Alexander Rossi

Alexander Michael Rossi (born September 25, 1991) is an American racing driver.

He competes full-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren.

In 2005, after becoming IKF Grand National Champion in the 100cc Yamaha class, 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.

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, becoming the youngest winner in Skip Barber National Championship history, at age 14.

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 second 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, along with European champion Esteban Gutiérrez.

Rossi decided to move to compete in Europe in 2009.

He chose to compete in the International Formula Master with Hitech Racing.

After two rounds, Rossi moved over to ISR Racing for the remainder of the season.

Rossi won three races throughout 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.

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.

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 and.

Rossi finished ninth in the championship standings.

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.

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 placed third in the championship and top rookie driver, finishing 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.

He won four races in the developmental GP2 Series, one for EQ8 Caterham Racing in 2013, and three more for Racing Engineering in 2015.

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.

After serving as a test and development driver for Caterham F1 and Marussia F1, Rossi made his Formula One debut in 2015 for the renamed Manor Marussia F1 Team, driving in five Grands Prix, including his home Grand Prix in the United States, where he finished a season-best twelfth.

He joined Racing Engineering for the 2015 season opposite British rookie Jordan King, and finished second in the championship.

Rossi was one of three drivers linked to the US-based Formula One team US F1, along with José María López and Jonathan Summerton.

Rossi is best known for winning the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie in 2016.

Prior to the move to McLaren, Rossi drove for Andretti Autosport for seven seasons.

Rossi began his career in the United States before moving to Europe as a teenager to pursue a career in Formula One.

After failing to secure a full-time drive in Formula One for the 2016 season, Rossi returned to the U.S. to compete in the IndyCar Series for a team with combined resources from Andretti Autosport and Bryan Herta Autosport.

Rossi won the 2016 Indianapolis 500 and finished eleventh in series points.

Rossi returned to Andretti in 2017 and added a second career win at Watkins Glen International for his first road course win in IndyCar.

His 2018 and 2019 seasons were his most successful to date, finishing second and third in the Drivers' Championship point standings those years respectively.