Having formerly driven in the GP2 Series on a selected-round basis – when he replaced Michael Ammermuller at ART Grand Prix back in 2007 – and in the FIA F2 Championship, where he ranked 3rd in 2009, the Moscow-born driver won this year's Formula Renault 3.5 Series with 3 wins and 8 podiums.
Consequently, he was awarded a testing session by Renault during this week's Abu Dhabi rookie test, in which he got to drive an F1 car and even set the 6th best time of the day (despite experiencing a technical problem late in the day). This is not the hot topic of the day however, but the fact that Aleshin aims for a drive seat in F1 from as early as 2011.
“We are aiming for a race seat next year. I'm quite confident on this,” revealed Aleshin in an interview with Autosport. “We're working on it for next year because it is very important for me. I had a good year in World Series, which is a very competitive series this year especially. Most people see it and understand how difficult it was to win this championship.”
No information has surfaced in the media however on the money Aleshin could come with in Formula One, as it's a well known fact that most of the vacant seats in the series for the 2011 campaign are to be secured mostly by pay-drivers. Being that F1 is ready to travel to Russia in a few years time and that their first and only sportscar maker Marussia has just purchased the majority stake in Virgin Racing could provide Aleshin with a bit more chances to have his dream come true.
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