The excitement of watching madcap McLaren tester Pedro de la Rosa duelling for race position with his swooping overtakes and seemingly death-defying approaches to his opponents’ exhaust pipes is always guaranteed to make a Grand Prix well worth the trouble of turning on the telly.
Indeed, the management here at Brits on Pole was heard to cheer aloud several times over his breathtaking audacity on the track when occupying the race car recently.
And, while it is now perfectly clear why he wasn’t the right man for a permanent race seat, we did think it was a bit of a shame that we wouldn’t get more of a chance to see him in full racing trim.
But now our wishes may be granted. The Spanish press is murmuring about a seat for him at the new F1 team being run by British outfit Prodrive.
Since this is more or less set to be McLaren B, this is a perfectly logical move. Having got an established pro in place, what we now need is an exciting, up-and-coming youngster.
Hmmm. What about Gary Paffett?
Regardless of that possibility, F1 is a better, more exciting place when de la Rosa races, in our humble view. So let’s hope he gets the drive.
We could know as soon as this weekend, apparently.