Roldan Rodriguez had his first F1 test for Minardi in 2005, but as the team were on the verge of being sold to Red Bull it didn’t lead very far.
By that time in his career the Spaniard had raced in a variety of competitions without a championship win. He’d gone from karting into his home country’s Formula Junior 1600 category, ending the 2002 third. The following year he moved up to Formula Three, still in Spain, and was 14th. That improved to 11th in 2004 when he also appeared in nine rounds of the World Series by Nissan.
A further year of Formula Three saw him pick up a pair of podiums and end the year seventh. After the Minardi test he drove for the team’s European F3000 outfit, winning in one of the rounds in Barcelona, and finished sixth overall. In 2006 he also did a fourth year of Spanish F3, winning four times and finishing second overall, and was 17th in the Macau Grand Prix.
In 2007 he moved up to GP2 with Minardi Piquet Sports. His best result of the year was a podium finish at the Hungaroring that might well have been a victory but for a clash with Adrian Zaugg.
He had a second chance to sample F1 machinery with Force India F1 Team, formerly Spyker, at the end of 2007.
Photo: Peter J Fox / Crash Media Group
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