F1: American Rossi Enjoys Caterham Run In Spain

Formula 1

F1: American Rossi Enjoys Caterham Run In Spain

Alexander Rossi drove 25 laps Friday in Heikki Kovalainen's Caterham seat...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted May 11, 2012 Barcelona (ESP)

American Alexander Rossi made his Grand Prix weekend debut in Barcelona Friday, and impressed the Caterham team with a solid performance.

Rossi completed 25 laps in FP1 and ended the session in 21st place, just under a second off teammate Vitaly Petrov.

“We completed the program the team had set and I acclimatized quickly to the step up to F1,” said Rossi, a native of California. “This isn't my first time working with the team. I already have a day at the Abu Dhabi young driver test last year under my belt, but coming into a full race weekend is a very different proposition to the young driver test.

“Today wasn't about setting the quickest lap I could — there may have been another seven or eight tenths to be found, but the main thing today was to learn as much as I could, contribute by following the plan, give the engineers clear, concise feedback, and not make any mistakes. That's what we did so I think it's been pretty much as good as it could have been.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.

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