(Francois Flamand - DPPI for Renault Sport F1)
The Caterham F1 Team confirmed this morning that they will run their test and reserve driver Alexander Rossi during Friday practice at the Canadian Grand Prix in June and later in the season at his home race in Austin, Texas at the start of November. The American is currently part of Caterham's GP2 programme and has been carrying out substantial simulator work at the team's base in Leafield.
It will be Rossi's first opportunity to drive the new era 1.6 litre turbo charged power unit and he said:
'Each time I step into F1 machinery there is an important job to do, "Montreal and Austin are important races for me and I want to thank Caterham for the opportunity to continue my development to a full time race seat in F1.'Grand Prix and also the American
Rossi drove for the team during practice for last season's Canadian and also the United States Grand Prix in Austin.
Caterham team principal Cyril Abiteboul says that his team are extremely excited to see Rossi back behind the wheel of a Formula One car.
He commented:
'Alexander will be continuing his development with two more FP1 sessions for us in Canada and the USA, While his focus this year is firmly on GP2 we are pleased to give him more opportunities to play an active role in the F1 team's race weekends and to have him help us develop our car at two races that are very important for us, both in terms of our season overall and with the strong support we have commercially in the North American continent.'
It is a fantastic opportunity for Rossi to show what he can do with a Formula One car and to be able to do it on the North American stage is even better as it could help him to attract the attention of American sponsors.
More importantly for Rossi is could also prove valuable as Gene Haas, CEO of Haas Formula are on the lookout for driver's as they are aiming to be on the Formula One grid in 2015 or 2016. It would be great to see an American driver on the grid with an American team particularly as Rossi would have recent experience driving the new generation of Formula One car.
©Ben Johnston 2014
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