Pedro De La Rosa signs for BMW Sauber
- Published on Jan 19th, 2010 by Adam MilleneuveThe F1 2010 grid is slowing forming with only Campos to announce a second driver to partner Bruno Senna and USF1 to announce any drivers at all. Sauber now complete their lineup with Kamui Kobayashi being partnered with Spaniard De La Rosa.
Pedro at Arrows in 2000
Pedro De La Rosa has driven in F1 plenty, before taking up the test role at McLaren over recent years. It seems that Sauber wanted someone with experience rather than flair with them choosing the Spanish driver.
He's raced in 71 grands prix between '91 and '06, has never won, but did come 2nd in a McLaren at the 2006 Hungarian GP. That's the only podium he's had so far and his points total is a rather low 29. At the age of 38, turning 39 in February he'll be the second oldest driver in the field after Michael Schumacher.
Career in short:
- 1999 - 2000 : Arrows (race driver) - 18 and 16th
- 2001 : Prost (test driver) and Jaguar (race driver) - 16th
- 2002 : Jaguar (race driver) - 21st
- 2003 - 2004 : McLaren (test driver) - n/a
- 2005 - 2006 : McLaren (race driver) - 20th and 11th
- 2007 - 2009 : McLaren (test driver) - n/a
- 2010 : Sauber (race driver) - ?
What do you think of Sauber's signing - Sensible? Inspiring? Boring?
Comments and Discussion
It's boring for sure. But he brings a lot of information regarding operational procedures and is technically-minded which helps with car development and setups; two qualities that would be highly beneficial to a team nurturing a potential future star.
He's also brought sponsorship money, though not as much as some others were offering, so he's there mostly for his experience. McLaren wouldn't have kept him on for so long if he wasn't brilliant at development and testing (even though it was just simulator testing over the past year). So it's sensible as well as boring.
Plus, it's handy for Spain to have more than one driver representing them, especially since both Spaniard's are going to have horsies powering them along.
Wait and see what he can do, before passing judgement on his abilities though. I recall some of his Jaguar performances were impressive, though i was less enthused of his drives for McLaren in '06.
That's good to know, thanks Oscar!