Alexander Rossi

Alexander Rossi
Rossi after winning the 100th Indianapolis 500
Nationality	American
Born	Alexander Michael Rossi September 25, 1991 Auburn, California, U.S.
IndyCar Series career
16 races run over 1 year
Team(s)	No. 98 (Andretti Herta Autosport)
First race	2016 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg)
Last race	2016 GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma (Sonoma Raceway)
First win	2016 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)
Wins Podiums Poles 1 1 0
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	2015
Teams	Marussia
Entries	5 (5 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	2015 Singapore Grand Prix
Last entry	2015 Brazilian Grand Prix
Previous series
2013–15 2010–12 2010 2009–10 2009 2008 2007–08 2006 2006 2005–06	GP2 Series 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 Michael Rossi (born September 25, 1991)^[1] is an American professional racing driver. He currently races in the IndyCar Series for Bryan Herta Autosport with Andretti Autosport; additionally, he serves as reserve driver for Manor Racing in Formula One. Rossi won the 2016 Indianapolis 500 as a rookie.

Career

Skip Barber

In 2005, after becoming IKF Grand National Champion in the 100cc Yamaha class, Auburn-born^[2] 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. Leveraging that success, Rossi's family funded his career path via a private placement financing that offered investors a return on his future success via www.ppm.net

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 his 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,^[3][4] 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.^[5] 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.

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.^[6]

World Series by Renault

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.^[7]

GP2 Series

Rossi on the podium after winning the GP2 series round at Spa-Francorchamps race in 2015

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.^[8] 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.

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.^[9] He joined Racing Engineering for the 2015 season opposite British rookie Jordan King.

Formula One

Rossi was one of three drivers linked to 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. This test earned Rossi his FIA Super License and currently he is the only American to hold one.

Caterham (2012–14)

For the 2012 Formula One season, he joined Caterham F1 as a test driver alongside reserve driver Giedo van der Garde.^[7] 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 for Caterham in the first practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix and at Silverstone in July for the young driver test.^[10][11] In 2014, he drove the Caterham in the first practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix.^[12] Rossi departed Caterham following the departure of Tony Fernandes and the entrance of new Swiss and Middle Eastern investors in July 2014.^[9]

Marussia/Manor (2014–16)

Rossi at the 2015 United States Grand Prix

Following his departure from Caterham, Rossi joined Marussia F1 as reserve driver for the remainder of the 2014 season.^[13] He was initially set to make his Formula One debut at the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix, replacing British driver Max Chilton,^[14] although Marussia later reversed that decision.^[15] He later was set to replace the injured Jules Bianchi at Russia,^[16] but Marussia later decided to only run a single car for Chilton.^[17]

Continuing as a reserve driver into 2015, he finally made his debut at the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix.^[18][19] Rossi qualified 20th and last for his debut, but rallied to finish 14th, 14 seconds 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.

Despite signing for Andretti Autosport in the IndyCar Series, Rossi returned as a reserve driver for the reformed Manor Racing for the 2016 season.^[20] After Rio Haryanto lost his ride at Manor following the German Grand Prix, Rossi was offered to take his place as a full-time driver; however, he declined the offer,^[21][22] 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."^[21] On October 4, 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.^[22]

IndyCar Series (2016–present)

Rossi after winning the 2016 Indianapolis 500

Despite previously claiming to having little interest in oval racing,^[23] Rossi made the switch to the IndyCar Series with Andretti Autosport for the 2016 IndyCar Series.^[24] During his first season with the team, he won the Indianapolis 500 after starting from the 11th position on the grid. Rossi was the top rookie in qualifying for the race and led the final few laps as the cars ahead of him on track ran low on fuel and pitted. Rossi managed his fuel over the final stint to win, then ran dry after the finish and had to be towed to victory lane.^[25][26]

On October 3, 2016, Rossi announced he would return to Andretti for the 2017 season, signing a multi-year contract.^[22][27]

Personal life

Rossi was born in Auburn, California and was raised in Nevada City. He is a fan of the New England Patriots.

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 One	Caterham F1 Team	Test driver
	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Arden Caterham	17	0	0	4	1	63	11th
2013	Formula One	Caterham F1 Team	Test driver
	GP2 Series	EQ8 Caterham Racing	20	1	1	0	4	92	9th
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2	Greaves Motorsport	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	10th
	World Endurance Championship - LMP2	Greaves Motorsport	1	0	0	0	0	20	19th
2014	Formula One	Caterham F1 Team	Test driver
		Marussia F1 Team	Test driver
	GP2 Series	EQ8 Caterham Racing	10	0	0	0	0	12	21st
		Campos Racing	2	0	0	0	0
2015	GP2 Series	Racing Engineering	22	3	1	0	7	181.5	2nd
	Formula One	Manor Marussia F1 Team	5	0	0	0	0	0	20th
2016	Verizon IndyCar Series	Bryan Herta Autosport with Andretti Autosport	16	1	0	1	1	430	11th

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

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	YMC1 FEA 4	YMC1 SPR 5							9th	12
	MalaysiaQi-Meritus.com			YMC2 FEA 6	YMC2 SPR 9	BHR1 FEA Ret	BHR1 SPR Ret	BHR2 FEA 11	BHR2 SPR 5

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	CAT FEA 8	CAT SPR 1	IST FEA 4	IST SPR 3	VAL FEA Ret	VAL SPR Ret	SIL FEA 5	SIL SPR 2	HOC FEA Ret	HOC SPR 8	HUN FEA 8	HUN SPR 1	SPA FEA 13	SPA SPR 2	MNZ FEA Ret	MNZ SPR 15	4th	38

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	MSC 1 17†	MSC 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 2.4 V8	AUS	MAL	CHN	BHR	ESP TD	MON	CAN	EUR	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	KOR	IND	ABU	USA	BRA	–	–
2013	Caterham F1 Team	Caterham CT03	Renault RS27-2013 2.4 V8	AUS	MAL	CHN	BHR	ESP	MON	CAN TD	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	KOR	IND	ABU	USA TD	BRA		–	–
2014	Caterham F1 Team	Caterham CT05	Renault Energy F1-2014 1.6 V6 t	AUS	MAL	BHR	CHN	ESP	MON	CAN TD	AUT	GBR	GER	HUN										–	–
	Marussia F1 Team	Marussia MR03	Ferrari 059/3 1.6 V6 t												BEL PO	ITA	SIN	JPN	RUS WD	USA	BRA	ABU
2015	Manor Marussia F1 Team	Marussia MR03B	Ferrari 059/3 1.6 V6 t	AUS	MAL	CHN	BHR	ESP	MON	CAN	AUT	GBR	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN 14	JPN 18	RUS	USA 12	MEX 15	BRA 18	ABU		20th	0

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	EQ8 Caterham Racing	SEP FEA	SEP SPR	BHR FEA 3	BHR SPR 20	CAT FEA 6	CAT SPR 6	MON FEA Ret	MON SPR 19	SIL FEA 10	SIL SPR 9	NÜR FEA 11	NÜR SPR 6	HUN FEA 13	HUN SPR 16	SPA FEA 3	SPA SPR 22	MNZ FEA 8	MNZ SPR 2	MRN FEA Ret	MRN SPR 23	YMC FEA 1	YMC SPR Ret	9th	92
2014	EQ8 Caterham Racing	BHR FEA 22	BHR SPR 25	CAT FEA Ret	CAT SPR 14	MON FEA 16	MON SPR 11	RBR FEA 8	RBR SPR 5	SIL FEA 12	SIL SPR 21													21st	12
	Campos Racing											HOC FEA Ret	HOC SPR 7	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	SOC FEA	SOC SPR	YMC FEA	YMC SPR
2015	Racing Engineering	BHR FEA 3	BHR SPR 4	CAT FEA 3	CAT SPR 4	MON FEA 2	MON SPR 7	RBR FEA 6	RBR SPR 8	SIL FEA 2	SIL SPR 4	HUN FEA 12	HUN SPR 20	SPA FEA 6	SPA SPR 1	MNZ FEA 1	MNZ SPR Ret	SOC FEA 1	SOC SPR 6	BHR FEA 18	BHR SPR 9	YMC FEA 4	YMC SPR C	2nd	181.5

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year	Entrant	Class	Car	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Rank	Points
2013	Greaves Motorsport	LMP2	Zytek Z11SN	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	SIL	SPA	LMS 5	SÃO	COA	FUJ	SHA	BHR	19th	20

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2013	Greaves Motorsport	Tom Kimber-Smith Eric Lux	Zytek Z11SN	LMP2	307	23rd	10th

IndyCar Series

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Rank	Points
2016	Andretti Herta Autosport Curb Agajanian	Dallara DW12	Honda	STP 12	PHX 14	LBH 20	ALA 15	IMS 10	INDY 1	DET 10	DET 12	RDA 15	IOW 6	TOR 16	MDO 14	POC 20	TXS 11	WGL 8	SNM 5	11th	430

* Season still in progress.

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2016	Dallara	Honda	11	1	Andretti Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian

References

1. California Birth Index. "Alexander Michael Rossi, Born 09/25/1991 in California". California Birth Index. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
2. "Biography and Racing Resume". Alexander Rossi. Retrieved May 29, 2016.
3. Elizalde, Pablo (July 31, 2009). "Rossi, Gutierrez get BMW F1 test". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved August 2, 2009.
4. "Rossi wins BMW Sauber F1 test". gpupdate.net. GPUpdate. December 8, 2008. Retrieved January 30, 2011.
5. "Rossi, American World Champion Signs with Hi Tech Junior Team". alexanderrossi.com. Alexander Rossi. May 13, 2009. Retrieved January 30, 2011.
6. "ART Grand Prix announces complete GP3 Series 2010 Line-up". gp2series.com. GP2 Series. January 13, 2010. Archived from the original on January 16, 2010. Retrieved January 13, 2010.
7. "Alexander Rossi confirmed as Caterham F1 Team Test Driver". Caterham F1. Caterham F1 Team. March 9, 2012. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved March 9, 2012.
8. English, Steven (January 27, 2010). "Rossi switches to Meritus for GP2 Asia". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved January 27, 2010.
9. Cooper, Adam (July 16, 2014). "AMERICA'S". Foxsports.com. Archived from the original on August 10, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
10. "Di Resta quickest in opening session in Montreal". Pitpass.com. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
11. "Rossi, Stevens to drive for Caterham at young driver test". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
12. "Alonso beats Mercedes duo in Canada FP1". Racer. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
13. "Rossi joins Marussia as reserve driver". Formula1.com. July 24, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
14. "Rossi to race in Spa". Marussia. August 21, 2014. Archived from the original on August 22, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
15. "Chilton to race as Marussia make Belgian U-turn". Formula1.com. August 22, 2014. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
16. "FIA Stewards Decision — Document No. 6" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. October 9, 2014. Retrieved October 9, 2014.
17. "Chilton to be Marussia's sole entrant in Russia". formula1.com. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
18. "Marussia Hand Rossi race debut in Singapore". formula1.com. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
19. Benson, Andrew (September 16, 2015). "Formula 1: Manor sign Alexander Rossi for five races". BBC Sport. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
20. Barretto, Lawrence. "Andretti IndyCar driver Alexander Rossi to act as Manor F1 reserve". Autosport. Motorsport Network.
21. Barretto, Lawrence (August 5, 2016). "Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi has F1 and IndyCar options for 2017". Autosport. Motorsport Network. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
22. Perkins, Chris (October 4, 2016). "Alexander Rossi Will Stay With Andretti Autosport in 2017". Road & Track. Hearst. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
23. "Younger drivers 'more concerned about safety' says Rossi". August 14, 2013.
24. Reiman, Samuel (February 23, 2016). "Alexander Rossi confirmed at Andretti". Fox Sports. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
25. Straw, Edd; Noble, Jason (May 29, 2016). "Indianapolis 500". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications.
26. Horner, Scott. "Indy 500 blog: Rookie Alexander Rossi wins on fumes". www.indystar.com. www.indystar.com. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
27. Robinson, Mark (October 3, 2016). "Rossi Returning to Andretti-Herta Autosport in 2017". indycar.com. Retrieved October 3, 2016.

External links

• Official website
• Alexander Rossi career summary at DriverDB.com
• Alexander Rossi driver statistics at Racing-Reference