As Caterham gear up for the Spanish Grand Prix on Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, it has been announced that American driver Alexander Rossi will replace Heikki Kovalainen on Friday morning during FP1. This comes after Rossi was announced as the teams test driver alongside Giedo van der Garde in March.
Alexander Rossi has previously raced in the GP3 Series and World Series by Renault, winning races in both Championships. The American had a highly competitive season in the World Series by Renault Championship last year, after winning a stunning 9 races on his way to 3rd in the Drivers’ Championship behind current F1 rookie Jean-Eric Vergne and Robert Wickens.
"I am looking forward to getting back into the F1 car in Spain and I want to thank the team for the chance to run in FP1 in Barcelona.” Explained Alexander Rossi, “I have a clear goal for the session - make sure I run to the plan set by the engineers, not make any mistakes and learn as much as I can over the whole weekend. I know how much I will be able to take from my time with the team back to my Formula Renault 3.5 commitments and I know the team will do everything they can to help me maximize my performance on Friday."
Heikki Kovalainen will naturally return to the car for the remainder of the weekend, as Caterham continue to reel in the midfield teams. Alexander Rossi will be the first American driver to step into a Formula 1 car during a Grand Prix weekend since Scott Speed did so with Toro Rosso in 2007.
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