Formula 1
Scott Speed - first American at Indy USGP
SPEED TO PUT AMERICAN ON F1 MAP FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 1993 AT USGP Californian to serve as test driver for Red Bull Racing at Indy INDIANAPOLIS, Friday, June 3, 2005 - Scott Speed will be the first American driver to participate in a Formula One ...
Published: Jun 4, 2005, 10:26 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
SPEED TO PUT AMERICAN ON F1 MAP FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 1993 AT USGP
Californian to serve as test driver for Red Bull Racing at Indy
INDIANAPOLIS, Friday, June 3, 2005 - Scott Speed will be the first American driver to participate in a Formula One Grand Prix weekend since 1993 when he serves as a test driver for Red Bull Racing during the United States Grand Prix on June 17-19 at Indianapolis.
Speed, 22, from Manteca, Calif., will drive the Red Bull Racing-Cosworth car in the two one-hour practice sessions Friday, June 17 on the 2.605-mile road circuit at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He will join Red Bull Racing race drivers David Coulthard and Christian Klien in the sessions, sharing the track with such drivers as seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher, 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya, 1995 Indianapolis 500 winner and 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve and current F1 points leader Fernando Alonso.
The last time an American driver participated in Formula One was Sept. 12, 1993, when Michael Andretti finished third at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Speed also will become the first American driver to participate in a Grand Prix on home soil since June 4, 1989, when Eddie Cheever Jr. finished third in the United States Grand Prix at Phoenix.
"This is an incredible opportunity for me," Speed said. "Putting aside the fact that my second appearance at a grand prix will be in my homeland, it is really exciting to be driving an F1 car in front of a big crowd. I have never driven at Indy, so it will be a good experience for me."
FIA rules allow teams that finished outside of the top four in the previous season's Constructors' Championship to run a third car during Friday practice at Grands Prix. Speed also will serve as test driver during the Canadian Grand Prix on June 10-12 at Montreal.
"We have decided to give Red Bull Junior driver Scott Speed a couple of outings in the third car on Friday morning, following a successful test at Silverstone this week and in Barcelona earlier in the year," Red Bull Racing Sporting Director Christian Horner said. "We will be watching his progress with interest. Scott is obviously the most promising talent to come out of the USA for some considerable time. His achievements in Europe have been extremely impressive."
Speed is competing in the new GP2 series this season, the final stepping-stone before Formula One. He has three podium finishes and is second in the point standings.
Speed is a winner of the Red Bull Driver Search, a program designed to groom top young American talent for a seat in Formula One. He fulfilled his promise last season by winning the German and Eurocup Formula Renault titles, becoming the first American driver to win a junior formula championship in Europe.
"It is a common misconception that people in America are not interested in F1," Speed said. "From my experience, everyone racing in the States would love to compete in F1. But for an American, it can be an unattainable target. In my case, backing from Red Bull made it possible.
"Interest in F1 in the States is definitely growing."
-ims-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article McLaren Silverstone test notes 2005-06-03
Next article Canadian GP: BAR preview
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin knew before Mexico GP it would not finish, Honda brings new countermeasures
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
Aston Martin knew before Mexico GP it would not finish, Honda brings new countermeasures
Why Honda’s power unit lasted barely five laps in F1 Mexico GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
Why Honda’s power unit lasted barely five laps in F1 Mexico GP
More from
Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen "needs to understand what happened" after "night and day" F1 comeback in Brazilian GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
10 h
Max Verstappen "needs to understand what happened" after "night and day" F1 comeback in Brazilian GP
‘I’ll try to win, somehow’ – Can Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fight back for F1 Brazilian GP victory?
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
19 h
‘I’ll try to win, somehow’ – Can Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fight back for F1 Brazilian GP victory?
Latest news
Oscar Piastri splits from Mark Webber management
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
5 min
Oscar Piastri splits from Mark Webber management
WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
1 h
WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash
Kyle Larson, Cliff Daniels and the Hendrick 5 are who we say they are
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
4 h
Kyle Larson, Cliff Daniels and the Hendrick 5 are who we say they are
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe