“Berthon joins Caterham F1 Development Programme”

GP2 Series racer Nathanael Berthon was confirmed as the latest addition to Caterham’s Development Driver Programme today.

Unfortunately for the Frenchman, he has joined too late to feature at this week’s two-day test at Silverstone, during which Caterham are already running three drivers.

Most likely, Berthon may find himself taking part in some form of off-track duties for the Caterham team; however it is unknown what that would actually entail. Berthon has tested an F1 car previously, having run in the HRT machine at the tail end of 2011.
Alongside Alexander Rossi, Will Stevens, Matt Parry, Weiron Tan, Seb Morris and Daim Hishammudin, Berthon becomes the seventh driver to join Caterham’s Development Driver Programme.

Berthon claimed his first GP2 Series victory last year in Hungary, but since then has not scored a point. He joined Venezuela GP Lazarus for this season, registering a best finish of 12th (twice) in Monaco and Silverstone. Prior to racing in GP2, the 25-year-old enjoyed a two year spell in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with Draco and ISR, taking one race win the process.

Berthon is managed by Colin Kolles’ right-hand man Manfred Ravetto, who is currently acting as assistant to Caterham F1 CEO Christian Albers; the latter of whom commented, “We are very pleased to welcome Nathanaël into our Development Driver Program. He is an exciting young talent with a proven track record in the feeder series for F1 and as he already has F1 experience he fits very neatly into our team. We will work closely with him to help him reach his full potential and are all excited about seeing him continue to grow as a driver, in and out of the cockpit.”

The next outing for Berthon will be the sixth round of the GP2 Series at Hockenheim in a week-and-a-half.