Born and raised in Barcelona, de la Rosa began his career in radio-controlled racing, winning several national and continental titles before moving into karting aged 17.

De la Rosa was born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, and unlike most drivers, he started his career in radio-controlled cars, specialising in 1:8 off-road.

In 1991, De la Rosa achieved fourth place in the Spanish Formula Renault Championship with three podium finishes.

The next year, he joined Arrows and scored one world championship point by finishing sixth in his debut race, the Australian Grand Prix.

[8] He became a test driver for McLaren but raced at the 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix when Juan Pablo Montoya injured his shoulder.

On 11 July 2006 it was announced that De la Rosa would take over the second McLaren race seat with immediate effect following Juan Pablo Montoya's departure to NASCAR.

At the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix De la Rosa scored his first and only Formula One podium, finishing in second place behind Jenson Button.

Reports in 2007 consistently linked De la Rosa to a return to F1 racing with the new Prodrive team, which was set to make its debut in the 2008 season.

Speculation suggested that Prodrive would run with support from the McLaren team, and that De la Rosa, along with fellow tester Gary Paffett, would race for them in their maiden season.

However, the team failed to make the grid for the new season, and De la Rosa instead remained as a test driver for McLaren.

With evidence provided by him and teammate Fernando Alonso, the FIA excluded the team from the 2007 Constructors' Championship, and issued a record fine of $100 million.

De la Rosa qualified in the top ten on two occasions, at Silverstone and in Hungary as both he and teammate Kobayashi struggled with reliability problems for the majority of the season.

[15] De la Rosa replaced Heidfeld as test driver for Pirelli, in anticipation for their return to Formula One for the 2011 season.

In Bahrain, he finished 20th after qualifying 22nd, although after the race he admitted that the team still needed "to gain some speed per lap" to fight their rivals on a consistent basis.

On 16 January, Ferrari announced that De la Rosa had been signed in a developmental role for the team, aiding with its simulator resources.

The team has been successful, with their biggest achievement being winning 2019 F4 Spanish Championship teams and drivers title with current Alpine Formula One reserve driver Franco Colapinto De la Rosa served as the technical and sporting director of Techeetah in Formula E during the 2018–19 season.