Pedro de la Rosa

By Karl King
December 12 2009

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride, Pedro de la Rosa is McLaren’s reserve driver. Before F1, he had a fairly comprehensive and varied racing career. Notable achievements include winning Spanish Formula Ford, Formula Renault GB, All Japan GT, Formula Nippon and All Japan Formula 3. His forays into British F3 were less successful, finishing the '93 season 6th and the following season 19th.

Eddie Jordan gave Pedro his F1 break as a test driver for Jordan Grand Prix. The following season saw a race drive come his way at Arrows. Pedro scored 1 point in his first race by finishing sixth in a race where only 8 drivers were classified. This would be the only point he’d score all season – and he only finished four of the following 15 GPs.

He was retained at Arrows for another disappointing season in 2000. He would score 2 points over the season with two 6^th place finishes, retiring in a dismal 11 of 17 races. At the end of the season, Tom Walkinshaw took the decision to dispose of de la Rosa in favour of Enrique Bernoldi...for all the good that did...

For 2001 Pedro became a test driver at Prost Grand Prix, until after four races Jaguar Racing decided to replace Luciano Burti. Pedro was drafted in as his replacement and scored three points over the season and was retained for the following year. However, after scoring no points in 2002, the team decided to replace him and he became a test driver for McLaren in 2003.

He has remained in this role ever since, and was chosen to fill in for Juan Pablo Montoya at Bahrain in 2005 after his infamous ‘tennis accident’, and finished fifth. Montoya was out for the following race also, but the team elected to give its other tester, Alexander Wurz, the chance to race and the Austrian managed a podium.

After the relationship between Montoya and the team broke down mid-2006 and the Columbian left the sport, Pedro was called up to race in the remaining 8 races. The Spaniard finished five races in the points, one of which was a second place, and hoped to be retained for 2007 alongside incoming Fernando Alonso. The team, however, decided the time was right to bring in its protégé and Lewis Hamilton was announced as the second driver. The rest, as they say, is history.

de la Rosa does have a chance of finding a 2010 race drive elsewhere, but is widely expected to stay in his role with McLaren.