De La Rosa: "We want heroes, not machine-heroes"

Former Formula One driver Pedro De La Rosa has recently made the move to Formula E, where he's become an advisor for Techetaah, but the Spaniard has warned the F1 that the drivers are becoming more and more obsolete.

De La Rosa was active for nine seasons in the Formula One across thirteen years, retiring from the sport at 41 years of age. He mustered a single podium finish at the 2006 Hungary Grand Prix, but the Spaniard is regarded by some as a wildly underrated driver.

Now active in the Formula E, De La Rosa has a different perspective on F1.

"In the end, whether you like it or not, the electric car will prevail," he told Mundo Deportivo.

"The hybrid might co-exist next to the electric engine for a few more years, we don't know.

"But in the end, motors will be electric and that's a given.

"Thus, the Formula E is a championship that's already headed in that direction."

De La Rosa is not a fan of the predictability of F1, as the Formula E has twenty potential winners every race, rather than six, as is the case in F1. He explains that the driver in Formula E is way more important than the car itself.

"The current problem of F1 is that it's a championship of engineers, the best car and team win and not the best driver, and I say that with sadness as I've lived it in the flesh. 

"In Formula E, if the driver isn't exceptional, it's impossible for him to win."

The Spaniard has noticed that Liberty Media are taking steps to take the F1 more into the future and out of the dark ages where Bernie Ecclestone left the sport. He applauds this, but he also realises that the current format of F1 "simply works".

"What has to change is the spectacle so that there's more rivalry between the teams and the drivers.

"The people want heroes, not machine heroes.

"That's what has to change."