Pedro de la Rosa had waited over two years for a chance to start a Formula One grand prix. With 63 races in his rear-view mirror, the Spaniard had sat on the sidelines as a McLaren test driver, waiting patiently for an opportunity. So when the call came from McLaren supremo Ron Dennis to replace the injured Juan Pablo Montoya at the 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix, there was no time for nerves. And no time to bake in the Gulf oven.
“I was so excited about the race that I didn’t even sweat,” De la Rosa tells The Independent. “I didn’t drink at all – back then if you didn’t put in a drinks bottle, you saved weight on the car. So we didn’t even fit it.”
