Difference between revisions of "Pedro de la Rosa"

Revision as of 14:55, 16 September 2018

Pedro Martínez de la Rosa (born 24th February, 1971 in Barcelona, Spain) is a Spanish Formula One driver whose Grand Prix career spanned twenty years between 1998 and 2018.

Formula One

1998-1999: Stewart & Arrows

Following an excellent 1997 in Japan, where he'd picked up both the Formula Nippon and All-Japan GT titles, De la Rosa was courted by a number of Formula One teams ahead of the 1998 season. In the end, it would be with Stewart Grand Prix where he'd find his first home in the top flight of motorsport, albeit as a test driver. De la Rosa was close to a debut midway through that year, but an unexpected win for Jan Magnussen secured the Dane's position.

Stewart's signing of Dario Franchitti caused De la Rosa to seek an alternative for 1999 and as such he'd sign for Benetton Arrows, racing alongside Rubens Barrichello. He would take a third place in the third race of the season at Imola, before following this result up two races later with an unexpected win on the streets of Monaco. De la Rosa would finish the season in seventh place, two points more than his more experienced teammate Barrichello.

2000: Ferrari

An unexpected win in Monaco the previous year meant that De la Rosa had offers from the leading teams in Formula One; McLaren and Ferrari, as well as an option to remain with Arrows. In the end, the departure of David Coulthard from Ferrari saw De la Rosa fulfil the dreams of many young drivers and don the famous red of the Scuderia. Although initially results were hard to come by for the Spaniard, De la Rosa would take his first win of the season at the European Grand Prix. However, this would prove to be his only win of the season, finishing a distant 5th in the championship, with 37 points.

2001-2002: Jaguar

With only a single win the previous year, De la Rosa found himself victim to the Ferrari driver roundabout - being replaced by Arrows refugee Giancarlo Fisichella. De la Rosa would make a return to the same outfit that brought him into F1 by signing with Jaguar.

De la Rosa would fail to score any points with the Jaguar team for one and a half seasons, and would be sacked by the team ahead of the 2002 French Grand Prix - being replaced by André Lotterer.

2003: BAR

Out of a drive for the remainder of 2002, de la Rosa would return in 2003 with the BAR team, who after a difficult year in 2002 had lost the services of Sammy Jones and were keen to sign a race winner to replace him, with the Spaniard teaming up with Justin Wilson, who remained with the team from 2002 and started the season notionally team leader. Unfortunately, 2003 proved to be even worse for BAR, with the team's package simply not anywhere near the sharp end of the grid, leaving both him and Wilson fighting for the lower points positions, his best results being a couple of seventh places. De la Rosa also had further issues (even as by far the more experienced driver at BAR) asserting himself as team leader, even after Wilson left to join Sauber at the mid-season break, with his replacement Anthony Davidson immediately outperforming the Spaniard, scoring the teams best result all year, a fourth place at Indianapolis. As a result, de la Rosa would be sacked for the second year in a row, being benched in favour of the Honda-backed Takuma Sato for the final round in Japan.

2005: Sauber

After a year out, De la Rosa made his return to the grid in 2005, racing for Sauber Petronas alongside Jacques Villeneuve. After his previous acrimonious departures from Jaguar and BAR, there was hope that he would be able to reinvigorate himself. However, this would not prove to be the case. De La Rosa was hideously outclassed by his Canadian teammate, and by the British Grand Prix, Villeneuve had 13 points to his name, whilst De La Rosa had none, his best finished being a pair of 9th places at Spain and France. He would then be sacked by the team, for the third time in a row, after the race at Silverstone, being replaced by the team's reserve driver, Australian Dave Simpson.

2007-2008: McLaren

After skipping 2006, De La Rosa would be signed by the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team as their third driver, supporting the team's main drivers James James Davies and Sammy Jones. He would remain in this role in 2008, alongside Jones and rookie Lewis Hamilton.

2013-2014: [Caterham]]

After an extended break from Formula One, De La Rosa returned with the new Caterham F1 Team, partnering fellow Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari. De La Rosa would have a good year, outperforming his much younger teammate and finishing 14th in the championship with 95 points, scoring a fastest lap in Malaysia and a podium at Japan.

De La Rosa remained at the team in 2014, this time partnering debutant young Russian Daniil Kvyat. This time, De La Rosa would be beaten by his Russian teammate, finishing one position in the championship below him, in 12th, and scoring 100 points, 27 less than Kvyat. His best finish was 3rd at the British Grand Prix.

2015-2017: Ferrari return

De La Rosa would leave Caterham to join Ferrari in 2015, 15 years after he previously drove for them, as their reserve driver, alongside Evgeny Restov and Alexandre-Laurent Voeckler. De La Rosa would deputise for Restov at the German Grand Prix after Restov suffered an injury, finishing 9th and scoring 2 points, coming 30th in the championship.

He would remain at the team in 2016, this time alongside Sébastien Bourdais and Luca Filippi. He would cover for Bourdais at the Cyprus Grand Prix, and retired from the race. He would finish 34th in the championship, with no points.

In 2017, the Spaniard would again deputise for Bourdais at Ferrari, this time at the European Grand Prix, finishing a solid 4th place and ending with 25th in the driver's championship, with 12 points.

===2018: DGNgineering In his final season in Formula One, De La Rosa would sign for the DGNgineering squad, as reserve driver alongside Salvatore Miccoli and Kevin Magnussen. He would not be required to fill in for Miccoli or Magnussen, due to both drivers going injury and ban free during the season. At the season's end, he opted to retire at the tender age of 47.