From the start of his career, Pedro de la Rosa showed impressive talent that would carry him to the pinnacle of motorsports - F1. In 1989, he won the Spanish Formula Fiat Uno Championship. The following year, 1990, he won the title in Spanish Formula Ford 1600, and then moved to the Spanish Formula Renault series in 1991, where he finished fourth.

1992 saw him take the win in the British Formula Renault Championship, as well as the win in the European Formula Renault series. In 1993, he moved to the British F3 Championship, driving for West Surrey racing, where he finished sixth overall. He remained with the team in 1994, helping to develop Renault's new F3 engine. 1995 saw him drive for TOM's Toyota in the Japanese F3 Championship, where he took the title by mid-season. That year saw him secure eight pole positions, and eight victories, as well as coming third at Macau.

The following year he moved to Formula Nippon F3000, as well as competing in the All-Japan GT Championship where he finished eighth overall in both. He continued in both series' in 1997, where he took the Nippon Championship after securing ten out of ten podium finishes. Together with Michael Krumm, he also won the GT Championship. Eddie Jordan hired de la Rosa as test driver in 1998, and a year later joined Arrows as a racer driver.

In his F1 debut, de la Rosa finished sixth and scored his first career point (only points to sixth at the time) but in the relatively uncompetitive Arrows, it was the only points finish for the season. He remained with the team in 2000, scoring two points.

It was all change for the 2001 season as a late decision to drop de la Rosa in favour of Enrique Bernoldi, sent de la Rosa off looking for a new ride. The Spaniard looked set to join Prost Grand Prix until a late opportunity opened up at Jaguar Racing as test driver.

Regular Jaguar race driver Luciano Burti was suddenly out of favour mid-season and de la Rosa took over the race seat, one he would occupy for the next 18 months. Once again de la Rosa found himself in a less than ultra-competitive car and would only score twice in his time at Jaguar with a fifth place at Monza being his best result. Out of a ride, the Spaniard looked around for a test deal and came up trumps as he moved to McLaren Mercedes.

Relatively content in his role as test driver with one of the most competitive teams in Formula One, de la Rosa was called back to race duties for the 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix following Juan Pablo Montoya's 'tennis' accident. He drove a strong race for the team and despite a few lurid moments, brought the McLaren home in fifth position. It was then back to testing duties until Montoya made a sudden exit from the team - and the series - after the US Grand Prix the following year.

De la Rosa made an encouraging start as a McLaren racer in Magny Cours where he finished in seventh position and did a solid job in Hungary two races later to take the runner-up position in a race of high attrition. Another nine points would fall de la Rosa's way in the final five races, but it was not enough to secure him the ride for the 2007 season.

De la Rosa remained in the testing role in 2007 at McLaren, supporting Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso and was linked to the Prodrive F1 effort during the summer before the team's plans came to nothing. He remains with McLaren as test driver in 2008 but, despite his experience, is unlikely to race in Formula One again.