Spanish Formula One Drivers - Former Drivers

Former Drivers

Pedro de la Rosa has had a lengthy career in Formula One having debuted in 1999. He spent two years with Arrows before taking up a testing role at Jaguar. He was given the race seat as a replacement for Luciano Burti after four Grands Prix and remained with the team for the following year. He moved to McLaren as a test driver, only properly returning to racing when Juan Pablo Montoya left the team in 2006. During the remaining eight races he scored 19 points including a second place finish. He lost his race seat to Lewis Hamilton but stayed as a test driver until 2010 when he signed with BMW Sauber. He was dropped after 14 races and went back to his testing role with McLaren. He once again secured a race seat, driving for HRT in 2012.

Jaime Alguersuari made his debut midway through the 2009 season. He became the youngest driver to compete in Formula One, racing at the age of 19 years and 125 days. Toro Rosso released Sebastien Bourdais from his contract and signed Alguersuari who would also drive for the team in 2010 and 2011. He was dropped at the end of the year and did not pick up a racing seat for the 2012 season.

Marc Gené started in Formula One in 1999 and drove for two seasons with Minardi. He signed as the test driver for Williams in 2001 and stood in for Ralf Schumacher once in 2003 and twice in 2004.

Luis Pérez-Sala is the team principal for Spanish team HRT, taking on the role in December 2011. As a driver Pérez-Sala raced with Minardi for the 1988 and 1989 seasons, finishing fewer than half the races and scoring one point for a sixth place finish at the 1989 British Grand Prix.

Adrián Campos drove for Minardi in 1987 but had a very poor season, mainly due to mechanical unreliability. He finished just one race, his home Grand Prix, and was dropped in 1988 after failing to qualify for three consecutive races. In 1998 he started Campos Racing which competed in a variety of racing disciplines and achieved success with Marc Gené and Fernando Alonso. He successfully gained a place for the team on the 2010 F1 grid and it evolved, through a takeover led by Jose Ramon Carabante, into HRT.

Alfonso de Portago competed at six race weekends across 1956 and 1957 with Ferrari. He was classified as finishing second in the 1956 British Grand Prix, though he had given up his car to Peter Collins whose own Ferrari suffered a mechanical failure.

Emilio de Villota was entered for 14 races over four seasons but only qualified for two of them. Both races were with McLaren in 1977 and de Villota was unable to finish higher than 13th place. His daughter, María de Villota, was a Formula One test driver but did not compete at a race weekend. In July 2012 she was testing a Marussia when she crashed into a support truck, suffering head injuries that ended her racing career.

Paco Godia entered 14 races with Maserati over a career that spanned from 1951 to 1958. His best result came in 1956 when he finished in 4th place at the Italian and German Grands Prix.

Alex Soler-Roig made his debut in 1970 with Lotus but did not start any of the three races he was entered for. He switched to March for the following year and though he started four Grands Prix he was unable to finish any of them, nor did he complete the two races he began for BRM the following year.

Juan Jover (1951), Antonio Creus (1960), and Emilio Zapico (1976) all entered for just one Grand Prix each but did not complete their race.