Heikki Kovalainen remains hopeful that he can find a full-time seat in Formula 1 again after being confirmed as Caterham’s third driver this week.
The former Renault, McLaren and Caterham driver – up until the end of 2012 – will take part in two initial practice sessions to help the team better understand their car.
He believes the position will give him a better chance at securing a full-time race seat in the future, but admitted he had nothing lined up.
“There are no plans to race for the moment,” he said on Thursday. “The plan at the moment is for me to drive on Fridays to help the team as much as I can.
“Of course, I want to race in the future and being here puts me in a better position if there was ever going to be a race drive available here or somewhere else, so that’s good for me.”
The Finn was initially against taking up a reserve role, but he explained his reasons behind the sudden return: “We talked about this [reserve role] for the first time a long time ago but at the very beginning I wasn’t interested in this kind of role.
“But when you are sitting at home for a couple of months looking at other people driving, it makes you think you could have a go.
“Just before Malaysia, I had a chat with Tony [Fernandes] and asked if he thought I could still do something for the team and he said ‘sure’. It came together relatively quickly.”