"We're working very hard to finalise something soon," says American driver on the eve of his maiden home US GP
Tuesday 27 October 2015 17:21, UK
Alexander Rossi believes he has a "very good" chance of retaining his Manor seat full-time for the 2016 season.
After a long wait to secure an F1 race drive, American driver Rossi was signed by the backmarker team for five of the season's final seven grands prix.
Manor are yet to announce their driver line-up for next year but their success in securing a 2016 supply of Mercedes engines means the attractiveness of the two seats to would-be signings has inevitably increased. Although cut adrift at the back of the field this year, Manor are being tipped to move into F1's midfield with their new package next term.
Newly-crowned DTM champion Pascal Wehrlein has been heavily linked to one of the seats in recent weeks owing to his Mercedes connections, but Rossi is confident his own chances are strong.
"There are a lot of other drivers [in the frame], there always is at this time of year. There are a lot of people who want to get into Formula 1, but there are limited seats," Rossi told Sky Sports News HQ ahead of his home US GP this weekend.
"But my chances are very good and we're working very hard to finalise something soon.
"The relationship I have with Manor started at the end of last year [as reserve driver] and it's carried over to this year. It's a very positive environment, I'm happy to be here and I'm looking to stay."
At one stage in the months before his F1 race breakthrough with Manor, Rossi had appeared in line for one of the seats at incoming American team Haas for 2016, before they subsequently decided that no home-grown drivers fitted the bill.
Haas, who have since signed the experienced Romain Grosjean, are backed by a technical partnership with Ferrari and have been tipped by Manor president Graeme Lowdon to make an immediate points-scoring impression in 2016.
Rossi is hopeful he will end up battling against his homeland's new F1 outfit.
"We are kind of in a league of our own at the moment but a new team coming in are going to be the team we definitely need to have a leg up on," he added. "So it's going to be interesting and we'll see what happens - hopefully I can be the driver fighting against them."
In more immediate matters, Rossi will become the first American to race in the US GP for eight years at the Circuit of the Americas this weekend. Having driven in practice there in 2013 for Caterham, the 24-year-old Californian can't wait to experience the full race weekend.
"This is my fourth year here and each of the four years prior I've been talking about what a great facility this is, what a great venue this is and how proud I am to be an American here," he said. "But now to finally be able to drive, it's been a long road, I can't wait to get the weekend started."
