United States GP: Alexander Rossi accepts missing Caterham Friday run

Caterham test driver Alexander Rossi says he no qualms about missing out on the chance to drive in Friday practice at his home grand prix in the United States this weekend

Discussions had taken place regarding Rossi taking on the third driver role for Caterham at the Circuit of the Americas, but the team ultimately decided that it was more important to give race drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov mileage on the unfamiliar Austin circuit.

"As our team's test driver I know that the main thing is that Austin is a new circuit and the race drivers need as much time as they can on track to prepare for qualifying and the race," said Rossi.

"As a race driver I'd want exactly the same in their position."

The 21-year-old, who recently drove for Caterham in the Formula 1 young driver test in Abu Dhabi, said he would do his utmost to make sure the first grand prix in the US since 2007 was a success.

"It's going to be an incredible week, in the build-up to the race and on race day itself, and I'm going to be working hard to help introduce a lot of very important people to our team and F1 as a whole," Rossi said.