Aug.25 (GMM) Romain Grosjean will assume the role of Renault’s official reserve driver at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend.
The Swiss-born Frenchman is replacing injured GP2 driver and regular F1 reserve Ho-Pin Tung at the Renault-liveried DAMS team in Belgium this weekend.
Renault said on Tuesday that Chinese Tung might return to his duties at Monza in two weeks, and in the meantime “an official replacement” for the F1 role will not be named.
But the Spanish sports newspaper Marca says that for Spa, 24-year-old Grosjean – who contested the last 7 grands prix for the team in 2009 – will be the F1 reserve.
Meanwhile, the Finnish publication Turun Sanomat, and Italy’s Autosprint, report that Force India’s Paul di Resta is a candidate to replace Pirelli’s new tyre tester Nick Heidfeld as reserve driver at Mercedes.
Mercedes-powered Force India said on Tuesday that di Resta will not be on track during Friday practice this weekend because its race drivers need maximum track time at “unique” Spa-Francorchamps.
Scot di Resta, 24, drives for AMG Mercedes in the German touring car championship DTM.
Autosprint also said GP2 driver Jules Bianchi, already with a Ferrari development contract, could make his F1 debut with Ferrari-powered Sauber in 2011.
