Q & A with Pedro de la Rosa

One of those most frustrated is Pedro de la Rosa, who is returning to the grid with Sauber for his first full-time Formula 1 campaign since 2002. After another wet day at Jerez, AUTOSPORT heard from the Spaniard.

Q. How was today?

Pedro de la Rosa: It was OK, because we tried hard to use the dry windows during the day. The track was never fully dry, but we used it properly for the info that we wanted. Hmm... another wet day in Spain, you know? It's just difficult to learn a lot about the car and the tyres in these conditions, but you just have to have the patience to wait for tomorrow and hope that it will be drier.

I am desperate for dry running. That's all I can say. I am desperate, because I need the dry running and it's the only way of learning about myself, the car and the new regulations. But the only good thing is that it is the same for everyone - there is no team in Mugello, or in Barcelona, that has had a dry day's running. It is the same for everyone. So at the end of the day, we are all on the same playing field.

Q. Because the conditions were never stable, you cannot do back-to-back work. What sort of things do you test on a day like this?

PDLR: We've tried different set-up options and the results are always based on the feeling of the driver, because you cannot do a proper back-to-back with new tyres or consistent conditions because the track was always evolving every lap.

Whatever you do, you have to do based on the feeling, and the results have to be confirmed in a more stable track. So that's the reality. That's why it is always frustrating, testing in these conditions.

Q. Last weekend everybody's inters were dropping off dramatically, and from today it looked like nothing had changed. Was it better with the extreme wets?

PDLR: It depends how much water there is. If you go out on extremes when there is a lot of standing water, then you might get away with it. But the moment there is less water, you just overheat them. The windows are narrow for both tyres, and that's how they are.

So it's a challenge, and that's why we are testing in these conditions - to try to make them live, and to try to understand them. These are the tyres we have for the season. There's no point complaining about them - these are the tools, and we have to maximise them. And that's why we are testing, even in these wet and changeable conditions.