Pedro de la Rosa | Long serving Spanish F1 driver Pedro de la Rosa

Pedro de la Rosa

Team: BMW Sauber
F1 Debut: 1999 - Australian Grand Prix

Pedro de la Rosa returns to the Formula One grid this year having not raced since 2006. Luca Badoer proved how difficult the transition from testing to racing can be in modern F1 cars, and although Pedro should perform much better than Badoer, he has the added pressure of being team leader at Sauber.

Before starting in Formula One as Jordan's test driver in 1998, de la Rosa impressively won championships in Formula Ford, Formula Renault, Formula Three, Formula Nippon, and the All Japan GT Series. He made his Grand Prix debut with Arrows in 1999.

De la Rosa's career form in F1 has been patchy. He raced solidly with Arrows and earned a reputation for punching above his weight in 2000 when he mixed it with the front-runners during a number of Grands Prix. However, Pedro's giant killing performances were the result of light fuel loads and that meant he usually started races strongly but ultimately ended up outside of the points. De La Rosa was outpaced by Jos Verstappen most of the time.

Pedro was dropped by Arrows in favour of Enrique Bernoldi in 2001, and he moved to Jaguar when Luciano Burti was sacked. Unfortunately, de la Rosa was comprehensively beaten by Eddie Irvine in the team and despite a few solid drives, he was replaced after two years.

With nowhere to race, de la Rosa became McLaren's second test driver alongside Alexander Wurz.

As McLaren's 'reserve' driver, Pedro got to drive in nine Grands Prix in place of Juan Pablo Montoya. He scored a fastest lap and a podium during his brief time in the spotlight, proving he is a capable F1 driver, but was still a fair way behind Kimi Raikkonen.

Kamui Kobayashi is one teammate that de la Rosa will need to beat.

Click here for F1 Driver profiles