Pedro de la Rosa

He later drove in British Formula Ford 1600 and got two podiums out of six races.

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, McLaren, Sauber and HRT teams.

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 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.

In 1990, De la Rosa raced in Spanish Formula Ford 1600 and became champion.

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.

In, De la Rosa was a test driver for Jordan.

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.

He won the Japanese Super Formula Championship (formerly Formula Nippon Championship) and the Super GT (formerly JGTC) in 1997.

He is currently a brand ambassador for the Aston Martin Formula 1 Team.

De la Rosa was born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, and unlike most drivers, he started his career in radio-controlled cars, specialising in 1:8 off-road.

He made his Formula One debut on 7 March 1999, becoming one of 79 drivers to score a point in his first race.

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.

He raced for two years with Jaguar Racing alongside Eddie Irvine, 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.

He became a test driver for McLaren 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.

He has scored a total of 35 championship points, which includes a podium finish at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix.

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.

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 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 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.