F1 Drivers

Pedro Martínez de la Rosa (born 24 February 1971 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain) is a Formula One driver who drives for the Sauber team after six years of being a test driver for McLaren. De la Rosa has participated in 72 Grands Prix, debuting on 7 March 1999, becoming one of very few drivers to score a point at his first race. He has scored a total of 29 championship points, which included a podium finish at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Unlike most drivers, de la Rosa started his career in radio-controlled cars, specialising in 1:8 off-road. He won the European  radio controlled off-road championship twice in 1983 and 1984 and was runner up in the 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 le Rosa joined the Spanish Formula Ford 1600 and became champion. He also joined the British Formula Ford 1600 and got two podiums out of six races. In 1991, de la Rosa achieved fourth place in the Spanish Formula Renault Championship with three podium finishes. In 1992 he won both the European and British Formula Renault. However, 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 F3000 and All Japan GT Championship. The next year he was champion of the Formula Nippon F3000. He was also the Japan All GT Champion.