevertheless, since the young Sauber driver has not been able to take part in the sport since the Monaco Grand Prix, Pedro de la Rosa, McLaren test driver replaced him and the team believes that he is the perfect replacement for Perez but Sauber believes
that might not happen this weekend.
“I don't think about that. For me, it is clear that Sergio can drive,” said Sauber team principal Peter Sauber.
Other than him, Monisha Kaltenborn stated that de la Rosa is doing a pretty good job for the team and there was no reason why he should not drive in Valencia.
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