American Alexander Rossi will compete in this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix. It's been a while since we've had a driver in F1, so here's the whole story behind this guy.
As confirmed by NBC Sports, Rossi will compete for total backmarkers Marussia, who are only marginally better than the very worst teams in the field. They're a Russian-backed team that is best known for producing total vaporware multimillion dollar supercars and not selling them in a hilarious/depressing Monaco showroom.
Rossi will be taking the seat of British driver Max Chilton. Who is Max Chilton? What's the opposite of a wunderkind? That. Whatever that is, that's Max Chilton.
22-year-old Rossi has been keeping himself close to an F1 seat for some time now. He first tried out an F1 car in 2009 and since 2012 has been doing testing for the very worst team in the field, Caterham. He's also raced for Caterham in GP2, the supposed feeder series for F1. More recently he stepped up as a reserve driver for Marussia earlier this year.
Oh, and if you're wondering how he is as a wheelman, check him out whipping a bare-bones Caterham Se7en around the Nürburgring.
Rossi will be the first American to race in F1 since Scott Speed in 2007. Speed did so poorly that he got kicked out of his race seat halfway through the season.
No article about an American driver is complete without mentioning Phill Hill, who won the world championship for Ferrari back in 1961. No pressure, Alex.
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