Pedrode‎ la Rosa

IN FOCUS: PEDRO DE LA ROSA

Pedro de la Rosa is a highly accomplished racing driver with an unconventional career path and is one of the most experienced test drivers in Formula One history. For 2023, he brings his unrivalled experience to Aston Martin F1 Team.

Unlike the majority of racing drivers, Pedro began his career by racing radio-controlled cars and was European champion, and runner-up in the World Championship. He started karting at the relatively old age of 17, before winning championships in Formula Ford in Spain and Formula Renault in the United Kingdom.

He spent two years in British Formula Three, before switching to the Japanese equivalent for 1995 – where he dominated and took the title with eight wins from nine races. He also finished third in that year’s Macau Grand Prix behind fellow future F1 drivers Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli.

His success in F3 led to a graduation to Formula Nippon and the top class of Japanese Grand Touring Championship. He had a solid debut year in both championships, before winning the pair of titles the following year in 1997. In Formula Nippon, he was on the podium in every race.

This led to Pedro’s first stint with Team Silverstone – where he joined the Jordan Grand Prix team as a test driver for 1998 – playing a key role in the team’s improving form in the second half of the year which led to its first Grand Prix win.

Pedro then made his Grand Prix debut the following year with the struggling Arrows outfit. Although he scored a point on his debut, results were few and far between in a two-year stint with the team.

For 2001, Pedro initially joined Prost as a test driver, but found himself replacing Luciano Burti at Jaguar part-way through the season. Pedro picked up his best result of the season in that year’s Italian Grand Prix and earned a full-time drive for 2002. Despite a number of top-10 finishes, he left the team for the following season.

He then joined McLaren as a test driver, and Pedro aided with two title pushes for Kimi Räikkönen, helping to refine some of the most technologically advanced F1 cars of the V10 era. When Juan Pablo Montoya was injured in early 2005, Pedro had the opportunity to stand in for him at the Bahrain Grand Prix and duly took home a strong points finish.

He would stand in for Montoya again the following year after he dramatically left partway through the season to race in NASCAR. Pedro was called up to race in the final eight races of the season, and he delivered five strong points finishes, including a fine podium finish in tricky conditions at the Hungaroring, almost earning the seat that went to Lewis Hamilton in the process.

Pedro returned to his test role for 2007 and was also president of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association for part of this time before he joined the returning Sauber team for 2010. After leaving the team towards the end of the season, he did some test work for tyre supplier

Pirelli ahead of its return to F1 for 2011. He also raced the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix after Sergio Pérez was not fit after an accident at Monaco.

For 2012, Pedro joined the struggling HRT team. The team was underprepared and its car was slow. However, Pedro comfortably had the upper hand over his team-mate. He was set to race with the team in 2013, but it folded after the season.

He instead returned to test driver duties for 2013, this time with Ferrari, and played a role in the development of its first car of the turbo hybrid era. He joined Formula E team Techeetah in 2018 as technical and sporting advisor and oversaw title successes for Jean-Éric Vergne and Antonio Félix da Costa in the all-electric championship.

Pedro joined Aston Martin F1 Team as Team Ambassador in 2022, taking on a role that sees him work closely with the marketing and communications teams and consulting with the our Driver Development Programme.