Alexander Rossi takes place at Singapore GP aiming to steer F1 into mainstream America

Reporting from Singapore ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, Graham Caygill discusses the arrival of Alexander Rossi onto the Marina Bay grid.

Alexander Rossi will be the first American since Scott Speed in 2007 to race in Formula One. Mark Thompson / Getty Images

SINGAPORE // While it is expected to be business as usual with the Mercedes-GPs cars of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg setting the pace in practice today ahead of Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix, there is one thing that will be new on the grid at the Marina Bay Circuit.

For the first time in 150 races, dating back to the German Grand Prix in July 2007, there will be an American driver starting the race in the shape of Alexander Rossi.

The 23 year old from California was only announced by the Manor Marussia team as partnering Will Stevens in place of Roberto Merhi late on Wednesday evening.

Rossi acknowledged he had been surprised when the team approached him about the chance to race.

“Obviously I have quite a lot of history with this team and we have always had good communication, but I was not expecting 2015 to be a year in which I raced in F1,” he said.

Rossi, who is competing in his third season of GP2, will race in five of the remaining seven races of the season for Manor.

The two he will miss are in Russia next month and then the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on November 29, which he is skipping due to his prior commitments in the GP2, in which he is second in the standings.

Having served as a test driver with firstly Caterham, and then Marussia, in the past three seasons, Rossi said he believes being the first American racer in F1 since Scott Speed in 2007 will help generate more interest in his home country ahead of next month’s race at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

“It is a massive boost and I think it is going to very special in Austin in a couple of weeks when we race there,” he said.

An American team, Haas Formula 1 team, is due to join the grid in 2016 and Rossi believes having a driver and a team to root for will increase the following in a country that F1 has traditionally struggled to develop a consistent fanbase in.

“Having Austin come on the calendar, we have already seen the progress that has come, and having an American team is only going to take that further, and an American driver is the final bit of the puzzle so hopefully fans will get behind it,” he said.

Rossi is aware of the limitations, however, of joining a team who have been consistently the slowest on the grid all year, and he said being lapped by faster cars will be a “learning experience” after being at the front in GP2, where he has won twice this year.

“At the end of the day, you are kind of only racing one other car and you have to respect the other cars on track,” he said.

Merhi will return to the race seat for Russia and Abu Dhabi, and he put a brave face on his disappointment.

The Spaniard had been selected for the drivers’ news conference prior to the news of his demotion, but he still appeared in front of the media, and said: “I flew in on Monday and when I arrived the team gave me the news I would not be driving and Rossi would be taking my place.”

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