Alexander Rossi will get his first taste of Formula 1 machinery on a grand prix weekend in Spain next week, with Caterham handing him a run in first free practice at Barcelona. The American, who last drove for the team at the young driver test at Yas Marina last year, will stand in for Heikki Kovalainen.
"I am looking forward to getting back into the F1 car in Spain and I want to thank the team for the chance to run in FP1 in Barcelona," said Rossi, who will race this year in the World Series by Renault for Formula Renault 3.5 cars. "I have a clear goal for the session – make sure I run to the plan set by the engineers, not make any mistakes and learn as much as I can over the whole weekend."
Rossi's only other F1 experience came at the end of 2009. He was given a run by BMW Sauber when the young driver test was held at Jerez, as a star of the Formula BMW Americas series.