De la Rosa ’proud’ of Alonso’s respect

Pedro de la Rosa on Monday said the fact Fernando Alonso "wants" to work with him at Ferrari has made him "very proud".

The fact test driver de la Rosa has joined his countryman and former McLaren colleague at the Italian team for 2013 was interpreted by some as a further sign of the increasing influence wielded by Spaniard Alonso at Ferrari.

2012 HRT driver de la Rosa, 41, said on Monday: "That Fernando wants to work with me makes me very, very proud.

"Not because he is Spanish, but because he is the best," he said in Spanish at a Santander sponsor event.

Meanwhile, de la Rosa denied media reports that he was signed up by Ferrari because the Maranello based team is developing an all-new driver simulator.

"A new simulator for me? I’m good, but not that good!" he joked.

"There is no such project," the former Arrows, Jaguar and Sauber driver insisted in Madrid. "We have started a job and will develop what we have, which is perfectly valid.

"But what is certain is that, with the number of changes to the regulations for 2014, we have a lot of work to do in the simulator. And that’s one of the reasons I’m here, because the amount of work formula one teams have to do is huge."