Formula 2 racer Oliver Rowland has been announced as the Renault Formula 1 team’s development driver for the 2017 season.
Rowland joined the revived Renault Sport Academy at the start of last year and spent time doing simulator work with the team.
The British driver will race in the newly rebranded F2 series this year for the DAMS team, with the season getting underway this weekend in Bahrain.
Having won the Formula Renault 3.5 championship in 2015, he made the step up to GP2 – now F2 – full-time in 2016 with MP Motorsport, ending the year ninth in the standings, with four podiums.
Rowland will complete a simulator programme and on-track running with Renault as part of his development role, but his F1 running has not yet been confirmed.
“My aim has always been to get a role in Formula 1 so it’s great to see all my hard work pay off,” he said.
“The Renault Sport Academy was the perfect training ground and the role of development driver is another great step after being within the Renault family for so many years with Formula Renault 2.0 and 3.5 and then the Academy too.
“I learnt a lot last year including working at Enstone in the simulator, so I feel well prepared for this role.
“I’m proud to be part of the team and I’ll be working hard to do everything I can to assist the team in their development of the RS17.”
Renault also has Sergey Sirotkin, third in last year's GP2 standings, on its books as test driver.
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