US pins hopes on Speed, Rosberg revives memories

LONDON: The first US Formula One driver in 13 years certainly sounds the part.

Californian Scott Speed makes his debut for the new Scuderia Toro Rosso team at next week's season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

The 23-year-old may not have the quickest car on the starting grid on March 12, with Toro Rosso replacing tail-enders Minardi, but he does have plenty of potential as well as the fastest surname.

His presence is also a big step in the right direction for a sport that alienated fans in a key market for sponsors with last year's six-car US Grand Prix fiasco at Indianapolis.

"It's going to be incredible to be on the grid in America and at Indy with all of the support behind me, I'm really looking forward to it," Speed said when the Red Bull-owned team confirmed their line-up.

"To be an American in F1, it took so much work to move here and prove to people that I belonged, and the work is just starting."

Expectations will be lower than the last time a US driver competed in the glamour sport.

Then, in 1993, it was Michael Andretti - son of 1978 champion Mario and himself a well-known figure in US open-wheel racing.

Andretti junior started just 13 races for McLaren alongside Ayrton Senna before packing his bags and returning across the Atlantic. A third place in Italy was his best result and he crashed or went off six times.

Famous father

While Speed will hope to revive interest in America, the man from Manteca will not be the most prominent rookie in Bahrain on March 12.

That role falls to Nico Rosberg, whose Finnish father Keke won his Formula One championship in Andretti's final year in the sport in 1982.

Asked what it was about the 20-year-old German that swayed his decision when several more experienced drivers were on the market, team boss Frank Williams replied simply: "Two words - the future."

Winner of last year's inaugural GP2 series, which acts as a support to Formula One at grand prix weekends, Rosberg has plenty of self-assurance as well as experience as a tester for the past year.

He will need that, with the spotlight very much on him on account of his illustrious parentage and the fact that his arrival harks back to the successful 1982 Williams-Cosworth-Rosberg partnership.

"It's not really a burden," he said of his famous name at the launch of the new car earlier this year.

"Mainly I think it's been a great help for me throughout my career...it has helped me find sponsors and the media has been more interested in me because of my name.

"Probably the first foot into the Williams team back in 2002 or whatever was amongst other things my name. On the other hand it has been a bit of a burden, the fact that people always compare me to my father."

Rosberg is unlikely to be overawed on his debut, particularly after strong testing times in the last month. And he can always remind people that his father failed to score a point in his first two seasons.

All Japanese

The third new face on the grid will be Yuji Ide, half of Formula One's first all-Japanese line-up at the new Super Aguri team founded by former racer Aguri Suzuki.

Ide will have the toughest baptism, having driven a grand prix car for the first time less than a month before the start of the season.

While Rosberg won the GP2 title in a season's finale in Bahrain at the end of last year, 31-year-old Ide will be taking a step into the unknown with a team that cannot hope to be competitive.

His first official test, in Barcelona, was on February 22 and he will have done less mileage in a Formula One car than any other driver on the starting grid.

"This year will be very exciting and challenging," he commented.

Source: China Daily