Vice-champion GP2, Alexander Rossi aims for Manor in 2016

Alexander Rossi experienced a wild end to the season. Indeed, when we met him in the paddock at Spa-Francorchamps, Alexander Rossi was still aiming for the title in GP2, and F1 was only a prospect for the following season. But everything accelerated from the next race weekend at Monza when Manor approached him with an offer to become a full-time driver for five races at the end of the season: “When the opportunity presented itself at Monza, it was too good to let it pass by.”

But while he took full advantage of the opportunity to make his Grand Prix debut, he did not abandon his GP2 campaign. It was important to him to finish what he started with his Racing Engineering team: « It’s really great that Manor and Racing Engineering have managed to reach an agreement so I can do both. I really wanted to finish my season with them because I owed them that. When you start a season with a team that has won titles, it’s not to leave before the end. »

The least we can say is that success was key as he won three of the six races from Spa-Francorchamps to Sochi. However, while he managed to secure his first victories in the category, he couldn’t stop his friend Stoffel Vandoorne from winning the title. The American is thus the first to acknowledge the Belgian’s domination: « Stoffel and ART did an extraordinary job. It’s 100% deserved. A big bravo to them. »

For him, the two keys to the season have been the qualifying sessions and tire management. Indeed, the young driver often struggled to perform well in the timed lap exercise. It’s not for lack of trying: « With Jordan (King, his teammate), we really tried everything. We tested different strategies, different approaches… But even after the last session of the season, we still haven’t found the solution. »

These delicate qualifications caused another problem during the races: he was forced to push hard to climb up the hierarchy. This came at the cost of premature tire wear, which made him lose places at the end of the race: « We always had a very good race pace. We just needed to take better care of our tires to make it to the end without slowing down too much. That’s how we found the key to victories. »

If switching from an F1 to a GP2 car hasn’t disturbed Alexander Rossi from a driving standpoint, he had to change his approach to the weekend and the race since his position was not at all the same in F1, where his only rival with his modest Manor was none other than his teammate Will Stevens: « In GP2, I’m fighting against 23 other cars. I have to be much more aggressive to keep them behind me. In F1, I was only fighting against one car. »

The record against his main rival is largely positive as he surpassed him three times out of five in qualifying and four times out of five in the race. He therefore believes he has all the cards in hand to secure his future in F1: « I have shown that I know how to win races in GP2, that I can beat my teammate in F1. So I really hope to make it to Manor next season.»

If he is aware that the competition will be strong, he refuses to consider working on another possibility: « Yes, I know there is always another possibility, but today, with my management, we are committed to making it happen with Manor and only that. »

From our special correspondent in Abu Dhabi