Alexander Rossi (racing driver)

Alexander Rossi
Rossi at the Yas Marina Circuit for Caterham F1
Nationality	American
Born	(1991-09-25) September 25, 1991 Auburn (United States)
2013 GP2 Series
Debut season	2013
Current team	Caterham Racing
Car no.	15
Previous series
2010–12 2010 2009–10 2009 2008 2007–08 2006 2006 2005–06	Formula Renault 3.5 Series GP3 Series GP2 Asia Series International Formula Master Formula BMW Europe Formula BMW USA/Americas Skip Barber Race Series Formula TR 2000 Pro Series S. Barber Western Regional
Championship titles
2008 2008 2006	Formula BMW World Final Formula BMW Americas S. Barber Western Regional

Alexander Rossi (born September 25, 1991 in Auburn, California) is an American racing driver who competes in single seater formulae. He is currently a Formula One reserve driver with Caterham F1 Team.

Career

Skip Barber

In 2005, after becoming IKF Grand National Champion in the 100cc Yamaha class, Rossi was semi-finalist in the Red Bull Formula One American Drivers search with a top 5 finish overall out of over 2,000 nationwide candidates.

In 2006 he was awarded the Skip Barber National Scholarship from Skip Barber Racing School to compete in the 2006 Skip Barber National Championship, where he finished third overall and became the youngest winner in Skip Barber National Championship history, at age 14.

Formula BMW

Rossi competed in the Formula BMW USA series in 2007, finishing third overall in the championship, with three wins and five podiums while driving for Team Apex Racing, USA.

For 2008, Rossi returned for a sophomore year with the two-time Formula BMW championship winning team EuroInternational. He won the overall championship, becoming the first American Formula BMW Champion in the Americas Championship, with ten wins from the fifteen races run.

Rossi completed the season as World Champion, winning the 2008 Formula BMW World Final at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit in Mexico City, beating the rookie Michael Christensen. Rossi was awarded a Formula One test with BMW Sauber F1 Team, along with European champion Esteban Gutiérrez.

International Formula Master

Rossi decided to cross the Atlantic in order to compete in Europe in 2009. He chose to compete in the International Formula Master with Hitech Racing. After two rounds, Rossi moved over to ISR Racing for the remainder of the season. Rossi won three races over the course of the season, all coming during reverse-grid races. The wins at Brno, Spa and Imola gave Rossi the second-highest tally of victories during the 2009 season, with Fabio Leimer (seven) winning more. Coupled with Pål Varhaug's sixth place in the final race at Imola, Rossi moved up to fourth overall in the championship, and the highest-placed rookie driver.

GP2 Series

Rossi competed in the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series. Having competed for Ocean Racing Technology at the first Abu Dhabi round, Rossi moved to Team Meritus for the remaining rounds. Rossi made a strong impression immediately finishing fourth in his début race, from thirteenth on the grid. Rossi was only the second American to compete at GP2 level, preceded by Scott Speed who raced in Formula One with Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2006 and 2007. Rossi finished ninth in the championship standings. He made his GP2 Series in Bahrain in 2013 after replacing Chinese driver Ma Qinghua , he finished 3rd in his debut race.

Formula One

Rossi was one of three drivers linked to US-based Formula One team US F1 along with José María López and James Rossiter. Rossi was contracted to be the reserve and test driver before the team folded. He has also tested the 2009-spec BMW Sauber F1.09 Formula One car as part of Formula One's young driver test in Jerez. This was earned for winning the Formula BMW World Final. This test earned Rossi his FIA Super License and is currently the only American to hold one. On March 9, 2012 he was announced as a test driver for the Caterham F1 team, alongside reserve driver Giedo van der Garde. At the Spanish round he drove Heikki Kovalainen's car in the first practice session, becoming the first American to drive in a Formula One session (during a race weekend) since Scott Speed at the 2007 European Grand Prix. In 2013 he drove the Caterham in the first practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix.

GP3 Series

In 2010, Rossi made the move to the new GP3 Series, competing for multiple championship winning team ART Grand Prix. He joined Pedro Nunes and Esteban Gutiérrez at the team, winning twice and finishing fourth in the series.

World Series by Renault

Alexander Rossi at the 2011 Nürburgring World series by Renault round

After a season in GP3, Rossi moved on to compete in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with Fortec Motorsport. He was joined at the team by Brazilian driver and Italian Formula Three Champion César Ramos. He won the opening race of the season in Aragón and the second race at Le Castellet, and eventually finished third in the championship – and top rookie driver – behind Carlin drivers Robert Wickens and Jean-Éric Vergne.

Rossi stayed in the series for the 2012 season, but switched to newcomers Arden Caterham Motorsport, partnering Red Bull backed driver Lewis Williamson.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	FLaps	Podium	Points	Position
2005	Skip Barber Western Regional	Skip Barber Racing School	2	0			0	60	29th
2006	Skip Barber National	Skip Barber Racing School	14	3	2	2	4	613	3rd
	Skip Barber Western Regional	Skip Barber Racing School	10	8	11		10	538	1st
	Formula TR 1600 Pro Series	Odyssey Motorsports	11	4	5		6	409	7th
2007	Formula BMW Americas	Team Apex Racing	14	3	1	2	5	410	3rd
	Formula BMW World Final	EuroInternational	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
2008	Formula BMW Americas	EuroInternational	15	10	10	9	11	249	1st
	Formula BMW Europe		2	0	0	0	0	N/A†	N/A†
	Formula BMW World Final		1	1	0	1	1	N/A	1st
2009	International Formula Master	Hitech Racing	16	3	0	1	5	52	4th
		ISR Racing
2009–10	GP2 Asia Series	Ocean Racing Technology	8	0	0	0	0	12	9th
		MalaysiaQi-Meritus.com
2010	GP3 Series	ART Grand Prix	14	2	2	1	5	38	4th
	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	ISR Racing	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2011	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Fortec Motorsport	17	2	0	1	5	156	3rd
2012	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Arden Caterham	17	0	0	4	1	63	11th
	Formula One	Caterham F1 Team	Test driver
2013	Formula One	Caterham F1 Team	Test driver

† – As Rossi was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

Complete GP3 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	DC	Points
2010	ART Grand Prix	ESP FEA 8	ESP SPR 1	TUR FEA 4	TUR SPR 3	VAL FEA Ret	VAL SPR Ret	GBR FEA 5	GBR SPR 2	GER FEA Ret	GER SPR 8	HUN FEA 8	HUN SPR 1	BEL FEA 13	BEL SPR 2	ITA FEA Ret	ITA SPR 15	4th	38

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	DC	Points
2009–10	Ocean Racing Technology	ABU1 FEA 4	ABU1 SPR 5							9th	12
	MalaysiaQi-Meritus.com			ABU2 FEA 6	ABU2 SPR 9	BHR1 FEA Ret	BHR1 SPR Ret	BHR2 FEA 11	BHR2 SPR 5

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Pos	Points
2010	ISR Racing	ALC 1	ALC 2	SPA 1	SPA 2	MON 1 Ret	BRN 1	BRN 2	MAG 1	MAG 2	HUN 1	HUN 2	HOC 1	HOC 2	SIL 1	SIL 2	CAT 1	CAT 2	NC	0
2011	Fortec Motorsport	ALC 1 1	ALC 2 2	SPA 1 7	SPA 2 7	MNZ 1 17	MNZ 2 2	MON 1 Ret	NÜR 1 Ret	NÜR 2 Ret	HUN 1 2	HUN 2 5	SIL 1 3	SIL 2 DSQ	LEC 1 16	LEC 2 1	CAT 1 4	CAT 2 7	3rd	156
2012	Arden Caterham	ALC 1 Ret	ALC 2 5	MON 1 3	SPA 1 11	SPA 2 Ret	NÜR 1 18	NÜR 2 9	MOS 1 17†	MOS 2 5	SIL 1 Ret	SIL 2 5	HUN 1 9	HUN 2 8	LEC 1 22	LEC 2 16	CAT 1 19	CAT 2 5	11th	63

^† Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicates fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	WDC	Points
2012	Caterham F1 Team	Caterham CT01	Renault RS27-2012 V8	AUS	MAL	CHN	BHR	ESP TD	MON	CAN	EUR	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	KOR	IND	ABU	USA	BRA	–	0
2013	Caterham F1 Team	Caterham CT03	Renault RS27-2013 V8	AUS	MAL	CHN	BHR	ESP	MON	CAN TD	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	KOR	IND	ABU	USA	BRA		-	-

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	D.C.	Points
2013	Caterham Racing	MYS FEA	MYS SPR	BHR FEA 3	BHR SPR 20	ESP FEA 6	ESP SPR 6	MON FEA Ret	MON SPR 19	GBR FEA	GBR SPR	GER FEA	GER SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	BEL FEA	BEL SPR	ITA FEA	ITA SPR	SGP FEA	SGP SPR	ABU FEA	ABU SPR	10th*	27*

• *Season in progress

External links

• Official Website
• Alexander Rossi career statistics at Driver Database

Sporting positions
Preceded by Tim Traver	Skip Barber Western Regional Champion 2006	Succeeded by Tom Roberts
Preceded by Daniel Morad	Formula BMW Americas Champion 2008	Succeeded by Gabriel Chaves
Preceded by Philipp Eng	Formula BMW World Final Winner 2008	Succeeded by none