Q: I’ve been following Alexander Rossi since he arrived in IndyCar and he’s now one of my favorite drivers. I understand he gets a bit of a bad reputation because of his personality (in a previous RACER story, Paul Tracy went as far as to call him “not very friendly” and seeming quite distant, to which you replied that he’s simply an introvert, which makes me like him even more, being one myself. But let’s focus on his driving skills, here.
The guy became the lead Andretti driver in only his second year in the business before being a title contender in the two following seasons. After that, he kind of fell down the order. Going to McLaren seems to have improved his situation a little bit, but not that much. So, what do you think has been preventing him from fighting for the title again against the likes of Palou, Dixon, Power and Newgarden? What is plaguing him since 2020? (The answer “cartoon anvils” ain’t gonna cut it!) What are his weaknesses?
You once wrote that it is his consistency. But other than Iowa, Alex showed that he’s definitely still got the chops to score at least a top 10 if not a top five at pretty much all of the other tracks. Even on the ovals (other than Iowa), which some tend to point out as a potential weakness: he practically always shines at Indy, finished fourth Gateway this year and was in the lead group at Texas before the incident with Kirkwood.
I heard he’s having a harder time adapting to the heavy aeroscreen (along with other drivers like Conor Daly, it seems). Could next year’s lighter one make things a bit easier for him?
I also read a few people writing that IndyCar has simply gotten much more competitive over the last couple of years. And with the arrival of folks like Herta, O’Ward, Palou, Ericsson, McLaughlin and probably Lundgaard too, Rossi simply hasn’t been able to keep up the pace. I don’t know how to feel about that one. For sure the overall quality of the field has improved, however one doesn’t end up in the title fight two years in a row with just dumb luck. That one doesn’t seem fair to me, don’t you think?
From my standpoint, I think he’s one of the very best in terms of pure speed and extracting the most out of the car he’s got in his hands. Same goes for this race pace and overtaking abilities, since he always seems able to make some positions even when starting further back.
I’m thinking of two areas that could be his current weaknesses.
First, setting up the car (at least the current one). This makes sense to me because of the aeroscreen thing and because you previously mentioned in a podcast that the McLaren cars aren’t the easiest thing to drive. I guess this would also be part of the reason why they got zero wins this year despite claiming two poles. So, if it is, indeed, a setup thing, it seems that not all the responsibility falls on Alex’s shoulders.
And second, fuel-saving. That one might seem ironic since this is what got him his first win at the 2016 Indy 500. However, I’ve seen him doing a lot of lift and coast this year, through his car’s onboard camera, which had him lose several positions at Road America and Mid-Ohio — to the point that he had to park his car right after the checkered flag because he ran out of gas.
Does this make any sense to you? Or am I completely off?
Xavier
MP: The fact that you wrote a 608-word question about Alex is incredible, Xavier. I won’t match you with a 608-word response, but will say that we’ve seen Rossi at his best during a time when he was the new kid on the block. He was a rocket with Andretti and took control of the team from Ryan Hunter-Reay, for example, at least in terms of results after placing second in 2018 and third in 2019. And it’s not like Rossi suddenly became old in 2020, but there’s a line drawn in his results after Colton Herta joined the big Andretti team that year, took control of it, and took third in the championship. He finished fifth in 2021; Rossi went ninth and 10th respectively.
Pato O’Ward also arrived with Arrow McLaren in 2020 and took fourth. In 2020, Alex Palou arrived with Coyne, and by 2021, he was a champion with Ganassi. At Ganassi in 2021 as well, Marcus Ericsson leapt forward to sixth in the championship. At Penske in 2021, Scott McLaughlin landed and by 2022, he was on fire, winning three times and jumping to fourth in the championship. There’s a lot of nuanced reasons as to why Rossi went from a top three guy to the outskirts of the top 10, but the part that he can’t control is how a new wave of talent in Herta/O’Ward/Palou/Ericsson/McLaughlin and, as of 2022/2023 with Christian Lundgaard, have displaced him in the standings.
I think he did a great job of getting comfy at Arrow McLaren last season, and had Craig Hampson as his race engineer, but that only translated into one podium and ninth in the championship. O’Ward, as the team’s undisputed leader, also went winless, but he was a point-scoring machine, capturing seven podiums and fourth in the standings, splitting McLaughlin and Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden. And now Hampson has left the team, so I don’t know what next season will hold for him.
His replacement at Andretti, Kyle Kirkwood, was far less consistent than Rossi and finished 11th among drivers. He also won twice and is challenging Herta as the team’s top dog.
I know Arrow McLaren loves Rossi and raves about all he brings to the team with his technical feedback and professionalism and steady demeanor. It also wants to see him in victory lane before the free agent market heats up, because his two-year contract is done after 2024 and his seat is one where the team wants to have wins at the ready if O’Ward is unable to deliver at any given race. I can’t think of a driver who needs to have a big season more than Rossi for the sake of securing his future in a top-flight team.
Q: With Honda’s opening shot that it may end its IndyCar engine involvement and Chevy’s verbal gymnastics, it is becoming clearer that as least as Honda is concerned, the effort it is putting into IndyCar is not returning enough on investment to continue. And I don’t believe Chevy will want to stay as the only OEM. Where does that leave IndyCar, the series, and its fans?
This fan, who is well north of 60, can survive on other forms of racing – read IMSA, as IndyCar as a one-chassis and potentially a single-engine series is unappealing. In this scenario the only difference would be the drivers, and the current lot is not going to get the needed number of butts in the seats and eyeballs in front of the TVs.
I’ve followed American open-wheel racing since the 1960s — Jim Clark, Mario and the Big Eagle were the ones that drew me in, and sadly they don’t drive anymore, and even more sad is that some of them are no longer with us. What made the racing compelling was the combination of the chassis, engine, driver and team diversity. Those combinations of elements does not exist in IndyCar today.
From where I sit, IndyCar lacks any vision and a clear path forward to survival. It has relied on its current technological base far too long, with the car owners being the major impediment that has prevented the needed changes. I always hear that the car owners do not want to spend any money to change. Change is needed, and immediately
Rules are an area I think need changing to attract additional OEMs to the series. Put these changes out there:
Chassis: Layout requirements, i.e., minimum/maximum weights, construction materials allowed, crash tolerances, wheelbase. There would be no series-only chassis supplier designated in the rules. Chassis suppliers, after a first year in the series with exclusive team agreements, would have to supply any team willing to pay for their chassis.
Engine: No specific required number of cylinders; must have some kind of hybrid or electric augmentation. Maximum displacement of three liters. Turbocharged with boast level determined by the engine supplier/teams to a maximum allowed value. Engines with less than 2.2-liter displacement would be permitted additional turbo boost.
Dampers: Sourced and distributed by the series. Teams would not be permitted to modify them or use dampeners not supplied by the series.
Tires: No series-only approved tire. Any tire can be used that meets rule sizing. If there’s more than one tire manufacturers, each must be able to supply half the fielded entries.
Schedule: Needs revamping as there are too many periods with no races. Temporary courses need to be changed with an eye towards the width of the layout. Several of the current temporary venues on the schedule are too narrow at many corners that limit or prevent overtaking which make for less-than-ideal racing.
Warbird Willie
MP: Thanks for putting all of that together, Willie.