De la Rosa grew up in Barcelona and entered competitive motorsport through radio-controlled cars, winning three consecutive Spanish national titles between 1983 and 1985 and two European radio-controlled off-road championship titles. He became runner-up at the inaugural world championship in 1986 before transitioning to karting in 1988 at age 17.
He rose quickly through Spanish and European junior formulae. He was Spanish Formula Fiat Uno champion in 1989, British and European Formula Renault champion in 1992, and Japanese Formula Three champion in 1995. In Japan he reached his peak junior form: in 1997 he won both the Formula Nippon Championship and the All Japan GT Championship (with co-driver Michael Krumm), making him the first Spanish driver to win a Japanese open-wheel national title.
De la Rosa joined Arrows for the 1999 season after a test-driver stint with Jordan in 1998. He scored a championship point on his debut at the 1999 Australian Grand Prix, finishing sixth. In 2000 he remained at Arrows alongside Jos Verstappen, adding two more points finishes — sixth in both the German and European Grands Prix.
He moved to Jaguar Racing for two seasons alongside Eddie Irvine, scoring three championship points in 2001 and none in 2002. At the end of 2002, Jaguar bought out the remainder of his contract and replaced him with Antônio Pizzonia.
De la Rosa joined McLaren as a test driver in 2003, a role that would define much of the rest of his F1 career. He made a race appearance at the 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix when Juan Pablo Montoya injured his shoulder, finishing fifth and setting a lap record that stood as of 2025.
In July 2006, Montoya departed McLaren mid-season for NASCAR and de la Rosa was promoted to the race seat. He delivered the highlight of his F1 career at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix, finishing second behind Jenson Button for his only Formula One podium. He was retained for the remainder of that season but lost the race seat when McLaren signed Fernando Alonso for 2007, reverting to test duties.
While a McLaren test driver, de la Rosa was caught up in the 2007 Spygate espionage affair. Evidence he and Alonso provided to the FIA contributed to McLaren being excluded from the 2007 Constructors' Championship and fined a record $100 million. He was also elected chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) in 2008 by a unanimous vote, succeeding Ralf Schumacher.
He returned to race with Sauber in 2010, partnering Kamui Kobayashi. His best result that year was seventh at the Hungarian Grand Prix, giving him six championship points — the last points of his Formula One career. Sauber dropped him after the 2010 Italian Grand Prix, though he returned to replace the injured Sergio Perez at the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix. McLaren re-signed him as test and reserve driver in March 2011.
De la Rosa joined HRT for 2012 on a two-year contract, partnering Narain Karthikeyan. Both drivers failed to qualify for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. The HRT machinery was consistently the slowest on the grid; de la Rosa completed his season without scoring points and finished as high as 19th in Spain. When HRT folded at the end of 2012, his intended role as team principal for 2014 also disappeared.
Ferrari signed de la Rosa in January 2013 for a developmental simulator role and he shared early testing duties of the F138 with Felipe Massa.
De la Rosa founded the feeder-series outfit Drivex in 2005 alongside Miguel Ángel de Castro. The team scored its biggest result winning the 2019 F4 Spanish Championship with Franco Colapinto, who later joined Alpine in Formula One.
He served as technical and sporting director of the Techeetah Formula E team during the 2018–19 season, winning the Teams' Championship. Since 2022 he has been an ambassador for the Aston Martin Formula One Team.
De la Rosa accumulated 35 championship points across his F1 career and is remembered as a dependable test driver and race development asset for McLaren, as well as one of the most versatile Spanish racing drivers of his generation.