The Spanish racing driver Pedro de la Rosa has signed for Sauber, following Michael Schumacher's lead by returning to Formula One racing after a three-year absence and at an age when most contemporaries are enjoying retirement.
Like seven-time world champion Schumacher, who has come out of retirement to join Mercedes at the age of 41, De la Rosa last raced at the end of 2006 but unlike the German he never willingly quit.
De la Rosa will be 39 next month and starts the season in Bahrain on March 14 as the second oldest driver after Schumacher.
He was a stand-in at McLaren for the last eight races of 2006 after Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya abruptly left for NASCAR and has been that team's test driver for the past seven years.
However, he never gave up on his dream of returning to a full-time race seat.
