Here´s the De la Rosa interview (in Spanish):
http://www.marca.com/2012/03/11/motor/formula1/1331470386.htmlThis is a rough translation (better than Google though):
Q: The last time we met you told me "I´m the reserve goalkeeper and that is the worse thing"
A: Here an ex-reserve goalkeeper! Now I´d say I´m more like a Defender. I´m on first team, but there´s still a long way to score a goal. I want to be a striker. Who wouldn´t? The team is not ready to attack yet, we like to defend with 11 players in our area and keep our goal clean (laughs). We need to grow to score goals. That´s reality.
Q: Can there be surprises in Formula 1 like in Spanish Cup (football cup, where this year a very modest team reached semi-finals)
A: Formula 1 is similar to Spanish Football League. It´s a two-way game. There´s two big teams, Ferrari and McLaren, and, as I support Barça, I´d tell you that Ferrari is like Real Madrid and Mclaren like Barcelona.
Q: Excuse me, but Red Bull is winning right now
A: Red Bull is like Renault a few years ago. It´s one of those teams that can win the League from time to time, but I wouldn´t say they´ll be in that position in 20 years time. On the contrary, I can tell that Ferrari and McLaren will.
Q: Driving was your obsesion. What did you tell yourself when the opportunity didn´t arise?
A: I asked myself what would I´d like to do, and it was very clear in my mind that I wanted to keep driving! What I didn´t want to do was to wake up in the morning to go to the office and know what goes next.
Q: Did you ever think you weren´t being valued?
A: Completely, but only in Sauber. I don´t want to be a loudmouth, but I´ve never doubted the opportunity would come. I reckon, and I don´t know what I´ve done wrong, that I never drove a decent car. That´s the only thing I have yet to do and I don´t want that to never happen. I´ve worked with the best, with Fernando Alonso, who to me is an incredible driver, with Hamilton, Button, Raikkonen and I know, that in my life, I have nothing to envy from them, that the only difference is that I never had the chance to drive a competitive car. That´s my unfinished bussiness. That´s why I´m here, because the project at HRT is unique and it comes at the best moment. If I don´t take this chance...
Q: It´s not the first time I hear you say about the last chance
A: Ok, I won´t say it again! I´m 41 and I´m very lucky. The other day, Reyes, my wife, told me "Your eyes look the same way as when you started with Arrows in 1999, and that´s why I feel calm". There´s a lot of people who have critisized me for taking this choice at the end of my sporting career. I just had signed a new contract with McLaren, a long term contract which secured my future.
Q: How did you tell it to Martin Whitmarsh?
A: It was the most emotive moment. I thought he would throw his laptop at me and call me miserable. It was very hard for me to tell him. I wasn´t getting to the point in that conversation, then he told me; "What do you want to tell me?". When I told him I wanted to go to HRT, that I wanted to compete again, there was a long silence, but he said: "You must be crazy, but I love that my reserve driver is so crazy and so passionate. That means that we had the right guy".
Q: A guy that didn´t mind leaving a big team, lose money and sit at the back of the grid. DId you ever have doubts?
A: Yes, until the team finished its structure there was a thing. Something that is fundamental to me; who I´d work with. I don´t mean the mechanics or engineers, but the managers. Many times you sign a contract and suddenly you´re working with people you don´t want to work with. Luis Perez Sala was very important here, he´s a very serious guy.
Q: He´s a very important to you
A: He was my hero when I was young. In Estoril, when he was running in Formula 1 and I was in Formula Ford, I asked him to have his signature. It said: "For Pedro, with the hope he reaches Formula 1". That signature has been in my desk for more than 20 years. That´s a real story, and now he´s my boss!
Q: Did you close the circle
A: Not yet, remember that I´m still a defender. I´ll close it when I become a striker, and it´s still a couple of years to achieve that. I´m 41, so what?
Q: What?
A: I always joke about Fangio winning his first championship when he was 45... well, I know things have changed. But if I still have my body ready and I enjoy it... In this sports, the age is psychological, you don´t lose speed with 40, you can lose it with 50.
Q: Neither the eyesight?
A: It´s truth that I´ve lost a bit, but only a tiny bit! I know lots of drivers wearing glasses or contact lenses to drive. We know who they are (laughing), but we don´t tell names.
Q: It doesn´t seem like a minor thing.
A: It might seem incredible, but in a Formula 1 car eyesight is not so important. I´ve experimented a lot, I´ve used a lot of techniques looking for the maximum output. When you´re inside a cockpit, everyting vibrates so much that, even if your eyesight is perfect, it´s going to vibrate.
Q: It´s remarkable that there´s two guys, Schumacher and you, over 40.
A: My only secret is to always have taken care of myself. I´ve always done exercise, eaten healthy and slept a lot. Always.
Q: You won´t want me to believe that you haven´t broken any rules. When was the last time you drunk more than one glass?
A: Not too far ago (laughs), it was on 25th february as we celebrated my wife´s and my birthday. Her birthday is on 22nd, like Niki Lauda, and mine on 24th, like Alain Prost. I break the rules, of course! But my friends tell me I live like a chicken: I go to bed when the sun sets and I like to wake up the first. I´m happy living that way.
Q: You´ll drive the new HRT for the first time next Friday, in Australia, in Free Practice. Karthikeyan, your team mate, could drive it a couple of days ago
A: When he stepped down I asked him: "Are the sensations good?". He looked at me with bright eyes and told me: "It´s already better than last year". I liked it because the first impression is very important.
Q: You ask the fans to be patient
A: This team has born because of the interest in Spain and the only way for them to identify with us and respect us is to be transparent, and even then they´re going to critisize us, it´s normal, because we aren´t going to win. We don´t lie and the truth is that we´re the worst F1 team right now, but we don´t want to be there and we won´t be there in the mid term. The advantage is that Fernando Alonso is leading the way. The fans are going to support him and then they´re going to have a little bit of room for us.
Q: It might be the worst team, but the best in terms of food.
A: Yes indeed! Catering is from Arzak. Spanish quality everywhere! In HRT everything is made in Spain.
Q: You only need the coveralls to be from Zara
A: I wish! (laughing). We´re good at everything. The only difference is at opportunities, as the market is English-spoken and most of the teams are based in England. We don´t. 80% of HRT is Spanish, starting with our chief engineer, Toni Cuquerella.
Q: You must be tough with the engineers.
A: You´re right. I recognise I can be tedious to a mechanic or an engineer. The other day, when we were making the new seat, a mechanic came to me and told me; "They´ve already told me you´re bloody tedious" (laughs)
Q: In fact, you may be one of the drivers with the most technical knowledge. Did you fill up your hard drive as a McLaren and Pirelli tester?
A: I think there´s two types of driver, and no one is better than the other. Just different. There´s one who doesn´t care what´s behind his ass and even with three wheels he will accomplish 100%. I´m not like that and I would like it, but to give 100% I need to know what I´m driving, why things work. That makes me confident. Then, I can close the book, put my helmet and the test starts, I give everything.
Q: You´re as happy as a child, your wife is calmed... what about your mother? I ask you because I know she had to medicate to watch you drive.
A: I think medicines don´t keep her calmed anymore. She´s abandoned it and she wants to try enjoy it. After all these years she accepts this is my job and my passion. A few days ago we showcased the team in Barcelona. She didn´t say anything but she came and suddenly I was next to the car and she appeared there. It was great because all along my F1 career she may have come to three Grand Prix. She was very fearful.
Q: But it was because of your father
A: My father was very passionate. He used to spend the weekends fixing the car. I started at four years old with a motorbike until I tried a kart. I´ve been quite bad at the motorbike compared to my older brother or my cousins Alberto and Javier Puig. The thing is that on mondays at school, my fingers smelled of gasoline.
Q: What your daughters say of their daddy´s job?
A: There´s a sentence that is heard at home when they see me packing which is "Dad, are you going to win?". The answer is not heard because I´m not really going to win, but in the mind of a child there´s only winning or losing.
Q: Is there any other hobbies when you step out of the car?
A: My hidden passion is to understand the financial markets, the credit crunch. It all started when on airplanes they offer you the financial press. One day, reading Wall Street Journal I thought to myself "I know English, I speak it well, but I´m not understanding a word in here! Let´s catch up, you can´t only understand about cars, differencial and tyre temperature" I was hooked inmediately and every morning I download as much press as I can.
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