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1997 Formula Nippon Champion Pedro de la Rosa spent much of 1998 as test driver with Jordan before making his F1 debut with Arrows in 1999, becoming one of a handful of drivers to score points on his race debut.
Sadly, it was to be his only point of the year as he suffered a string of retirements throughout the season, though his fortune changed for the better in 2000.
Points finishes at the Nurburgring and Hockenheim were the highlights of a far from easy second season with Arrows, and de la Rosa was eventually dropped in favour of Enrique Bernoldi at the end of the year.
Frustrated to be without a drive, Pedro signed as Jaguar tester for 2001, on condition that he would be promoted to a race seat the following year. In fact he did not have to wait that long, replacing Luciano Burti for the Spanish GP, and teaming up with Eddie Irvine.
Although he struggled with qualifying, Pedro scored his highest points finish at Monza, finishing fifth, which left the Spaniard optimistic that he would be able to repeat the feat in 2002.
Despite admitting to being disappointed by the R3 in pre-season testing, Pedro was looking forward to his first full season with the Milton Keynes outfit.
Sadly, Pedro had every reason to be concerned with the car's pre-season performance, it was a 'dog', a major step backwards in performance. The internal battles at management level soon spilled out into the garage and by mid-season Pedro and his team-mate Eddie Irvine were exchanging 'blows' in the media.
Although Pedro might not be the quickest man in F1, he is not the slowest, yet his average qualifying position in 2002 was 19th. Poor handling, little pace and dreadful reliability left the Spaniard struggling and when the news came that he had been dropped, along with Irvine, he almost seemed relieved.
Pedro was linked with a couple of test roles but in the end they came to nothing, thus after 63 races and a mere 6 points it looked as though another F1 dream was over, then came the phone call. Following the Australian GP, race winner David Coulthard and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen opted to stay out east rather than return to Europe for testing, and as a result McLaren contacted Pedro.
At Jerez and then again two weeks later in Barcelona, the Spaniard was mighty impressive showing the kind of pace that many thought he didn't have. On the eve of the Brazilian GP, and with his fellow countrymen now switching back on to F1 in the wake of Fernando Alonso's success, Pedro was signed by McLaren as official test driver alongside Alexander Wurz, and has remained with the Woking outfit ever since.
Having been retained for 2004 and 2005, it seemed that Pedro, like fellow-McLaren employee Alexander Wurz, was destined to be a professional test driver rather than racer, pounding out countless miles in private rather than racing in front of packed grandstands.
However, fate played a hand - no pun intended - when Juan Pablo Montoya injured himself playing tennis, days after the Malaysian Grand Prix.
At short notice the Spaniard was brought in to replace the Colombian in the Bahrain Grand Prix, putting the McLaren eighth on the grid.
The following day, Pedro gave the performance of his life, taking four points from a race in which he made a couple of silly mistakes yet fought back every time, posting the fastest lap of the race and winning a tremendous wheel-to-wheel battle with Mark Webber.
For 2006, Pedro was retained for a fourth season, with Alexander Wurz heading off to join WilliamsF1.
Having deputised for Montoya in 2005, it didn't come as too much of a surprise when Pedro was asked to 'fill in' once again, following the Woking team's decision to part company with the Colombian following his much-publicised - and highly surprising - decision to switch to NASCAR for 2007.
Although it was originally thought Pedro's promotion would be temporary, the Spaniard retained the seat for the remainder of the season. Unfortunately, the short comings of the MP4-21 meant that there were no repeats of the 2005 Bahrain performance.
That said, he scored points in five of the eight races he contested, the poor reliability which had blighted Raikkonen's season eliminating him from the German and Italian events.
The highlight of Pedro's brief season had to be second place at the Hungaroring, his first F1 podium, however, with no disrespect intended, much like Jenson Button's win, this result was largely fortuitous.
Following the 'departure' of Fernando Alonso at the end of a difficult 2007 - how about that for an understatement - there was talk that Pedro might get the nod in respect of the Woking team's Spanish sponsors Santander, but it was not to be, the seat going to Heikki Kovalainen.
At the end of 2008, after another season with the Woking team, there was talk that a berth might be found for Pedro at Force India, what with the new technical partnership which effectively saw the Silverstone-based outfit become McLaren's B-team. However, team boss Vijay Mallya was quick to confirm Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil for another season.
Consequently, the Spaniard spent a seventh season with McLaren, though the new testing rules meant he rarely donned his white overalls for serious on track action.
Going into 2010, McLaren was known to be keen on retaining Pedro's services despite even stricter restrictions on testing, however, the Spaniard continued to be linked with a number of teams including Campos Meta, US F1 and Sauber. That said, with all three teams said to be looking for a driver with substantial backing it was widely assumed that Pedro would spend his eighth year at Woking.
On Tuesday January 19, no sooner had a number of websites run stories suggesting that Giancarlo Fisichella was "on pole for the Sauber drive" than the Swiss team announced that Pedro was to partner Kamui Kobayashi.
"Pedro has spent many years working for a top team at the highest technical level," said team boss Peter Sauber. "We as a team stand to gain from his experience, and the same goes for young Kamui. The combination of a seasoned racer and an up-and-coming young driver has repeatedly proved a very fruitful one." And if anyone knows about talent it's Peter Sauber.
Statistics - Prior to 2009 Season
Drivers' Titles: 0
Seasons in F1: 6
Grand Prix: 72
Wins: 0
Points: 29
Poles: 0
Fastest Laps: 1
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