2012 comment: Respect for Pedro

[eytl]

Hi everyone,

Well, having succeeded in completely jinxing Mark Webber's championship challenge with my last ill-timed 2012 opinion piece, it's time to give up on the front of the grid and return to the familiarity of the tail of the field. And with the milestone of Pedro de la Rosa's 100th Grand Prix coming up in the next few races, I think it's time we salute the Spaniard:

Check out http://www.f1rejects.com/centrale/2012/delarosa/index.html for some reasons why we should give the HRT driver the credit he deserves.

Cheers,
Enoch

[FullMetalJack]

Love the article, he's clearly not there for glory, PDLR genuinely wants to see his national team be successful and look after the team's best interests rather than his own. He definitely desrrves whatever praise he gets this season.

[Ataxia]

He and LPS have really helped turn the team around.

Lovely article

[eurobrun]

That was great, I really enjoyed reading it.

[Yannick]

Thank you very much eytl for that great Pedro De La Rosa tribute. Ever since watching him thunder his Arrows around the A1-Ring, I've enjoyed his driving a lot and I was very happy for him when he scored his podium, hoping there would be more to come.

Somehow, in your list of drivers willingly choosing a back of the grid team and having their career peter out after having achieved success at the top of the grid, Jaques Villeneuve's move to a debuting BAR-Honda come to mind. Of course, he slightly bounced back from the disastruous 1999 season but still, this could be seen as rather much the same as the end of Roberto Moreno's F1 career, only that it took much longer and a comeback until it finally petered out. Also, Jacques remains a journeyman driver to this day. And that for a man who has won 2 pieces in the triple crown: the F1 WDC and the Indy 500. Here's hoping he's still motivated enough to try and finish his triple crown campaign successfully, at Le Mans.

[AdrianSutil]

Great article. Always respected PDLR for what he has done this year. If HRT are still around in 3-4 years and finally nipping at the midfield, they should thank Pedro for it. as its his and Sala's hard work that's would have got them there. De la rosa for HRT next year? If hea offered the seat I reckon he'd take it again. Him and Clos. Exciting.

[dr-baker]

Enjoyed reading this article. A new article and on my 30th birthday too - thank you!

[FullMetalJack]

Great article. Always respected PDLR for what he has done this year. If HRT are still around in 3-4 years and finally nipping at the midfield, they should thank Pedro for it. as its his and Sala's hard work that's would have got them there. De la rosa for HRT next year? If hea offered the seat I reckon he'd take it again. Him and Clos. Exciting.

He signed a 2-year contract at the time so he will still be at HRT next season.

Enjoyed reading this article. A new article and on my 30th birthday too - thank you!

Happy birthday baker!

[AdrianSutil]

Great article. Always respected PDLR for what he has done this year. If HRT are still around in 3-4 years and finally nipping at the midfield, they should thank Pedro for it. as its his and Sala's hard work that's would have got them there. De la rosa for HRT next year? If hea offered the seat I reckon he'd take it again. Him and Clos. Exciting.

He signed a 2-year contract at the time so he will still be at HRT next season.

Enjoyed reading this article. A new article and on my 30th birthday too - thank you!

Happy birthday baker!

Sadly, contracts in F1 don't seem to mean shite if your near the back. Trulli is a perfect example. I hope he stays for one more year. Mind you, the thinking inside HRT is a lot clearer than Caterham so I'd expect them to honour contracts.

[Stramala]

Sadly, contracts in F1 don't seem to mean shite if you're anywhere on the grid.

Fixed. Any contract can be rescinded/bought out nowadays.

[eurobrun]

Sadly, contracts in motorsport don't seem to mean shite.

Fixed, the worthless piece of shite David Reynolds comes to mind.

[Wizzie]

Sadly, contracts in motorsport don't seem to mean shite.

Fixed, the worthless piece of shite David Reynolds comes to mind.

That makes you one of the three people in the known universe who believed Reynolds had a contract with Kelly Racing for this year

[Shizuka]

What a superb article.
Pedro is certainly a good guy, who's basically the Moreno of this generation, he'd even ride a monocycle just to stay in F1. He's surely the key for HRT right now: a good driver with some Pirelli knowledge and good technical feedback is a priceless asset for them.

[BlindCaveSalamander]

Another brilliant article as usual. de la Rosa is truly one of the undersung heroes of F1, and embodies the spirit of this site more than most drivers could hope to. I really wish he could've got more success with the 2006 McLaren, he certainly deserved it. Really surprising to hear he's only on 98 starts now, though, especially when Hamilton and Kovalainen have already hit 100 GPs.

[Ferrim]

It's always nice to come across a nice feature about good old PDLR

We are sorely missing him in the commentary box this year, as his insight and passion were a fantastic addition and helped to compensate Lobato's alonsism (even though DLR himself is a big Alonso admirer, particularly since they worked together at McLaren in 2007). Sometimes last year he gave Gené a bit of a hard time with his knowledge, which is interesting because Gené is still involved with Ferrari and therefore has a fair bit of insight as well. He was particularly useful in explaining the radio communications, usually guessing what a "switch the lever to position 2" or "let's use the yellow button" message could mean. You could clearly see that the guy was still very interested in the workings of a F1 car

This year, most of the time he's interviewed at the end of a session he looks really happy. "Today it was great, we beat one of the Marussias" or "I did my best, it wasn't enough but it was a fantastic lap" or even "we are too far behind, we need to continue working, but we'll get there". And these last few races he's always trying different strategies to fight the cars in front; he's clearly not happy with trolling around the back and finishing last.

[eurobrun]

Sadly, contracts in motorsport don't seem to mean shite.

Fixed, the worthless piece of shite David Reynolds comes to mind.

That makes you one of the three people in the known universe who believed Reynolds had a contract with Kelly Racing for this year

He even admitted that he had a contract in an interview earlier this year. He also said that he broke the contract because he "Got a better offer".

[Ferrim]

Is it just coincidence that Karthikeyan has started to outqualify Pedro after eytl published this article?

[Nuppiz]

Is it just coincidence that Karthikeyan has started to outqualify Pedro after eytl published this article?

If this "F1Rejects curse" is true, then could you please make your next article about Alonso? Please?

[BlindCaveSalamander]

Is it just coincidence that Karthikeyan has started to outqualify Pedro after eytl published this article?

If this "F1Rejects curse" is true, then could you please make your next article about Vettel? Please?

Fixed.

[FullMetalJack]

Is it just coincidence that Karthikeyan has started to outqualify Pedro after eytl published this article?

If this "F1Rejects curse" is true, then could you please make your next article about Force India? Please?

Fixed.

Properly fixed.

I'm not a Force India hater, but their car should not be ahead of Williams.

[AdrianSutil]

If this "F1Rejects curse" is true, then could you please make your next article about Force India? Please?

Fixed.

Properly fixed.

I'm not a Force India hater, but their car should not be ahead of Williams.

Then blame Maldonado. It's hardly Force India's fault Williams hired a crash-happy loony...

[eurobrun]

Is it just coincidence that Karthikeyan has started to outqualify Pedro after eytl published this article?

If this "F1Rejects curse" is true, then could you please make your next article about Bottas's hopes of getting into F1? Please?

Fixed.

Fix'd again

[FMecha]

Is it just coincidence that Karthikeyan has started to outqualify Pedro after eytl published this article?

If this "F1Rejects curse" is true, then could you please make your next article about Caterham? Please?

Uber-fixed.

[eurobrun]

Is it just coincidence that Karthikeyan has started to outqualify Pedro after eytl published this article?

If this "F1Rejects curse" is true, then could you please make your next article about Caterham? Please?

Uber-fixed.

What do you have against Caterham

[FMecha]

^Nothing, actually.

[Nuppiz]

He was a great man. A salute for Pedro!

Hey spambot, mind noticing that Pedro de la Rosa is still alive and well?

[FullMetalJack]

He was a great man. A salute for Pedro!

Hey spambot, mind noticing that Pedro de la Rosa is still alive and well?

And still in Formula 1 for over another year yet.

[takagi_for_the_win]

He was a great man. A salute for Pedro!

No thanks, I don't like spam

[dr-baker]

He was a great man. A salute for Pedro!

No thanks, I don't like spam

Neither do I.

[eurobrun]

He was a great man. A salute for Pedro!

And he is still 259 times more human than you