The Spaniard went from the depths of despair to relief, to fulfilment, frustration - and back to fulfilment.

A matter of weeks before the start of the season, De la Rosa was expecting to drive his second year for Arrows, having impressed for the team in 2000.

But then this genial man was dumped by team owner Tom Walkinshaw in favour of the unproven Enrique Bernoldi, for no other reason than that the Brazilian could bring more sponsorship money than De la Rosa.

De la Rosa started talks with Prost to become test driver for the French team, but then Jaguar came calling.

Initially, De la Rosa signed to race for the troubled outfit in 2002 and test in 2001, but when Prost grew tired of Gaston Mazzacane's under-par performances, a swap deal was negotiated.

Luciano Burti went to Prost in place of the Argentine and De la Rosa was handed Burti's seat two-thirds of a season earlier than expected.

It seemed something of a poisoned chalice for De la Rosa. Starting in the middle of a season is never easy, the Jaguar is hardly a dream car, and he has an experienced and very quick team-mate in Eddie Irvine.

For a while, he found Irvine to be a little too quick. But De la Rosa is a bright, technically-minded man and once he settled in, he impressed. At one point in the second half of the season he outqualified Irvine in five consecutive races.

Jaguar have picked him for his experience and feedback, and De la Rosa picked them in the belief that they have the resources to extract themselves from the mire.