Jules Bianchi will ride with Force India at Jerez

We hoped to obtain the name of the second Force India driver this Monday. It did not happen. But as a consolation, the Indian team has just confirmed that Jules Bianchi will participate in pre-season tests this Friday. The Frenchman, third driver of this team last year, notably took part in several free practice sessions on Fridays during the Grand Prix weekends in 2012. With this experience aboard the car of the year pass, “Jules Bianchi will be able to provide the team engineers with more comparative information between the VJM05 and the VJM06”, says Force India.

While the tenure of Paul Di Resta's future teammate is slow in coming, the Frenchman's participation in the Jerez tests now makes him the favorite for the position. For months, the last driver within the Indian team has been the target of all desire, but the more time passes, the more the list of contenders dwindles. Besides the pilot of the Ferrari Driver Academy, Adrian Sutil, formerly of Force India, was strongly anticipated. Only one thing is certain, the latter will not ride this week in Jerez?

Also note that James Rossiter will make his return behind the wheel of a Formula 1. The Briton, former test driver for Honda and Super Aguri, becomes the new development driver for Vijay Mallya's team. The driver, who had not touched the wheel of an F1 since testing at Jerez in 2008, will have the task of comparing the sensations on board the VJM06 with those transcribed by the simulator, in which he works most of the time. time.