De la Rosa: winning is the next step

"In Magny-Cours (the French Grand Prix) I finished seventh, now I finish second," said the 35-year-old after the Hungarian Grand Prix. "Now I have to improve again and winning is the next step.

"We are more competitive now, why not? McLaren Mercedes is not a team that stops its development halfway through the year, they push to the very last race," he added.

Spanish fans, used to seeing Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso winning regularly this season, had another compatriot to applaud even if de la Rosa's future remains unclear.

De la Rosa, however, has been confirmed for the next two races.

"I was very happy to be told that I would drive in Hungary and a podium obviously is a great result," he said. "Now the team has to say what it wants for the future.

"I want them to say rather than I say anything so I had better shut up."

Before Sunday, de la Rosa's best finish was fifth place - with Arrows in 2001 and McLaren in a one-off appearance in Bahrain last year.

His big break came when Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya announced he was leaving for the U.S. NASCAR series and McLaren immediately replaced him with the test driver whose style was closer to teammate Kimi Raikkonen's.

The Spaniard spun on the formation lap but swiftly put that behind him at the start and battled with Ferrari's Michael Schumacher in the closing stages.

"I just got my head down and kept pushing and the car was pretty good on all kinds of tyres," he said.