Share this article on LinkedIn Email

Former Caterham and Marussia racer Charles Pic has become the Lotus Formula 1 team's third driver for 2014.

The team has also announced roles for Formula Renault 3.5 race winner Marco Sorensen and sportscar driver Nicolas Prost in its test and development programme.

Pic lost his Caterham seat at the end of 2013, but will become Lotus's main reserve this year.

"Obviously, the big change is that I won't be racing in Formula 1, but I will be at the races and working in meetings which will help me develop and progress as a driver," said Pic.

"Working with a top team is the next step in my development and I think I will learn a lot from this.

"I'm happy with my progress from my first two seasons in Formula 1 and at 24 I still have good potential for the future."

Charles Pic's complete career stats on FORIX

Sorensen, who was already a Lotus team protege, has been promoted to 'reserve and development driver' status for 2014.

"I'll be doing a lot of the simulator work this year, and then we'll see if there are any tests," said the 23-year-old Dane.

"I'm looking forward to doing a good job in the simulator and helping to get some extra pace in the car as it's a great way to show my value to the team.

"I'm probably going to come to six or seven F1 races during the season and that will be fantastic experience too."

While Prost has the same 'reserve and development' title as Sorensen, he will be the lead simulator driver and has already carried out a large amount of E22 development work at the factory.

Pic replaces 2012 GP2 champion Davide Valsecchi as Lotus's 'number three'.

Valsecchi was critical of the team last year when it overlooked him in favour of Caterham reserve and former grand prix racer Heikki Kovalainen following Kimi Raikkonen's early exit from the race line-up to undergo back surgery.

THE 2014 F1 SUBS BENCH SO FAR

Test/reserve/development/'affiliated' drivers announced to date:

Red Bull: Antonio Felix da Costa, Sebastien Buemi

Ferrari: Davide Rigon, Marc Gene, Pedro de la Rosa

Lotus: Charles Pic, Marco Sorensen, Nicolas Prost

McLaren: Stoffel Vandoorne

Force India: Daniel Juncadella

Sauber: Giedo van der Garde, Sergey Sirotkin, Simona de Silvestro

Caterham: Robin Frijns, Alexander Rossi