Friday, 1st February 2008

Brazilian to carry out test and development role behind Alonso and Piquet.

Despite finishing as runner-up to Timo Glock in last year's GP2 Series, Lucas di Grassi appeared to have been overlooked for a role in the 2008 motorsport season until he was announced as Renault F1's official reserve for the coming grand prix campaign.

Not confirmed when the Enstone team revealed Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr as its race line-up, and seemingly behind F3 Euroseries champion Romain Grosjean in the pecking order, the Brazilian has now been handed a definite role within Renault's programme for 2008, aiding Alonso and Piquet Jr with their test and development work. The 23-year old will conduct the majority of the team's development work, while Grosjean - who will be among the favourites for this year's GP2 title - will get his first taste of F1 at a number of tests during the year.

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"My programme for the coming season is to attend most of the test sessions and all the races as the reserve driver," di Grassi confirmed, "I will observe the team and how it operates so that I constantly keep improving. It feels great. I have been with Renault since 2004 in the Renault Driver Development Programme, so I know the people I will be working with. Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to have the support of Renault, and will do whatever I can to help them perform in 2008."

Already familiar with fellow countryman Piquet Jr, di Grassi admits that it will be good to work with a double world champion in Alonso this year.

"[Piquet and I] have a good relationship as we have known each other since our karting days," he explained, "Then, in 2006, we raced together in GP2, so we know each other pretty well. The first time we raced against each other was in 1998 in Sao Paulo with junior go-karts, and now, ten years later, we will work together at the ING Renault F1 team, trying to make the team win again.

"Fernando is a very successful and talented driver. I want to learn from his experience and become a better driver so that I can help the team as much as possible when driving the car at the tests."

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