Pedro de la Rosa may not have made as big a splash in the F1 world as Fernando Alonso, but he did achieve a notable feat by scoring a championship point on his debut with Arrows in 1999.
| Nationality | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Born | Pedro Martínez de la Rosa 24 February 1971 Barcelona, Spain |
De la Rosa clinched the Formula Renault Eurocup in 1992. However, after two unremarkable years in British Formula Three, he moved to Japan.
In Japan, he won the F3 championship in 1995 and then progressed to Formula Nippon, where he secured the title in 1997 on his second attempt. This success led him to become a test driver for Jordan, which was using Japanese Mugen-Honda engines at the time.
Arrows
Pedro de la Rosa’s debut point came with Arrows but was a fleeting success; he never finished in the top six again that season, plagued by repeated technical failures.
In 2000, the pattern continued, though he managed two sixth-place finishes, adding two points to his tally.
Jaguar
In 2001, de la Rosa moved to Jaguar, replacing Luciano Burti. He occasionally challenged teammate Eddie Irvine, but both drivers were out by the end of 2002.
This marked the end of de la Rosa’s initial stint in F1, though he would return.
McLaren
After losing his race seat, de la Rosa joined McLaren’s test team alongside Alexander Wurz, contributing to the team’s resurgence.
Although McLaren favoured the faster Wurz, a shoulder injury sidelined Juan Pablo Montoya for the 2005 Bahrain race, and de la Rosa stepped in since Wurz was too tall for the MP4-20. De la Rosa delivered a strong performance, finishing fourth, but relinquished the car to Wurz for Imola after it was modified to fit him better.
With Wurz moving to Williams, de la Rosa stayed at McLaren for 2006. This paid off when Montoya left mid-season, and de la Rosa was called up again, achieving his best career result with a second-place finish at the Hungaroring.
In 2007, de la Rosa returned to full-time testing as Lewis Hamilton joined the team. He remained in the spotlight due to his involvement in the McLaren-Ferrari espionage scandal. It was revealed that de la Rosa and Alonso, who also joined McLaren that year, exchanged emails discussing confidential Ferrari information obtained by Mike Coughlan.
These emails led to McLaren’s expulsion from the 2007 Constructors’ Championship and a $100 million fine. Despite Alonso’s departure at the end of the year, de la Rosa stayed on as the third driver, with Heikki Kovalainen taking the second race seat.
Sauber
After two years on the sidelines, Pedro de la Rosa joined Sauber as a race driver for the 2010 season. However, he was dropped and replaced by Nick Heidfeld five races before the end of the year.
De la Rosa then conducted a series of tyre tests for Pirelli to help develop their new F1 tyre until early 2011. He returned to McLaren as a test driver at the beginning of the 2011 season. When Sergio Perez was injured in Monaco, de la Rosa made a one-off return to Sauber as a substitute driver for the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix.
HRT
De la Rosa secured a full-time seat with the Spanish team HRT in 2012. Although it was intended to be the start of a two-year deal, it became apparent as the season progressed that the team would not continue into 2013.
Despite limited opportunities to showcase his potential, de la Rosa consistently outperformed teammate Narain Karthikeyan and occasionally out-qualified the Marussias. Toward the end of the season, the F112s experienced several failures, but de la Rosa denied that the team was overextending their parts’ lifespan.
Unsurprisingly, the team folded at the end of the season, ending de la Rosa’s chances of continuing in 2013.
Ferrari
In 2013, de la Rosa joined Ferrari as a test driver and remained with the team until 2014.
In 2022, Aston Martin announced de la Rosa as the new ambassador for their Formula 1 team.
Pedro de la Rosa Formula One World Championship career
| F1 Career | 1999–2002, 2005–2006, 2010–2012 |
|---|---|
| Teams | Arrows, Jaguar, McLaren, Sauber, HRT |
| Entries | 107 (104 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 1 |
| Career points | 35 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 1 |
| First entry | 1999 Australian Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix |
Pedro de la Rosa Teammates
| Teammates | Involvement | First Year | Last Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tora Takagi | 16 | 1999 | |
| Jos Verstappen | 17 | 2000 | |
| Eddie Irvine | 30 | 2001 | 2002 |
| Kimi Räikkönen | 21 | 2005 | 2006 |
| Juan Pablo Montoya | 11 | 2005 | |
| Alexander Wurz | 2 | 2005 | |
| Kamui Kobayashi | 15 | 2010 | 2011 |
| Sergio Pérez | 1 | 2011 | |
| Narain Karthikeyan | 20 | 2012 | |
| Dani Close Clos | 6 | 2012 | |
| Ma Qinghua | 4 | 2012 |
Formula One Record
| Year | Entrant | Team | WDC Pts. | WDC Pos. | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Benson & Hedges Jordan | Jordan-Mugen-Honda | Test Driver | ||
| 1999 | Danka Arrows | Arrows | 1 | 18th | Report |
| 2000 | Arrows F1 Team | Arrows-Supertec | 2 | 16th | Report |
| 2001 | Prost Acer | Prost-Acer | Test Driver | Report | |
| Jaguar Racing | Jaguar-Ford Cosworth | 3 | 16th | ||
| 2002 | Jaguar Racing | Jaguar-Ford Cosworth | 0 | 21st | Report |
| 2003 | West McLaren Mercedes | McLaren-Mercedes | Test Driver | ||
| 2004 | West McLaren Mercedes | McLaren-Mercedes | Test Driver | ||
| 2005 | West McLaren Mercedes Team McLaren Mercedes | McLaren-Mercedes | Test Driver | Report | |
| 4 | 20th | ||||
| 2006 | Team McLaren Mercedes | McLaren-Mercedes | Test Driver | Report | |
| 19 | 11th | ||||
| 2007 | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | McLaren-Mercedes | Test Driver | ||
| 2008 | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | McLaren-Mercedes | Test Driver | ||
| 2009 | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | McLaren-Mercedes | Test Driver | ||
| 2010 | BMW Sauber F1 Team | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 6 | 17th | Report |
| Pirelli Tyres Test Team | Pirelli | Test Driver | |||
| 2011 | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | McLaren-Mercedes | Test Driver | Report | |
| Sauber F1 Team | Sauber-Ferrari | 0 | 20th | ||
| 2012 | HRT Formula One Team | HRT-Cosworth | 0 | 25th | Report |
| 2013 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari | Test Driver | ||
| 2014 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari | Test Driver | ||
Complete Formula One Results
Sources: Wikipedia.com and racefans.net
