May 6 (GMM) Pedro de la Rosa has admitted his career in formula one appears over.
From his first test laps for Jordan in 1998 to his Ferrari role that ended last year, the 44-year-old Spaniard’s F1 adventure spanned 16 years.
He raced more than 100 times for five teams, through the highly-competitive McLaren team in 2005 to the backmarker HRT, but so far in 2015 de la Rosa has not had an active role in the paddock.
“In no circumstances have I thrown in the towel,” de la Rosa told the Spanish newspaper Diario Sport.
“Racing is my DNA. But I am clear that my future will probably be in projects linked to other categories that are more suited to my age, such as world endurance (sports cars),” he revealed.
“We must be realistic and see that there is not much difference between GP2 and F1 now, which means F1 is not as difficult to adapt to any more.
“That is bad for the more experienced drivers like me, because without the huge leap in performance, the adaptation of young drivers now is very easy,” de la Rosa said.
He also thinks that his Ferrari exit at the end of last year was connected to countryman Fernando Alonso’s similar departure.
Asked if he expected Ferrari not to renew the deal, de la Rosa said: “Not expect, but I was not surprised as so many changes were made, including Fernando.”
He is also among those who do not heap all the praise for Ferrari’s 2015 resurgence on the departure of the ‘old guard’ and arrival of figures like Maurizio Arrivabene and Sebastian Vettel.
“This year Ferrari has enjoyed a great strategy that started work in 2014,” said de la Rosa.
“Work on the 2015 car was started before anyone else (in F1), but that meant sacrificing 2014, and it showed in the results,” he added.