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McLaren axe Montoya for de la Rosa |
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 LONDON, England - Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa will replace Juan Pablo Montoya in Sunday's French Grand Prix after the Colombian parted company with McLaren on Tuesday.
"Team McLaren Mercedes and Juan Pablo Montoya have mutually agreed for him to step down in the forthcoming races of this year's world championship," McLaren said in a statement.
"The team has decided that Pedro de la Rosa will join Kimi Raikkonen in the race driver line-up."
Montoya took Formula One by surprise on Sunday when he turned up in Chicago to announce he was moving to NASCAR next year in a team run by Chip Ganassi, with whom he won the CART championship and Indy 500 in 1999 and 2000.
The split means Montoya's farewell to Formula One was almost certainly the U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis this month, the 10th round of the 18-race championship.
Montoya, who won four races with Williams and three with McLaren, collided with Finnish team mate Raikkonen at the first corner.
The Colombian said of Formula One on Sunday that "anyone who watches the races knows it's not the most exciting thing you can watch.
"How hard is it to pass a car in Formula One? You pass them and you touch wheels and you're an animal."
McLaren said the 30-year-old, whose wife Connie is expecting their second child, would now spend the next few months in Miami preparing to race Ganassi's Dodge.
"Juan Pablo is an exciting driver and immensely likeable character who will undoubtedly make a successful transition to the NASCAR scene," said McLaren team boss Ron Dennis.
"We have agreed that with so many things happening in Juan Pablo's life right now, he should take some time out of the car and prepare professionally and personally for the future."
De La Rosa, the team's regular test driver, will make his second race appearance for McLaren at Magny-Cours after standing in for Montoya in Bahrain last year.
The former Arrows and Jaguar driver finished fifth in that race and will be eager to impress with the team yet to confirm their second driver for 2007.
McLaren have already signed Spanish world champion Fernando Alonso from Renault and Raikkonen is expected to leave for Ferrari or Renault.
McLaren could not confirm that De la Rosa would be in the car for the rest of the season. Last year both De La Rosa and Austrian Alexander Wurz, now with Williams, stood in for Montoya and the Colombian's absence could allow McLaren to try out their other test driver, Briton Gary Paffett.
"I know the MP4-21 better than anyone else and I'm confident that I can achieve important World Championship points for the team," said De la Rosa.
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