Pedro de la Rosa this week has blanked rising speculation that he could be at the front of the queue for a race seat at Prodrive next year.
David Richards’ Banbury-based team is expected to enter formula one in 2008 with a customer car-engine package bought from McLaren and its engine partner Mercedes-Benz.
If confirmed, Prodrive could turn to McLaren’s test drivers – possibly to also subsidise the cost of the arrangement – to fill its racing cockpits.
But de la Rosa, the primary McLaren test driver alongside Gary Paffett, refused to comment on the speculation in an interview with Spanish newspaper Diario As.
“I have nothing to say about that. I don’t know anything about those rumours,” the 36-year-old, after receiving a medal of honour from the Spanish government for his contribution to sport, said.
