Alexander Rossi Trades Formula One Dreams for Indycar

Alexander Rossi courtesy of alexandrossi.com

I always felt that Alexander Rossi would race at Indianapolis before he ever turned a lap at Monaco, and now it seems like that could come to pass.

After almost a decade of trying to climb open wheel ladder in Europe, Rossi was seen as the “Great White Hope,” if you will, of having an American driver in Formula One, and now he is reportedly turning his attention to the Verizon Indycar Series, for the first time. This is a good thing, right? Another American driver entering the series sounds good on the surface, but what about all those times Rossi totally dissed Indycar and said he had no interest in racing in the sport.

If you’re like me you remember when he explicitly said he didn’t want to race on ovals in 2013 and didn’t follow the sport much.

"For me personally as a driver IndyCar is something I’m not incredibly interested in solely because of the ovals,” said Rossi. “If the majority went back to road courses and street courses like it was, yeah, it’s something I would consider. But for the time being the ovals are something I’m not interested in first of all and second of all I think that I have an opportunity in Formula One and I want to exploit that.”"

I’m not actually going to be the geek that points out if that he also confused Champ Car and CART in several interviews. But you might remember when earlier in 2013 he had no interest in Indycar, and had never even been to a race.

"I’ve never had an interest in IndyCar. Not because there’s anything I don’t like about it, its just that I’ve always watched F1. I’ve never been to an IndyCar race.”"

Or, when as late as a month ago when Rossi told Autoweek he was totally committed to F-1

"There have been a couple conversations and dialogue back and forth with some IndyCar teams. But beyond that, it’s very, very limited because everyone’s kind of aware of the fact that I am Formula One, if you will, I am someone that is pushing for Formula One. So it’s always good to build relationships and talk to as many people as you can, but I’m 100 percent committed to F1.”"

You could go on and on, pulling out more quotes where Rossi dissed Indycar, like, he said that a lot. But this summer, as Formula One’s grid began to shrink, Rossi started walking back his criticism of the Verizon Indycar series

"“Am I as opposed to IndyCar as I was before? Probably not. All of our efforts are focused towards F1 as they have been. But depending on how things go, yeah, I’m definitely open to IndyCar. If you’d asked me last December, I would have said no, but with things changing on this side, I’m open to it, definitely.”"

What changed is that all of his opportunity disappeared. Caterham let him go, Marussia was going to let him drive at Spa, but later retracted that offer and later still went bankrupt. Sauber, Force India and Lotus appear to be on shaky ground, and are unlikely to take on a driver without a sizable amount of funding. So, it seems like Rossi hasn’t so much grown fond of Indianapolis so much as all of his opportunities in Europe evaporated.

Rossi has been trying to start a Formula One race since 2012, and after three years of trying maybe it finally became apparent that it wasn’t going to happen for him. As far as where he might land there are a few options. KV Racing might have money for a second seat. Schmidt is looking for a funded driver for the vacant Mikael Aleshin seat. There’s the possibly of open seats at Andretti Autosport, Dale Coyne Racing and Bryan Herta Autosport and Davy Hamilton’s ride,  but the most interesting possibility to me is Carpenter Fisher Hartman Racing.

If Rossi was being honest about not wanting to race ovals he could be a good part-timer in the Fuzzy’s Vodka car. Ed Carpenter and Mike Conway combined for three wins last year with Carpenter taking the ovals and Conway the road courses. Conway is committed to the FIA World Endurance Challenge, and Carpenter is apparently casting a wide net for his replacement. It’s a seat that can win races and if Rossi honestly doesn’t want to race on ovals it would be his best option.

So yes, Alexander Rossi badmouthed the Verizon Indycar Series multiple times over a course of several years. Yes, he constantly said he had no interest in the series, hasn’t ever attended an Indycar race and likely hasn’t watched very many races over the past decade. Yes, his European record isn’t that impressive. Yes, the only reason he’s interested in Indycar is because he doesn’t think he has a chance at Formula One. Of course the average fan doesn’t know who he is, and he won’t “Move the needle,” as far as ratings go. Still, I’d welcome him.

Forget James Joyce, everyone deserves a second act, especially a talented 23-year-old with over 100 starts in European ladder series, an FIA Super License, and several Formula One tests under his belt. He certainly has the experience to compete in the Verizon Indycar Series, and we all say dumb things in our early twenties. In my early twenties made my own share of mistakes. Since I worked for a newspaper some of my mistakes are immortalized in print, so yeah, I get it. No one should be held to things they said when they were 21. We’re all allowed to change, grow, and try something new.

With Rossi possibly joining Sage Karam, Conor Daly and Zach Veach we could have an unprecedentedly deep field of American rookies. In my Indy fandom anyone whose got the talent, training, and will is a welcome addition.