Alexander Rossi

I couldn't find a thread on him so apologies of there is one already.


Alexander Rossi (21) is a racing driver from Auburn, California USA currently competing in GP2 and reserve driver for Caterham F1.

Regular readers of Clip The Apex discussions may have noticed that I rarely get involved in discussions about new or relatively new drivers until they do something stupid. One of the reasons for this is that few of the newcomers have really grabbed my attention in their pre-F1 careers. However, having had a little look at Rossi's statistics, I have a feeling that at the very least he is one of the best young American talents that we have seen for a while. Not only that, he has clocked up a couple of championship wins, third place finishes in a few more in his host of season finishes in the top ten.

In 143 lower formula races, he has clocked up 53 podiums including 36 wins, 31 pole positions and 21 fastest laps.

Granted the most recent championship under his belt was the 2008 Formula BMW Americas but he drove in both GP3 and GP2 in 2010 ending up in 4th and 9th in the respective championships, which is okay I guess. However, out of the twelve open wheeler championships in which he has competed he has finished in the top 10 in ten of them and currently runs 10th in this years' GP2.

Rossi missed the season opener in Malaysia and so far this season has finished 3rd in the feature race and 20th in the sprint in Bahrain, 6th in both races in Spain,. He DNF'd in the Monaco crash-fest and came 19th in the sprint. Maybe after the events of the day before it's quite a good show that he was in the Monaco sprint race at all.

Taking all of the above into account, is Alexander Rossi going to make it in F1? Well having heard him in the Beeb commentary box during the P2 coverage I have to say that I was quite impressed. A bit like Karun Chandhok, he sounds older than his years and I was surprised to find out that he was just 21 since he came across as having been in the sport for more years than he has been alive!

Well, although his career stat's fall short of what I, personally, would like to see in an F1 prospect, I must confess that I think Ross could just be the Yank to break the Yankee duck. I have yet to pay any real attention to how he drives. Methinks that from now on, I'll be keeping more of a watching brief on his progress in GP2 and his forays in Friday F1 practice.
 
If Caterham are smart they'll get him in a seat ASAP. As you say he's incredibly mature and has proved that the natural ability is there, but his biggest stumbling block is his size. He's taller than probably every driver to enter F1 since Webber. That and he probably doesn't bring much money to the table. The money is in the US market however....

There is a Rossi thread in General Motorsport so hopefully we can move these posts there.
 
There is a Rossi thread in the General Motorsport section but not with a proper profile. Maybe mods could merge the two with Fenders post as the lead and put it into the General Motorsport drivers section?

Been watching Rossi for a while and I do think he'll end up in F1 at some point. Be interesting to see how he does in Le Mans 24 hour this year. The problem with Rossi is that he seems to make a huge splash when he comes into the series and then drifts back (kind of happening in GP2 at the moment). I was very dissapointed in his year in Renault 3.5 as before that I had him down as a future Grand Prix winner. Hopefully he'll show good form in GP2.
 
Hi Chris Stevens , Yup, saw that and initially thought the same as yourself. However, I'm not sure that was entirely his fault now as he was apparently following the direction of track-side officials. I would say Leimer was the numpty as he should have been aware that non-podium finishers would use the designated exit from track to paddock. Having said that I suspect the marshaling was perhaps less than ideal. Where were they?

Usually one sees a number of marshals on the track using red and/or yellow flags to wave drivers off track. I would have thought that having designated an exit that is in an unusual point on the circuit (the exit for GP2 was not the same as would later be used by F1) then highly visible marshaling would have been all the more important. It would be sensible for a no overtaking rule to be in place for the slow down lap as well, as I'm sure there have been incidents in the past - near misses at the very least.
 
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Chris Stevens it was a bit of a foot in mouth moment in front of the whole F1 paddock wasn't it?

I agree with Fenders though I think it was unfourtunate and probably more Leimer's fault. He apologised afterwards.

The funny bit for me was where they were both checking out the damage on their cars. Rossi looked genuianly worried he was going to get in trouble. Like a teenager who'd crashed his Dads car.
 
http://www.espn.co.uk/caterham/motorsport/story/167305.html

Rossi has parted company with both Caterham F1 team and Caterham GP2 team. He will not complete the GP2 season. As it was supposed to be his championship year and both the team and himself have pretty much crumbled I'm not 100% surprised.

Looks to me like he's given up on the F1 dream. Would like to see him try and carve a career out in Le Mans.
 
Looks to me like he's given up on the F1 dream.

To the contrary, I have no doubt he'll be in consideration for a Haas seat when/if/hopefully/maybe they make the grid in 2016. A lot will depend on how Conor Daly goes next year probably. Because if Haas wants an American, those are really his only options.
 
I think Rossi has had a lot of chances and not shown the consistancy needed to be in F1 so I do think its over for him.

If Haas are after an American driver and we now know they have a Ferrari connection then I would suggest Michael Lewis would be in the frame.
 
It's hard to say that Rossi has had "a lot" of chances. Caterham's GP2 cars have been totally uncompetitive and he always fares well in Practice and Test sessions. It's a shame that Pic and van der Garde were allowed to trundle around at the back all last year without giving Alex a go. In my opinion he is the best (American) choice for Haas-Ferrari.
 
He has been consistantly out paced by his team mate this year though - to the point where his team nicknamed him Rio 2 as he was always 2nd to Rio Hyanto.

With GP2 cars being spec cars the type of inconsistant performances the Caterham team are producing point towards poor communication between engineer and driver. That doesn't mean its neccs all Rossi and Rio's fault but isn't a good sign. Especially in a second year with a team.

Even taking away the car factor his season has been patchy on form as it was last year as well. The less said about his 2012 season in WSR the better.

I think he's looked brilliant at times and I was a big supporter but he's just not produced it often enough and doesn't seem to have the consistancy to make it to F1. He's still a great driver but sometimes you have to face facts that you're heading up the wrong path. Jist because he can't make it to F1 doesn't mean there isn't another series out there that doesn't suit him better.
 
You said that "he's" given up the F1 dream and I find that incredibly unlikely. There's several reasons why he should be happy to be done with Caterham. The guy is ridiculously intelligent and is perfectly suited for modern GP racing. Although he does have one very big negative in his height.

Would I be surprised if he never raced in F1, no. But there is no reason for him to look at his Caterham tenure and say oh well, I gave it my best, maybe I'll try sports cars.
 
All I'm saying is a lot of drivers spend some time in the feeder series and when they don't progress they drop out and look to apply their talent elsewhere.

I would suggest for him to leave mid season (he's not been dropped) he has something lined up somewhere else. I know the American teams in Formula E would love an American driver. If he thought he could push for F1 he'd stay in GP2 or at least switch to WSR. I think he's decided to aim elsewhere.
 
Although having just said that I've found out he will be racing for Campos racing in GP2 at Germany as a one off due to Sato being in the Auto GP.

His replacement at Caterham is Tom Dillmen by the way who was very impressive at times last year and didn't get a drive this year through lack of sponsorship. Hope for Rossi's sake he doesn't pull a blinder.
 
Dillman and Rossi tied last year on 92 points, Alex starting one less race, and winning one as well. Dillman was driving the same car as the guy fighting for the Championship who scored 181 points. Rossi's teammate collected 3, that's three, points all season.

Rossi is also 3 years younger at just 22. Caterham is a sinking ship under ambiguous new management. Not sure why you would read his departure as recognition that his F1 dreams have perished.
 
Because dropping out of GP2 means dropping out of a direct feeder series to F1 and not being on display to the F1 paddock?

Also the 'new management' only purchased the F1 team. EQ8 Caterham GP2 team are run by the same team that has always ran them both before and now after the Caterham F1 buy out.

I'm not sure why your fighting so hard at the suggestion that a driver choosing to drop out of GP2 mid-season might indicate he's decided to aim somewhere other than F1. Its not like I'm saying the guys rubbish.
 
I'm of the opinion, and I believe he is too, that his Caterham gig was a one way ticket to nowhere. Far from improving his chances of an F1 drive, his Caterham ties had become an anchor to his ambitions.

From Rossi himself;

“My goal is to be in F1 and add value to the sport and I’m very optimistic about my next steps; we have a great opportunity to grow the sport in the States and I believe the timing is perfect.”

http://motorsportstalk.nbcsports.com/2014/07/16/alexander-rossi-caterham-part-ways/

If he doesn't get the Haas ride, then he should probably search for greener pastures.

edit- added link
 
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