Why it may be time for Alexander Rossi to change teams

Back in 2019, this writer rated Alexander Rossi as the best IndyCar driver of the season. Yes, he’d missed out on the title – indeed, he slipped to third in points at the final round – but the Andretti Autosport driver made fewer mistakes than champion Josef Newgarden, despite having the best car on fewer weekends, and despite being just as aggressive.

Since his seventh and most recent win, at Road America that year, 40 rounds of the IndyCar series have passed by without Rossi visiting victory lane. In 2020 he scored five podiums, but his luck was so appalling elsewhere that he could still only muster ninth in the standings. Last year he slipped to 10th, with just one podium to his name.

Rossi has by no means been flawless over this period, but usually his mistakes are the consequence of trying to make up for bad luck earlier in the race – or trying to make up for misfortune in previous rounds. Most drivers for whom great opportunities have become infrequent can be prone to overreaching – Gateway and Laguna Seca last year could have been “easy” podiums for Rossi but he was going for more, and spun. The only near-certain win that he threw away with no one to blame but himself was St. Petersburg in 2020.

Last weekend in Long Beach, Rossi made his 100th IndyCar start, and three rounds into the 2022 season, his luck seems as atrocious as ever. In St. Pete, by his own admission, they “missed the boat” in terms of qualifying set-up, starting 13th, and forcing new strategist Brian Barnhart to take a huge gamble which didn’t mesh with the way the full course cautions fell. Rossi’s 20th finishing position was also partly down to a poor pitstop.

At Texas Motor Speedway, you can be sure that Rossi would have been one of those ready