Montoya Dashed de la Rosa's Hopes
One look from Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya on Saturday morning dashed Pedro de la Rosa's slim hopes of racing for McLaren in his home Spanish Formula One Grand Prix
Montoya, returning after a two-race absence with a shoulder injury, crashed heavily in practice on Friday and De la Rosa admitted that he arrived at the Circuit de Catalunya the next morning with a faint hope that he might be summoned as a replacement.
"Of course I would like to be racing," said the Spaniard, who replaced Montoya in Bahrain and finished fifth.
"I have been waiting until the very last moment to see how Juan Pablo was doing.
"I've been asking him every day how he was feeling and until this morning I was prepared, I got here before them today just waiting.
"You never know how he was going to wake up so I looked at his face this morning and he said 'Don't get changed'."
De la Rosa could still take pride in setting the fastest laps in both the previous day's practice sessions as the third driver allowed to run on Fridays only.
Share Or Save This Story
Aston Martin ends F1 Bahrain pre-season test early after six laps on final day
The emotional key to Alonso’s longevity as he reaches 400 F1 races
Why de la Rosa has faith in HRT
McLaren to finally trial 'Macarena-style' rear wing in Hungarian GP practice
Palou still unstoppable as Nashville win edges him closer to fifth IndyCar title
F1 juniors shine in F2 2026 title fight
Is the 2026 WRC title fight the most unpredictable in a generation?
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments