Alexander Rossi


Alexander Michael "Alex" Rossi is an American racing driver, who competes in the IndyCar Series for Ed Carpenter. Rossi competed in Formula One at five Grands Prix in. In American open-wheel racing, Rossi won the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie in 2016 with Bryan Herta Autosport; in endurance racing, he won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2021 with WTR.
Born and raised in Nevada City, California, Rossi began his career in the United States before moving to Europe as a teenager to pursue a career in Formula One. He won four races in the developmental GP2 Series, one for EQ8 Caterham Racing in 2013, and three more for Racing Engineering in 2015. After serving as a test and development driver for Caterham F1 and Marussia F1, Rossi made his Formula One debut in 2015 for the renamed Manor Marussia F1 Team, driving in five Grands Prix, including his home Grand Prix in the United States, where he finished a season-best twelfth.
After failing to secure a full-time drive in Formula One for the 2016 season, Rossi returned to the U.S. to compete in the IndyCar Series for a team with combined resources from Andretti Autosport and Bryan Herta Autosport. Rossi won the 2016 Indianapolis 500 and finished eleventh in series points. Rossi returned to Andretti in 2017 and added a second career win at Watkins Glen International for his first road course win in IndyCar. His 2018 and 2019 seasons were his most successful to date, finishing second and third in the Drivers' Championship point standings those years respectively.

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-five finish overall out of over 2,000 nationwide candidates.
In 2006, Rossi 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, becoming the youngest winner in Skip Barber National Championship history, at the age of fourteen.

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 his second 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 move 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 throughout 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 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.

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

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 placed third in the championship and top rookie driver, finishing 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.

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 and. Rossi finished ninth in the championship standings.
After his stint at the Formula Renault 3.5, Rossi made his GP2 Series debut in the Bahrain round in 2013. After replacing Chinese driver Ma Qinghua, he finished 3rd in his debut race. On July 16, 2014, Rossi announced he had departed Caterham's GP2 team, and later joined Campos Racing at the Hockenheimring, replacing Kimiya Sato. He joined Racing Engineering for the 2015 season opposite British rookie Jordan King, and finished second in the championship.

Formula One (2012–16)

Rossi was one of three drivers linked to the US-based Formula One team US F1, along with José María López and Jonathan Summerton. 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. The test earned Rossi his FIA Super License; at the time, he was the only American to hold one.

2012–14: Caterham

For the 2012 Formula One season, Rossi joined Caterham F1 as a test driver 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 since Scott Speed at the 2007 European Grand Prix. In 2013, he drove for Caterham in the first practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix and at Silverstone in July for the young driver test. Later in the season, he again participated in the first practice session at the United States Grand Prix, his home race. In 2014, he drove the Caterham in the first practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix. Rossi departed Caterham following the departure of Tony Fernandes and the entrance of new Swiss and Middle Eastern investors in July 2014.

2014–16: Marussia/Manor

Following his departure from Caterham, Rossi joined Marussia F1 as reserve driver for the remainder of the 2014 season. He was initially set to make his Formula One debut at the Belgian Grand Prix, replacing British driver Max Chilton, although Marussia later reversed that decision. He later was set to replace the injured Jules Bianchi at the Russian Grand Prix, but Marussia later decided to only run a single car for Chilton.
Rossi continued as a reserve driver into 2015 for the newly formed Manor Marussia F1 Team. He finally made his debut at the Singapore Grand Prix. Rossi chose No. 53 as his career car number in honor of Herbie; his original choice was No. 16, which he used in his karting career, but the number was already claimed as a reserve number by Red Bull Racing. Rossi qualified twentieth and last for his debut, but rallied to finish fourteenth, just ahead of teammate Will Stevens, despite losing radio communication with his crew around the halfway point of the Grand Prix. Rossi would go on to enter five of the final seven races of the 2015 season. At the Japanese Grand Prix, Rossi finished 18th, again one place above Stevens. He would go on to equal Manor Marussia's best result of the season at his home race, the United States Grand Prix, finishing twelfth, and becoming the first American driver to race at a track purpose-built for Formula One in the United States. Rossi then took 15th at the Mexican Grand Prix before completing his five-race stint at the Brazilian Grand Prix with a nineteenth place finish.
Despite signing for Andretti Autosport in the IndyCar Series, Rossi returned as a reserve driver for the reformed Manor Racing for the 2016 season. After Rio Haryanto lost his ride at Manor following the German Grand Prix, Rossi was offered the opportunity to take his place as a full-time driver; however, he declined the offer, stating: "My management and I are in constant communications with Manor and we knew there might be an opportunity to race for the last half of the 2016 season. We gave it careful thought but declined the race seat due to my IndyCar contract." On October 3, 2016, Rossi confirmed he would give up his reserve driver role at Manor following the 2016 season to focus on the IndyCar Series full-time.
Rossi revealed that back in 2014, he was in negotiations with Gene Haas about driving for his newly established F1 team for. But a deal never came to fruition, as Haas opted to sign Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutiérrez for their debut season.

Sports car racing (2013–14, 2019–present)

2013: Sports car debut at Le Mans

In 2013, Rossi made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving for Greaves Motorsport in a Zytek Z11SN. He was signed as a replacement for Christian Zugel, who was prevented from participating by family and business matters. He and co-drivers Eric Lux and Tom Kimber-Smith finished 23rd overall.

2014: Daytona with DeltaWing

Rossi competed in the 2014 24 Hours of Daytona for the DeltaWing team, joining full-time drivers Andy Meyrick and Katherine Legge, along with eventual 2014 Indy Lights champion Gabby Chaves.

2019–20: Return to sports cars with Penske

On December 7, 2018, Rossi announced that he would be joining Acura Team Penske for both the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring in the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Rossi replaced fellow IndyCar driver Graham Rahal after Rahal was unable to get an adequate seat fitting to optimize his performance. Rossi teamed with fellow IndyCar Series driver Hélio Castroneves and sports car driver Ricky Taylor to finish third overall and in class at Daytona. The second half of the race was marred by non-stop rain, with Rossi conceding that the team's rivals were slightly stronger than them in wet conditions.
Rossi returned to Penske's No. 7 Acura for the 2020 24 Hours of Daytona. Rossi's team was compromised less than four hours into the race when Castroneves was involved in an accident with Harry Tincknell.