.jpg)
.jpg)
Alexander Rossi & the 2012 F1 Austin USGP: A Perfect Fit?
Can Alexander Rossi Break Into F1 in time for The USGP? Seeing that this young 19 year old driver Alexander Rossi was only 17 when he was awarded a Formula 1 Super License two years ago, his timing might just be perfect. His career started with GoKarts in Las Vegas when he was ten. In 2005 he won the IKF Grand National Championship and was a 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 Rossi competed in the Skip Barber National Championship and at 14 was the youngest winner in Skip Barber National Championship history.
2007 saw Rossi competing in the Formula BMW USW series where he finished third overall with Team Apex Racing. In 2008 Rossi Returned to Formula BMW with the EuroInternational team. He won ten races that year and became the first American to win the Formula BMW Championship. Rossi was awarded a Formula One test with the BMW Sauber F1 Team.
In 2009 Rossi made the trek to Europe to compete in the International Formula Master with Hitech Racing. Two rounds into the season Rossi moved to ISR racing and finished fourth overall and was the highest placed Rookie Driver. In 2010 Rossi competed in the GP2 series, the only American, other than Scott Speed who raced with the Red Bull Toro Rosso team in 2006 and 2007. Rossi competed for most of the season with Team Meritus and finished ninth overall in the championship.
Rossi made the move to the new GP3 series in 2010 driving for ART Grand Prix finishing fourth in the series. Rossi now competes in the World Series by Renault driving for Fortec Motorsport, currently ranked sixth in the standings and drawing support from sponsors such as Tony Fernandes, Group CEO of AirAsia. Rossi is currently the senior driver for the team. Earlier this year Rossi formed a long term relationship with Team Lotus in his pursuit to climb up through the ranks to Formula 1.
Rossi knew since he was twelve that he wanted to race. He has shown the speed, finishing on the podium on an average of every other time he has raced throughout his proffesional career. Rossi is determined to make it to the pinnacle of racing and said of all the series out there, Formula 1 has been his only goal.
“I always wanted to compete against the best in the world and that’s what Formula 1 is. It’s the best cars, best teams, best drivers, best tracks in the world and it’s something that is a challenge. It’s probably the most challenging form of motor racing to get into and if you can accomplish that it’s a rarity and the ultimate goal in my opinion.”
Tony Fernandes, Team Principal at Lotus has shown faith in Rossi recently saying, “The first time I saw him was on a demo run in Malaysia and he straight away struck me as someone who wants to win.”
Now with Team Lotus making some changes going to Renault Engines and a Red Bull hydraulics system, keeping their place as one of the best new teams, Rossi may find himself in a team that whose team principal has much faith in him and a team that is looking to be competitive in the future.
