90 Facts About Alexander Rossi

Alexander Michael Rossi was born on September 25,1991 and is an American professional racing driver and podcast host.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Alexander 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, Alexander Rossi returned for his second year with the two-time Formula BMW championship-winning team EuroInternational.

Alexander Rossi won the overall championship, becoming the first American Formula BMW Champion in the Americas Championship, with ten wins from the fifteen races run.

Alexander Rossi completed the season as World Champion, winning the 2008 Formula BMW World Final at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit in Mexico City, beating the rookie Michael Christensen.

Alexander Rossi was awarded a Formula One test with BMW Sauber F1 Team, along with European champion Esteban Gutierrez.

Alexander Rossi decided to move to compete in Europe in 2009.

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

Alexander Rossi won three races throughout the season, all coming during reverse-grid races.

In 2010, Alexander Rossi made the move to the new GP3 Series, competing for multiple-championship-winning team ART Grand Prix.

Alexander Rossi joined Pedro Nunes and Esteban Gutierrez at the team, winning twice and finishing fourth in the series.

Alexander Rossi was joined at the team by Brazilian driver and Italian Formula Three Champion Cesar Ramos.

Alexander Rossi won the opening race of the season in Aragon 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-Eric Vergne.

Alexander Rossi stayed in the series for the 2012 season, but switched to newcomers Arden Caterham Motorsport, partnering Red Bull-backed driver Lewis Williamson.

Alexander Rossi made a strong impression immediately finishing fourth in his debut race, from thirteenth on the grid.

Alexander 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 2006 and 2007.

On July 16,2014, Alexander Rossi announced he had departed Caterham's GP2 team, and later joined Campos Racing at the Hockenheimring, replacing Kimiya Sato.

Alexander Rossi joined Racing Engineering for the 2015 season opposite British rookie Jordan King, finishing second in the championship.

Alexander Rossi was one of three drivers linked to the US-based Formula One team US F1 along with Jose Maria Lopez and Jonathan Summerton.

Alexander Rossi was contracted to be the reserve and test driver before the team folded.

Alexander Rossi has tested the 2009-spec BMW Sauber F1.09 Formula One car as part of Formula One's young driver test in Jerez.

Alexander Rossi departed Caterham following the departure of Tony Fernandes and the entrance of new Swiss and Middle Eastern investors in July 2014.

Alexander Rossi was initially set to make his Formula One debut at the Belgian Grand Prix, replacing British driver Max Chilton, although Marussia later reversed that decision.

Alexander Rossi later was set to replace the injured Jules Bianchi at the Russian Grand Prix, but Marussia later decided to only run a single car for Chilton.

Alexander Rossi continued as a reserve driver into 2015 for the newly formed Manor Marussia F1 Team.

Alexander Rossi finally made his debut at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Alexander Rossi chose No 53 as his career car number in honor of Herbie; his original choice was No 16, which he used in his karting career, but the number was already claimed as a reserve number by Red Bull Racing.

Alexander Rossi would go on to enter five of the final seven races of the 2015 season.

At the Japanese Grand Prix, Alexander Rossi finished 18th, again one place above Stevens.

Alexander Rossi would go on to equal Manor Marussia's best result of the season at his home race, the United States Grand Prix, finishing 12th, and becoming the first American driver to race at a track purpose-built for Formula One in the United States.

Alexander Rossi then took 15th at the Mexican Grand Prix before completing his five-race stint at the Brazilian Grand Prix with a 19th-place finish.

In 2013, Alexander Rossi made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving for Greaves Motorsport in a Zytek Z11SN.

Alexander Rossi was signed as a replacement for Christian Zugel, who was prevented from participating by family and business matters.

Alexander Rossi competed in the 2014 24 Hours of Daytona for the DeltaWing team, joining full-time drivers Andy Meyrick and Katherine Legge, along with eventual 2014 Indy Lights champion Gabby Chaves.

On December 7,2018, Alexander Rossi announced that he would be joining Acura Team Penske for both the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring in the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Alexander Rossi replaced fellow IndyCar driver Graham Rahal after Rahal was unable to get an adequate seat fitting to optimize his performance.

Alexander Rossi teamed with fellow IndyCar Series driver Helio Castroneves and sports car driver Ricky Taylor to finish third overall and in class at Daytona.

The second half of the race was marred by non-stop rain, with Alexander Rossi conceding that the team's rivals were slightly stronger than them in wet conditions.

Alexander Rossi returned to Penske's No 7 Acura for the 2020 24 Hours of Daytona.

Alexander Rossi's team was compromised less than four hours into the race when Castroneves was involved in an accident with Harry Tincknell.

On November 23,2020, Wayne Taylor Racing announced that Alexander Rossi would be the team's third driver for the endurance races, starting with the 2021 24 Hours of Daytona.

Nevertheless, after Manor announced Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto as the team's 2016 drivers, Alexander Rossi made the switch to the IndyCar Series with Andretti Autosport for the 2016 season.

Alexander Rossi made his IndyCar debut at the season-opening Grand Prix of St Petersburg, qualifying in the rear of the field in 19th and finishing as the highest-placed rookie in 12th.

Alexander Rossi then made his oval debut at the next race in Phoenix, running as high as seventh before brushing the wall in the final laps of the race.

Alexander Rossi was the top rookie in qualifying for the race and led the final few laps as the cars ahead of him on track ran low on fuel and pitted.

Alexander Rossi managed his fuel over the final stint to win, then ran dry after the finish and had to be towed to victory lane.

Alexander Rossi was named the series' 2016 Rookie of the Year on September 19.

On October 3, Alexander Rossi announced he would return to Andretti for the 2017 season, signing a multi-year contract.

At Long Beach, Alexander Rossi was running in second place when his engine failed.

Alexander Rossi started the defense of his Indianapolis 500 victory by qualifying on the front row for the race.

Alexander Rossi spent much of the first half of the race amongst the leaders, but finished seventh after experiencing fueling issues.

Later in the season, Alexander Rossi drove to a second-place finish in the Honda Indy Toronto after starting in eighth in what he called a "breakthrough" race for his team.

At Pocono, Alexander Rossi earned his third career podium by finishing third despite encountering a problem with his car's fuel-mixture knob.

On September 1, Alexander Rossi confirmed that he would remain with Andretti through at least the 2019 season; despite having signed a multi-year extension after 2016, Alexander Rossi had been considering a move to Schmidt Peterson Motorsports due to his loyalty to Honda, but re-signed with Andretti once the team confirmed they would continue using Honda engines in the future.

The next day, Alexander Rossi earned his first career pole position at Watkins Glen International; he would go on to win the race as well for his second career victory.

Alexander Rossi moved to the No 27 team while Andretti took over the Herta-partnered No 98.

Alexander Rossi was running in second on the final restart and attempted to pass leader Robert Wickens in the first turn, but got loose and made contact with Wickens, who in turn retired from the race.

Alexander Rossi argued that while he "[felt] bad" about the contact, he believed Wickens' defense of the lead forced him into the marbles, causing his car to get loose.

Alexander Rossi began the Indianapolis 500 from the last row on the grid, starting in 32nd place.

Alexander Rossi completed a series of impressive overtakes throughout the race, leading him to a fourth-place finish.

Alexander Rossi preceded to lock his brakes, overshooting the upcoming turn and leading to a puncture.

Alexander Rossi was forced to pit, reentering the track in 13th and finishing in 12th.

Alexander Rossi rebounded later in the season to win the pole and the race at Mid-Ohio, using a two-stop strategy.

Alexander Rossi won the following race at Pocono as well, though the event was overshadowed by a serious accident early in the race involving Wickens, resulting in a red flag period.

At Gateway, Alexander Rossi used fuel strategy to finish second, gaining a few points on Dixon.

Alexander Rossi recovered to place seventh in the race, finishing a total of 57 points behind Dixon in the championship.

Alexander Rossi began the 2019 season with a fifth-place finish at St Petersburg.

Alexander Rossi scored his first win of 2019 at Long Beach, where he repeated his success from the previous season.

Alexander Rossi dedicated the victory to his grandfather; the win came on the day Rossi learned of his death.

At the 2019 Indianapolis 500, Alexander Rossi was in contention for the win before encountering a fuel pump problem in the pits on lap 137.

Alexander Rossi was then held up and blocked by Servia, eventually shaking his fist at the Spanish driver as he finally passed him.

Alexander Rossi eventually recovered to pass Simon Pagenaud for the lead and seemed to have the advantage as Pagenaud was in danger of not being able to make it to the end of the race on fuel, but a late caution nullified that advantage.

Alexander Rossi's Honda lacked the horsepower of Pagenaud's Chevrolet, which was ultimately the deciding factor as he finished the race in second behind Pagenaud.

In 2020 Alexander Rossi recorded no wins for the first time in his IndyCar career, but scored five podiums.

Alexander Rossi finished second to Will Power in Detroit and finished third at the following race at Road America.

Alexander Rossi competed in his first ever Baja 1000 in 2018, driving with Jeff Proctor in the No 709 Honda Ridgeline, becoming the fifth Indianapolis 500 winner to participate in the race.

Alexander Rossi's team placed second in their class in the final results.

Alexander Rossi was born in Auburn, California, and raised in Nevada City, often waking up at 4 am local time on Sunday mornings to watch the Formula One races in Europe.

Alexander Rossi graduated from Auburn's Forest Lake Christian High School at the age of 16 in order to begin pursuing his European racing career.

Alexander Rossi attended the awards ceremony on July 13, though the award went to NASCAR's 2015 Sprint Cup Series champion, Kyle Busch.

In March 2017, Alexander Rossi was a guest on an episode of Harry Connick Jr.

Alexander Rossi has appeared on The Rich Eisen Show on two occasions, in July 2016 after winning the Indianapolis 500 and again in January 2018.

Alexander Rossi appeared on the 30th season of CBS' The Amazing Race with fellow IndyCar driver Conor Daly as his teammate.

In 2020, Alexander Rossi used some of his helmets to raise awareness for charitable causes.