American Alexander Rossi will make his World Series by Renault debut this weekend on the streets of Monaco. Rossi was third quick in this morning’s free practice. He was the fastest rookie driver in attendance, with a lap of 1:28.814, just 0.882 shy of Sten Pentus (1:27.932) – who set the fastest overall time and was the only driver to break into the 1:27 range.
It’s likely Rossi is just using this one-off opportunity to get used to all the unique undulations and attributes of the Monaco street circuit, while picking up some additional seat time. The 18-year-old phenom will be driving for ISR, a team he drove for last season in International Formula Master.
The Formula Renault 3.5 qualifying session will get underway on Saturday, May 15, with the race scheduled to take place Sunday, May 16.
While it is a shame that he crashed out there can be no denying that Rossi is the real deal and that he is America’s best hope for a truly competitive F1 driver. I will cheer him on,