Alexander Rossi says he’s signed a new IndyCar deal from 2023 onwards, but whether he goes to Arrow McLaren SP or stays at Andretti Autosport is unknown.
Rossi confirmed to motorsport.com that he had signed a new contract to be announced in three to four weeks. Asked what was his priority when weighing up options for a new deal, he said: “I want to win the championship. It’s all about the championship for me. The Indy 500 is awesome, it’s great, but the biggest motivation for me on Sunday is the chance to gain double points.” Rossi also said that he believes three teams still have a chance at winning the championship, but when asked if Andretti was one of them, he responded, “We haven’t been for a long time. Just look at the stats: there was 2012 with Ryan [Hunter-Reay], and nothing since.”
Shall he go to McLaren, he would switch engine manufacturers from Honda to Chevrolet. He inked a three-year deal with Andretti in 2019 and spurned an opportunity to join Team Penske.
“My relationship with Honda is good,” he said, “although everyone’s relationship with Honda is different from what it was. David Salters [HPD president], with his engineering background and what he came in to do, is very much focused on the numbers side of things, the performance. Whereas I think Ted Klaus [predecessor] and Art St. Cyr [Klaus’s predecessor] were more of your kind of corporate guys and had more of a one-on-one relationship with the drivers.
“Dave’s great; if I want to call, he’s right there. But in terms of the driver/manufacturer relationship, it’s more a thing of the past – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I think for a period of time, Chevy was kicking our a**, and there was a huge directive and push at HPD to rectify that. David’s a part of that, and he’s done a great job to get us to where we’re at now from a reliability and competition standpoint.”
Rossi has had a downfall after 2019, finishing 9th in 2020 after a slow start, but got four podiums in five races to end the year. Ever since his performance has declined and is — in the standing currently.
Although Rossi is very unlucky in getting caught in others’ misdemeanors, he also has made a few huge errors resulting in those bad results. However, he’s also had good performances tampered with by pit stops as the no. 27 team has a new pit crew every five races.
Rossi is looking to bounce back at this year’s Indy 500, a race he won in 2016 on fuel saving.