Alexander Rossi

Alexander Michael Rossi was born on September 25, 1991, in Nevada City, California, where he grew up. His motorsport career began in karting, where in 2005 he won the IKF Grand National title in the 100cc Yamaha class and placed himself as a semifinalist at the Red Bull Formula One American Drivers Search among more than 2,000 applicants in the top five. The transition to formula racing took place in 2006 through a scholarship from the Skip Barber Racing School, where at the age of 14 he became the youngest driver in the series’ history to win a race and finished third in the overall standings.

Rossi’s rise continued in Formula BMW USA, where he finished third for Apex Racing in 2007. In 2008 he switched to EuroInternational and crowned a dominant season with ten victories from fifteen races to claim the title in the Formula BMW Americas Championship, before also winning the global title at the Formula BMW World Final in Mexico City. As a teenager he subsequently moved to Europe to pursue his Formula 1 ambitions. Through stints such as International Formula Master, GP3, and Formula Renault 3.5 (2011: third place), he worked his way up to the GP2 series, where in 2013 he drove for EQ8 Caterham Racing and in 2015 for Racing Engineering, winning a total of four races and finishing runner-up in 2015 behind Stoffel Vandoorne. After gaining experience as a test and development driver at Caterham and Marussia, he made his Formula 1 debut in 2015 for the Manor Marussia F1 Team in five Grands Prix, with twelfth place at his home race in Austin as his best result.

Since a full-time Formula 1 seat did not materialize for 2016, Rossi returned to the United States and competed in the IndyCar Series for a team formed from Andretti Autosport and Bryan Herta Autosport. Already in his rookie season he achieved the biggest coup of his career: victory at the 100th Indianapolis 500 in 2016 thanks to clever fuel strategy. In 2017 he returned to Andretti and celebrated his first IndyCar victory on a road course with success at Watkins Glen. The 2018 and 2019 seasons were statistically his most successful in the championship, with second place and third place respectively in the overall standings. Away from the IndyCar stage, Rossi also demonstrated his versatility: in 2021 he won the 24 Hours of Daytona for Wayne Taylor Racing alongside Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, and Hélio Castroneves.

For the 2026 season, Alexander Rossi starts as a full-time driver for Ed Carpenter Racing (ECR) in the IndyCar Series. After years with Andretti Autosport and Arrow McLaren, he is seeking a new platform at ECR to build on his previous successes, which include eight IndyCar victories and over 30 podium finishes. For the upcoming season, the focus is clearly on consistently establishing the team in the top field and again fighting for top finishes and another major success like the Indy 500.