De la Rosa plays down Spain's expectations

The former Big Cat test driver was unexpectedly announced as a replacement for the Prost-bound Luciano Burti last week. But despite putting in competitive times during testing, the Spaniard has mixed feelings about returning to the cockpit at his home race.

"It's like everything," said de la Rosa. "I think it's good, but also I would probably have preferred not to start at my home Grand Prix because there will be a lot of expectation and it will be better for me if I can keep a bit quiet. But when these things happen, they just happen."

De la Rosa has played musical chairs so far this year. He was dumped by the Arrows team in January and then courted a test drive for the Prost team, before finally settling on the third driver role with Jaguar.

Despite completing numerous tests for the Milton Keynes-based team, the 30-year-old still feels he has a lot to learn about the R2.

"I have more work to do now than before because I'm going to be spending as much time as possible in the car," said de la Rosa. "I'm still not 100 percent with the car yet, especially with the tyres, because they keep changing so much that I haven't really had a go with the new spec."

Jaguar has failed to deliver so far this season, with Burti producing the outfit's best result so far - an eighth place in Australia. Despite a good reliability record, aerodynamic problems have hampered the pace of the R2, but de la Rosa feels sure that, given time, the team is capable of climbing up the grid.

"We will see more potential in the next few races," he said, "because I think we have put in a lot of effort in developing the car. Wherever we are in the next races and in Barcelona, it is not where we want to be because we are aiming high. It will come."