Scott Speed is the first American to drive a Formula 1 car since Michael Andretti tried and failed in 1993. He's young, precocious and talented. Here's what the press has to say about him:


1. Wikipedia
Scott Andrew Speed is a race car driver born on January 24, 1983 in Manteca, California, USA. A driver for the Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 team, he will make his Formula 1 race debut in 2006.


Speed's career started at the age of 10 in karting, his stint there lasting from 1993 until 2000. He moved up to Formula series in 2001, competing in US Formula Russell and becoming champion. Drives in both the US Barber Formula Dodge and US Star Mazda Series followed in 2002, although he failed to win either title, and in 2003 the American drove for the ADR team in British Formula Three.


2004 saw two championship titles for Speed, though, with him first winning in Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup and later German Formula Renault. His performances resulted in a drive in the inaugurual season of GP2 Series for 2005, as number two for the iSport team to Can Artam. Speed was later promoted to first driver for the team, and ended the season third place in the driver championship standings behind Heikki Kovalainen.


In 2005 at the Canadian Grand Prix, Speed worked as a test driver for Red Bull Racing; becoming the first American driver to participate in a Formula One event since Michael Andretti's 1993 stint.


At the end of 2005, Speed drove the first three races of the new A1GP series for Team USA.


Following its purchase of Minardi, Red Bull Racing announced the creation of Scuderia Toro Rosso with Speed and Vitantonio Liuzzi as its drivers in 2006 season.


Speed currently resides in Fuschl am See, Austria.


2. BBC Sport

Formula One has long believed it needed an American driver for the sport finally to make a lasting mark in the world's richest country.


But Scott Speed's record in the lower categories suggest his place at the Red Bull junior team owes more to his talent than his marketing potential.


Speed finished third overall in an impressive season in GP2 last year.


After a season's testing with Red Bull, he will now become the first American in F1 since Michael Andretti in 1993.


3. F1-live.com
With the backing of Red Bull, Californian Scott Speed moves up to Formula One in 2006 with the new Squadra Toro Rosso outfit. Speed began karting in 1993 and would take multiple titles over the next eight years. His first season in single seaters came in 2001 moving up to Barber Dodge the following year and them the Formula Mazda championship on 2002.


Speed's big break came in 2003 as he was picked up by the Red Bull Driver Search programme and he would go on to compete in the British f3 and Formula Renault German championship. Speed tested for Eddie Cheever's IRL IndyCar team in 2004 before joining the new GP2 series in 2005 with iSport International.


Speed finished the season in third position behind Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen and also got his first taste of F1 as he ran the third Red Bull Cosworth in the Friday practice sessions in Montreal and Indianapolis.


Speed's rise to Formula One has been a meteoric one and the American will face a very steep learning curve in 2006.


4. Pit Pass


It's a name straight out of Hollywood, Scott Speed.


Those of you, of 'a certain age', will remember the cartoon character 'Skid Solo, then there was Scott Stoddard and Pete Aron of Grand Prix fame. However, compared to Scott Speed they pale into insignificance. To add to the 'legend', Scott is from California, and in many ways his progress towards F1 does read like a Hollywood script. Basically, he appears to be a born-winner. As is (nearly) always the case, Scott started off in Karts, participating in his first event aged nine. Two years later he picked up his first national championship title going on to win numerous titles and championships between 1996 and 2001. Indeed, Scott became the only Karter to ever win two Super Nationals, which he achieved consecutively in 2000 and 2001.


That same year (2001), Scott made his single-seater debut, contesting the Jim Russell Racing Championship, winning the series at the first attempt. In 2002 he ran with great success in the Skip Barber National Championship as well as contesting a number of rounds of the Formula Mazda Championship, this brought him to the attention of the Red Bull Driver Search, the programme instigated with the intention of discovering American racing talent. In (seemingly) no time at all, he was in the run-offs, up against some of his country's leading youngsters and going on to win the inaugural programme.


Part of his prize for winning the Red Bull Driver Search was a season in the highly prestigious British F3 Championship with Alan Docking Racing. Unfortunately, illness meant that he missed a number of races.

In 2004, Scott contested the Formula Renault championships in both Germany and Europe with German-based Motopark Academy. In addition to winning both championships, thus becoming the first ever American to win a European Junior Formula Championship, Scott was given the opportunity to test with the Red Bull Cheever IRL Racing team and contributed valuable feedback.


In 2005, the young American moved up to the new GP2 series, joining British-based iSport International. In pre-season qualifying at Paul Ricard he helped win his team the coveted numbers '1' and '2' on its cars for the inaugural season. Although he never won any rounds of the championship, Scott was a regular visitor to the podium, eventually finishing third in the title race behind Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen. In late March, Scott made his F1 test debut, when he tested the Red Bull car at Barcelona. He topped the timesheets, outpacing established WilliamsF1 drivers Nick Heidfeld and Antonio Pizzonia, as well as fellow Red Bull tester, Neel Jani.


Following another short but successful test in early June, it was announced that Scott would drive the third car in the Friday free practice sessions at both the Canadian and United States Grands Prix, the first American to drive an F1 car 'in anger' for a decade. Over the winter, Scott added to his CV by taking part in a number of rounds of another inaugural series, the A1 Grand Prix World Cup of Motorsport, his best result being fourth in the Feature Race at Estoril.


Although it is good to see the United States represented in F1 once again, there are some who believe that Scott is not the real deal, and will struggle when push comes to shove. Indeed, there are some who believe that Scott's F1 career will be as short-lived and unfulfilling as his predecessor, Michael Andretti. In 2006 Scott lines up alongside Tonio Liuzzi for Toro Rosso, the only team running (restricted) V10 engines. Until the FIA finds a way to create a fair balance between the V10s and V8s, it is going to be difficult to see how Scott compares to his rivals, though it will be interesting to see how he measures up to the Italian 'hot-shot' Liuzzi.


Thus far it reads pretty much like a Hollywood movie script; can Scott go all the way and emulate the achievements of fellow-Americans Phil Hill and Mario Andretti, or is he destined to be remembered merely for his name?


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