De la Rosa unsure of next F1 role

Pedro de la Rosa is returning to his native Barcelona this week unsure about his future in formula one.
After he was ousted as race driver last year by Sauber, the 39-year-old become the main tester for incoming tyre supplier Pirelli.

But after testing the Italian marque’s wet tyres over four nights in Abu Dhabi this week, Spaniard de la Rosa’s contract is now set to expire.

“The truth is I don’t know what will happen next,” he told Barcelona radio Rac1.

“In January the contract with Pirelli ends and my priority is to find a seat in formula one,” added de la Rosa, who has been linked with the remaining race cockpit at HRT but is believed to not have enough sponsorship funding.

He agreed that the current situation for aspiring F1 racers is “very difficult”.

“If I don’t race I would be happy to continue in F1 as a reserve driver,” announced de la Rosa.

He spent several years as McLaren’s main test driver, but de la Rosa insists he is currently “not close to any teams, even McLaren”.

“This is an important time for my sporting career,” he added, not ruling out a longer stay with Pirelli given that the marque is only just beginning its new F1 tenure.

0 comments

Other articlesgo to homepage

	Police detonate suspected bomb in F1 paddock(0) Monaco’s party atmosphere late on Thursday was broken by the sound of an explosion. Bomb police cordoned off an area of the formula one paddock near the media centre after someone noticed a suspicious plastic package. Experts detonated it with a controlled explosion just before 10pm, the Press Associated reported. It also emerges that some

	Schumacher must convince Mercedes to ‘want him’(0) If Michael Schumacher wants to keep racing beyond 2012, he will need to convince Mercedes. That is the claim of former German F1 driver Christian Danner, referring to rumours the seven time world champion’s future beyond this year is uncertain. Schumacher, 43, has said he is yet to sit down for talks with Mercedes, who

	Button says Lotus car to beat in Monaco(0) McLaren’s Jenson Button has named Lotus as the team to beat in Monaco. After Romain Grosjean was second fastest in both practice sessions on Thursday, Button’s teammate Lewis Hamilton concurred that the “Lotus looks pretty good”. “Normally, there are seven tenths between the two tyre compounds,” said the 2008 world champion. “Jenson was only four

	Raikkonen wears James Hunt helmet in Monaco(0) Kimi Raikkonen is paying tribute to one of his heroes this weekend at Monaco. During Thursday practice for this weekend’s blue-riband event, onlookers were surprised to see the late James Hunt apparently at the wheel of a 2012 black and gold Lotus. In fact, it was Finn Raikkonen wearing 1976 world champion Hunt’s iconic black

	McLaren set to offer Hamilton $150m(0) McLaren is offering Lewis Hamilton a lucrative new contract for 2013 and beyond, British newspapers are reporting from Monaco. The stories – in all the major dailies including the Guardian, the Telegraph, the Daily Mail, Express, the Star, the Sun, the Mirror and the Times – consistently contradicted an earlier rumour that Hamilton might need