De la Rosa turned down Hispania race seat

Pedro de la Rosa has revealed he baulked at joining the Hispania team this season.

The Spanish veteran lost his Sauber seat last year and became Pirelli’s test driver, but despite reportedly pushing for an HRT cockpit for 2011 he has instead returned to the reserve role at McLaren.

Asked by AS newspaper in Barcelona if it is true Hispania had been a genuine option for this season, the 40-year-old answered: "Perhaps that question should go to... well, not (Jose Ramon) Carabante, I don’t know who.

"The truth is that I put a condition on it that they had to have an ambitious sporting project, but then the Toyota connection did not happen and I didn’t want to go there any more," revealed de la Rosa.

"I didn’t want to. I wanted to do well, to make them stronger, but there wasn’t the right ingredients to be there," he added.