Alexander Rossi will make his on-track debut at next weekends Spanish Grand Prix for the Caterham F1 team, after they confirmed he would sit in for Heikki Kovalainen during FP1.
Rossi will be the first American to take part in an official session since Scott Speed competed with Toro Rosso in 2007.
The 20-year-old has some experience behind the wheel after participating in the young driver test for BMW-Sauber back in 2009 and Caterham, then Team Lotus, last year.
“I have a lot of emotions going through me at the moment and I’m sure they’ll only expand as we get closer to the time,” he admitted. “Mainly because it’s my true Formula 1 debut in the sense I’m competing in an official session with the other official drivers and with the team’s full capacity with the race engineers all present and everyone really looking to see my feedback and give my information on the car for the race weekend ahead.
“And so I’m very excited about the opportunity but at the same time I am nervous and I do feel that there is an amount of pressure that goes on me. I’m kind of the first person that is in the car for the weekend and replacing Heikki that’s very big shoes to fill. Obviously I have a lot of respect for him and I’ll be looking to him for as much advice and support as possible. But it’s my dream to drive a Formula 1 car and to be able do it as an American getting back into the field and back into a competitive environment is something that I can’t even put into words.”
Check out the below video of Rossi getting a seat fitting:
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