Veteran de la Rosa refuses to give up

Pedro de la Rosa says he’s still chasing a race seat for 2011, despite the approach of his 40th birthday.

Having been dropped by Sauber in September de la Rosa slipped straight into the Pirelli testing role, which was vacated by Nick Heidfeld, the man who replaced him.

He had his first experience of the Italian tyres when he drove the company’s Toyota test car at Barcelona. He is focussing on compounds, after the earlier tests with Heidfeld and Romain Grosjean concentrated on constructions.

The teams will try the Pirellis for the first time in Abu Dhabi a few days after the final race of the season, and it’s not clear what the future will be for de la Rosa and the Toyota programme.

Meanwhile, de la Rosa – who turns 40 in February – is hoping that his Pirelli knowledge will give him a head start when he looks for a seat, although there appear to be very few obvious vacancies.

“I will learn, but also it could potentially make me more attractive for next year,” he said of the testing. “It will be difficult, but I’m going to give it 100 per cent. I don’t know which teams will have a seat available or not, but I’m working on it already.”