De la Rosa warns McLaren to expect difficult season

teamcar - Pedro de la Rosa has issued a warning to McLaren to expect a difficult transition in the 2007 season.

The Spanish test driver, in a huddle of his national journalists at the team's Woking factory on Thursday, was visibly still disappointed to have recently missed out on the seat alongside Fernando Alonso to the GP2 rookie Lewis Hamilton.

2007 will be the first year in more than a decade in which McLaren will enter a season with a completely new race line-up.De la Rosa, 35, told the Spanish newspaper Marca: "I believe that stability is very important.

Change can sometimes be a very bad thing, like after 2004 when Williams lost both Ralf Schumacher and (Juan Pablo) Montoya.

Team boss Ron Dennis said on Thursday that Pedro's future at the Mercedes powered team 'is secure', even if de la Rosa did not rule out leaving the sport at the end of the season.Pedro commented: "I cannot deny that their decision is difficult to accept, but my attitude and the professionalism of my work is not going to change.

"My motivation in 2007 is to help Fernando to win the championship."