regarding the Ferrari cars' setup. Before the Australian Grand Prix of 2008, De la Rosa was elected as the new chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association after a unanimous vote. De la Rosa was the preferred candidate for GPDA directors Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso. He replaced the retired Ralf Schumacher in the role. He remained at McLaren in 2009, and as of January 2010 was the fifth most experienced test driver in history, in terms of test days. He stated that he wished to step down from the role of GPDA chairman, following the completion of his deal to drive for Sauber in 2010, and was duly replaced in the role by Nick Heidfeld at the Australian Grand Prix. Sauber (2010–2011) In 2010 De la Rosa drove for the newly resurrected Sauber team. His teammate at Sauber was Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi who impressed at Toyota during the last two races of the 2009 Formula One season. De la Rosa finished seven of the thirteen races he started in the season, and picked up six points from a single points-scoring finish, a seventh-place finish at the . These points would be the last of his Formula One career. 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. He was dropped from his race seat by Sauber in favour of Nick Heidfeld after the Italian Grand Prix. De la Rosa replaced Heidfeld as test driver for Pirelli, in anticipation for their return to Formula One for the season. After Sergio Pérez's accident in Monaco, De la Rosa replaced him for Sauber at the , after Pérez decided after the first free practice session on Friday, to sit out the rest of the weekend. De la Rosa managed to stay out of trouble throughout the first part of the race, affected by heavy rain, running as high as ninth before a red flag suspended the race. He eventually finished 12th after having some contact soon after the restart which required a new wing. McLaren (2011) On 9 March 2011, McLaren announced that De la Rosa had returned to the team as their test and reserve driver. HRT (2012) On 21 November 2011, it was announced that De la Rosa had signed for HRT F1 on a two-year