Rossi confident in Manor seat hopes

Alexander Rossi is confident he will be able to put together a strong enough package to secure a race seat with Manor next season.

The American took part in five of the final seven races this year as he replaced Roberto Merhi in Singapore, Japan, the US, Mexico and Brazil. With his stock rising after a number of strong performances, Rossi says he needs to be able to build on his results by ensuring he has sufficient enough backing to gain a full-time seat in 2016.

Asked how discussions with the team progressed over the latter part of the season, Rossi told F1i: “It’s good.

“Everything is pointing in the right direction but it’s hard at this time of year because there are two seats left and there are a lot of guys who want to race in Formula One. Obviously being one of the guys who was driving the car this year helps a lot because they were able to see what I can do in a race environment, so I’m not so much of an unknown quantity as maybe someone else.

“So I think that I have a leg up on some of the others but as we all know sometimes it’s not just the sporting element that plays a role. I think we have quite a good package overall and hopefully we can come to terms to an agreement quite soon.”

With John Booth and Graeme Lowdon leaving the team and Dave Ryan joining, Rossi had praise for his former team bosses but says he is excited by the prospect of working with the former McLaren man.

“It doesn’t impact on my plans. Obviously I’ve known John and Graeme since the middle of last year and what they’ve done to get this team where it is now is unbelievable. I don’t really know if any other people in the paddock could have done that. To an extent they will be missed, but obviously Dave is a very competent person and it would be a pleasure to be able to work with someone with so much success and experience in the sport.”

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