Pedro de la Rosa

Born on 24 February 1971 in Barcelona, in the beautiful Catalonia region of Spain, Pedro Martínez de la Rosa made his entry into F1 racing for the Arrow Team on 7 March 1999 at the Australian Grand Prix, scoring one point on that occasion, which is quite a rare achievement. Prior to his memorable F1 debut, Pedro de la Rosa claimed the title of Champion in the Spanish Formula Ford 1600 Championship in 1990, as well as earning two podiums out of six races in the British Formula Ford 1600 championship that year. He came fourth in the 1991 Spanish Formula Renault Championship, notching up three podium finishes, and following this by winning both the British and European Formula Renault in 1992. The following two years were somewhat mediocre for de la Rosa, but in 1995, he earned the title of champion in the Japanese Formula Three series, as well as claiming a third in the Macau Grand Prix. After moderate success in 1996, de la Rosa was back on form in 1997, winning the Formula Nippon F3000 and the Japan All GT Champion.

De la Rosa moved into F1 racing as a test driver for Jordan in 1998, joining Arrows in 1999 and making his debut, as mentioned at the outset. In 2000 he scored a point at both Nürburgring and Hockenheim for Arrows. The next two years were spent with Jaguar, where de la Rosa scored three points in 2001, but failed to score in 2002, resulting in a parting of the ways from this particular team. In 2003 de la Rosa signed on as a test driver for McLaren, making a points-scoring debut for the team when he replaced injured Pablo Montoya at the 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix. Continuing as test driver for McLaren in 2006, de la Rosa once again stepped in to replace Montoya (who left rather abruptly to join NASCAR) and claimed second place in the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix. From 2007 to 2009 de la Rosa continued in his role as test driver for McLaren, and was elected as the chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA) in 2008, replacing Ralf Schumacher who retired from the position.

Pedro de la Rosa has signed to drive with the Sauber team, which is making a come-back to F1 racing, for the 2010 season, alongside Kamui Kobayashi as team-mate. With quite a number of changes having taken place with drivers and the teams they are associated with, auto racing fans have plenty to look forward to for the 2010 F1 Championship series.

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