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Pedro Martínez de la Rosa (; born 24 February 1971) is a Spanish former Formula One driver who has participated in 107 Grands Prix for the Arrows,
Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the thi ...
,
McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
, Sauber and HRT teams. He made his Formula One debut on 7 March 1999, becoming one of seventy-six drivers to score a point in his first race. He has scored a total of 35 championship points, which includes a podium finish at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix. He is currently a brand ambassador for the Aston Martin Formula 1 Team.


Early career

De la Rosa was born in
Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...
,
Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...
,
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...
, and unlike most drivers, he started his career in radio-controlled cars, specialising in 1:8 off-road. He won three consecutive domestic championship titles between 1983 and 1985, he became the first multiple European radio controlled off-road championship twice in 1983 and 1984 and was runner up in the inaugural
world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
in 1986. It was only after that when he started karting in a local Spanish championship in 1988 when he was 17. He then joined the Spanish Formula Fiat Uno and became champion in 1989.


Professional career

In 1990, De la Rosa raced in Spanish Formula Ford 1600 and became champion. He later drove in British Formula Ford 1600 and got two podiums out of six races. In 1991, De la Rosa achieved fourth place in the Spanish Formula Renault Championship with three podium finishes. In 1992 he was both European and British Formula Renault champion. He slipped down the order in the next two years. In 1995, he was champion of the Japanese Formula Three series and third in the Macau Grand Prix. In 1996, he finished 8th in both the Formula Nippon and All Japan GT Championship. The next year he was champion in Formula Nippon. He was also the All Japan GT Champion with Michael Krumm.


Formula One (1999–2014)


Arrows (1999–2000)

In , De la Rosa was a test driver for
Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...
. The next year, he joined Arrows and scored one world championship point by finishing sixth in his debut race, the . He regularly out-paced his more experienced teammate Toranosuke Takagi. In 2000 he remained at Arrows alongside Dutchman Jos Verstappen. He scored two points, finishing sixth in the German Grand Prix and the European Grand Prix. Verstappen commented mid-season that he and De la Rosa 'work well together and we have a good partnership'. During the 2000 season, the Arrows team took part in a 13-part TV series named 'Racing Arrows' which followed the team and drivers throughout the year. It was shown on British TV channel ITV in 2001.


Jaguar (2001–2002)

He raced for two years with Jaguar Racing alongside
Eddie Irvine Edmund Irvine Jr. (; born 10 November 1965) is a former racing driver from Northern Ireland. He competed in Formula One between 1993 and 2002, and finished runner-up in the 1999 World Drivers' Championship, driving for Scuderia Ferrari. He ...
, scoring 3 points in 2001 and none in 2002. At the end of the 2002 season Jaguar paid off his contract which was set to expire at the conclusion of 2003, replacing him with Antônio Pizzonia.
''Autosport'' 1 November 2002


McLaren (2003–2009)

He became a test driver for
McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
but raced at the 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix when Juan Pablo Montoya injured his shoulder. He finished fifth and set a lap record which he still holds . On 11 July 2006 it was announced that De la Rosa would take over the second McLaren race seat with immediate effect following Juan Pablo Montoya's departure to
NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and h ...
. It was initially unclear whether he would remain in the seat until the end of the season, but some successful results led to him being retained. At the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix De la Rosa scored his first and only Formula One podium, finishing in second place behind Jenson Button. After a long period of speculation as to who would be Fernando Alonso's teammate in ,
Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mic ...
secured the seat. De la Rosa would carry on as the team's test driver. For the season he combined his testing duties with providing race commentary for Spanish broadcaster Telecinco. After his absence in 2006 he returned to the microphone in 2007. Reports in 2007 consistently linked De la Rosa to a return to F1 racing with the new
Prodrive Prodrive is a British motorsport and advanced engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. It designs, constructs and races cars for companies and teams such as Aston Martin, Bahrain Raid Xtreme and Team X44. Its advanced technolo ...
team, which was set to make its debut in the season. Speculation suggested that Prodrive would run with support from the McLaren team, and that De la Rosa, along with fellow tester Gary Paffett, would race for them in their maiden season. However, the team failed to make the grid for the new season, and De la Rosa instead remained as a test driver for McLaren. De la Rosa was also involved in the espionage controversy surrounding his team and rivals Ferrari. With evidence provided by him and teammate Fernando Alonso, the FIA excluded the team from the 2007 Constructors' Championship, and issued a record fine of $100 million. He was understood to have sent e-mails to Mike Coughlan and Fernando Alonso regarding the Ferrari cars' setup. Before the Australian Grand Prix of 2008, De la Rosa was elected as the new chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association after a unanimous vote. De la Rosa was the preferred candidate for GPDA directors Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso. He replaced the retired Ralf Schumacher in the role. He remained at McLaren in 2009, and as of January 2010 was the fifth most experienced test driver in history, in terms of test days. He stated that he wished to step down from the role of GPDA chairman, following the completion of his deal to drive for Sauber in 2010, and was duly replaced in the role by Nick Heidfeld at the Australian Grand Prix.


Sauber (2010–2011)

In 2010 De la Rosa drove for the newly resurrected Sauber team. His teammate at Sauber was Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi who impressed at
Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
during the last two races of the 2009 Formula One season. De la Rosa finished seven of the thirteen races he started in the season, and picked up six points from a single points-scoring finish, a seventh-place finish at the . These points would be the last of his Formula One career. De la Rosa qualified in the top ten on two occasions, at Silverstone and in Hungary as both he and teammate Kobayashi struggled with reliability problems for the majority of the season. He was dropped from his race seat by Sauber in favour of Nick Heidfeld after the Italian Grand Prix. De la Rosa replaced Heidfeld as test driver for Pirelli, in anticipation for their return to
Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship ...
for the season. After Sergio Pérez's accident in Monaco, De la Rosa replaced him for Sauber at the , after Pérez decided after the first free practice session on Friday, to sit out the rest of the weekend. De la Rosa managed to stay out of trouble throughout the first part of the race, affected by heavy rain, running as high as ninth before a red flag suspended the race. He eventually finished 12th after having some contact soon after the restart which required a new wing.


McLaren (2011)

On 9 March 2011,
McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
announced that De la Rosa had returned to the team as their test and reserve driver.


HRT (2012)

On 21 November 2011, it was announced that De la Rosa had signed for HRT F1 on a two-year contract. His teammate was Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan. Both drivers failed to qualify for the first race of the season in Australia, as De la Rosa was only able to complete seven timed laps during the race weekend. At the next race weekend in Malaysia, he was able to qualify and finish 22nd in the race after receiving a drive through penalty after the race was restarted, and he was later promoted to 21st place due to Karthikeyan's 20-second penalty for an incident with Sebastian Vettel. De la Rosa qualified ahead of Karthikeyan once again in China, and finished 21st, one lap down from the race winner. In
Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
, he finished 20th after qualifying 22nd, although after the race he admitted that the team still needed "to gain some speed per lap" to fight their rivals on a consistent basis. Following on from this, De la Rosa finished his home race for the first time since
1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...
in 19th place, the last of all classified drivers. However, he was unable to complete the
Monaco Grand Prix The Monaco Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de Monaco) is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigiou ...
due to a collision with Pastor Maldonado at the beginning of the race. De la Rosa had a contract to compete in the 2013 season with HRT and was due to become team principal for 2014. The team folded at the end of the 2012 season, meaning de la Rosa was unable to take either position.


Ferrari (2013–2014)

On 16 January, Ferrari announced that De la Rosa had been signed in a developmental role for the team, aiding with its simulator resources. On 24 January Ferrari announced that De la Rosa would share testing duties of their 2013 challenger, the F138, with
Felipe Massa Felipe Massa (, born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver. He competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between 2002 and 2017, where he scored 11 Grand Prix victories, 41 podiums and finished as championship runner-up in 2008 by one poi ...
at the first test of the season, beginning on 5 February in Jerez.


After Formula 1 (2015–)

De la Rosa is now the technical and sporting advisor to the Techeetah
Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, w ...
team. De la Rosa also runs a driving school and racing team called Drivex. He has also worked as color analyst for Formula One broadcasts on La Sexta, Telecinco, Movistar and currently DAZN.


Aston Martin ambassador (2022–)

In October 2022, De la Rosa was appointed ambassador for Aston Martin Formula One Team.https://www.astonmartinf1.com/en-GB/news/announcement/pedro-de-la-rosa-appointed-team-ambassador-at-amf1


Personal life

De la Rosa has one daughter.


Racing record


Career summary


Complete RC racing results

(Races in bold indicate top qualifier)


IFMAR World Championship results


EFRA European Championship results


AECAR Campeonato de España results


Complete Formula Nippon results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)


Complete JGTC results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)


Complete Formula One results

( key)


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosa, Pedro de la 1971 births Living people Formula Ford drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers Japanese Formula 3 Championship drivers Formula Nippon drivers Spanish Formula One drivers Catalan Formula One drivers Arrows Formula One drivers Jaguar Formula One drivers McLaren Formula One drivers Sauber Formula One drivers HRT Formula One drivers Paul Stewart Racing drivers TOM'S drivers