Heidfeld joins fellow Germans at Merc GP

Nick Heidfeld has reportedly signed on as Mercedes GP's reserve and test driver after losing out on Sauber's second race-seat.

Racing for BMW-Sauber for the past four seasons, Heidfeld was one of the favourites to take the second race-seat when Peter Sauber bought his team back from the withdrawing BMW.

However, instead the team opted to sign long-time McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa, leaving Heidfeld without a 2010 race-seat.

The 32-year-old, though, will remain in Formula One as his manager has confirmed he has signed a test driver deal with Mercedes GP, joining Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher in the all-German line-up.

"Nick wants to concentrate on his job as test driver and support the regular drivers with his experience," his manager Andre Theuerzeit told German magazine Bild.

"Nick was focused on a seat with one of the top teams, but unfortunately we were not able to sign so we have gone for a different opportunity."

Source: 'Heidfeld joins fellow Germans at Merc GP' - Planet-F1 News from planet-f1.com