Pedro de la Rosa says he will only continue as McLaren’s primary test driver while the possibility of a return to the race grid still exists.
The Spanish veteran, who turns 37 next month, was disappointed to miss out on the vacancy left by his departed countryman Fernando Alonso for 2008.
The daily newspaper Marca quotes him as saying: “While the possibility to race is present, I will continue (in formula one as a test driver).”
De la Rosa, like his McLaren test colleague Gary Paffett, had also been among the leading contenders to race for Prodrive in 2008, but team boss David Richards’ withdrew his entry over the customer car issue.
De la Rosa insists that “the day I see there is no likelihoods to go behind the (racing) wheel, I will reconsider the situation”.
He said discovering that Heikki Kovalainen had been signed to race alongside Lewis Hamilton this year was a disappointing moment.
“It was not the decision I had expected, but you can’t be looking back. My job is to think about the future, with the same desire as always,” he added.
After suffering a similar setback before 2007, however – when McLaren procrastinated about giving Hamilton his race debut as Alonso’s teammate – de la Rosa said it gets “more difficult to accept the decisions each year”.
“Every time,” he explained, “you have fewer years remaining of your sporting career.
“But I think I am mature enough to realise that while it is not a decision that I have encouraged, there is no way to change it,” de la Rosa said.
At Jerez, the Spaniard will share the track debut of McLaren’s new MP4-23 with Kovalainen on Wednesday, before Hamilton joins the exclusive test a day later.
