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De la Rosa Q&A

Pedro de la Rosa scored a point on his first outing in Australia last year, but after then he found it hard to make a real impression as Arrows faded towards the back of the grid. The new car is much more competitive, and there have been clear signs of pace this year, but early retirements have spoiled his season to date. However, at the Nurburgring the problems were forgotten as he charged to a superb sixth place. It wasn't earned through retirements ahead, although he did gain ground with a relatively early pit-stop. Ironically both driver and team said they would have preferred a dry race, and the statistics back-up Pedro's assertion that he ran a full dry set-up - the Arrows was quickest through the speed traps, implying that the opposition was running a lot more downforce. Very intelligent and extremely dedicated to his job, de la Rosa is still something of an unknown quantity to many, but his amazing record of title wins - from British Formula Renault to Formula Nippon, F3 and GTs in Japan - hint at real potential. Adam Cooper spoke to the Spanish ace



"For the whole team, we are very pleased. I thought it was going to stay dry, so I opted for a completely dry set-up, then after when it started raining I was really struggling to put the power down. But I must say the team did a great job in the pits. I think the strategy was perfect, and that's where we won the point. In these conditions I think it's more important to get it right in the strategy rather than on the set-up.



"On the last stop we just came in, refuelled and went. We didn't even change tyres."



"It was very, very interesting, especially with grooves when it started raining. But at the end I just tried to keep it on the tarmac and bring it home. Like I said it was quite difficult to get the power down. There was so much wheelspin - it was quite difficult."



"It's been more than one year now since I scored a point. I scored in my first GP and I thought that was easy and that was going to be the routine. But it took me more than one year to get another point and it's proved how tough F1 is, and how hard it is to be in the top six. The top teams are now very, very reliable, and that's another factor."



"Fisichella was much quicker than me, because I had a dry set-up. Poor Rubens, I just destroyed his race, but that's what I had to do!"



"We have to be realistic. However, in the wet we haven't been as fast, and I would rather have had a dry race. I must say we are just starting. We're a new team basically. It's good for the mechanics, because everyone has been working very hard, and we've had lots of non-finishes. We've proved that the car is capable of scoring points. I'm also happy for Tom!"



"It's a stronger technical package. The fact that Eghbal Hamidy and John Davis have joined our technical team has strengthened our staff. And we have a better engine, which is obvious. I think these are the key elements."



"We don't know really. The upsetting thing is that we still don't know where the limit of this car is - we need more testing to understand the car, and get the maximum potential out of it. Most of the testing we have done up until now has been just to make the car reliable, but we haven't really played with set-ups. We haven't made enough kilometres. The car has some great potential."



"I have to wait. I'm still learning in F1, don't forget this. I've only been here for one year. I believe my time will come."



"I hope so. I think what Tom is doing is great. This team will be strong this year, but will be very, very strong next year."

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