American driver Alexander Rossi racing his way into F1

Filed under: Motorsports, Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Lotus



Formula 1 may be coming to America - with two races within the next two years, no less - but it's been a long time since an American has taken on Formula One.

Scott Speed was the last standard-bearer The U.S. had in the series, but after showing early promise with Formula Renault 2000 titles in Europe, he failed to shine in his seat with Scuderia Toro Rosso, ultimately moving back Stateside to NASCAR. Mario Andretti and Phil Hill both took the trophy home for America, but those titles were decades ago. What America needs now is a new talent to waive the Stars and Stripes at the grand prix circuits of the world. And it could have just that in Alexander Rossi.

The twenty-year-old Californian has shown serious promise in the feeder series, winning the Formula BMW title and landing third in the critical Formula Renault 3.5 series where, with two wins, he emerged as this season's rookie of the year. Rossi was linked to the failed USF1 team, and in 2009 was awarded a test drive for BMW Sauber F1, making him the only American to currently hold the FIA Superlicense required to compete in Formula 1.

Now Rossi's coming back for another try at F1, participating in the young driver test at Abu Dhabi for the outfit currently known as Team Lotus (soon to be renamed Caterham). He'll already be on hand for the GP2 race the same weekend, in which he'll drive for Caterham's feeder squad, Team AirAsia. We'll keep an eye out to see how the young Yank does. Follow the jump for the press release.Continue reading American driver Alexander Rossi racing his way into F1

American driver Alexander Rossi racing his way into F1 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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