McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh pays tribute to Pedro de la Rosa – Formula 1 news
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has paid tribute to Pedro de la Rosa their test driver as Hispania Racing Team have signed him for 2012.
De la Rosa has signed a two-year contract with HRT effective from next season in 2012.
Martin Whitmarsh team principal of McLaren wanted to give due credit to De la Rosa for his role in McLaren’s successes.
“Pedro's contribution to Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has been fantastically valuable - perhaps even more valuable than may be apparent to outsiders in fact - ever since he joined us in 2003,” Whitmarsh said. “As a test driver, he's been extraordinarily hard-working
- on track and, latterly, more often, in our simulator - and his feedback has been reliable and expert.”
“But his contributions have gone wider and deeper than that: Pedro is the archetypal team player, a big motivational presence in our team, and, perhaps because of that, he's someone whom I personally will always count as a true friend,” he further added.
He also mentioned that de la Rosa’s move to HRT was well wished by McLaren and that the team understood why he has left McLaren, and have no hard feelings. De la Rosa duly thanked the team for the time he spent and for letting him take up the offer.
He expressed how the Woking-based team has been his second home during the decade long period of his career and thanked them for providing him the opportunity to develop into the driver and the person he is today. He also said that he is proud to have been
able to help Lewis Hamilton win the drivers’ championship in 2008, and helping the team develop a winning car.
De la Rosa joined McLaren in 2003 as a test driver and had made nine appearances in Grands Prix for the team until he joined Sauber in 2010. Although driving for Sauber he was replaced mid-season by Nick Heidfeld.
It will be interesting to see how much opportunity de la Rosa gets at HRT, though Colin Kolles HRT’s principal has said that the Spanish driver will bring in a lot of experience to a young team and they will benefit from that.
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