Rossi Declined Manor F1 Seat To Stay With Andretti

Alexander Rossi has revealed that he could have returned to race in Formula One this season, but declined in order to finish his IndyCar campaign.

Since he arrived in the Verizon IndyCar Series, half the talk about Alexander Rossi has been whether or not he will return to Formula One.

Now this week the Indianapolis 500 winner has revealed that he was offered the race seat at Manor, but turned it down due to his IndyCar commitment with Andretti Autosport.

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Manor’s current driver Rio Haryanto is struggling with funding issues, so as the team’s reserve driver, Rossi had first rights to the team’s race seat – which Racer says was offered to the young Californian in Hungary, presumably around the Hungarian Grand Prix on Jul. 24.

But Rossi opted to stick with the race seat he’s already secured in IndyCar.

“We gave it careful thought but declined the race seat due to my IndyCar contract,” Rossi told the magazine.

His IndyCar deal gave that series priority on Rossi’s dance card, and with three of the final four IndyCar events directly conflicting with Formula One races, contractually there was no way Rossi could have taken Manor up on its offer without causing serious headaches.

So should IndyCar fans take this week’s news as an encouraging sign that Rossi might stay with the league that vaulted him int the spotlight, or is he just playing through the end of his contract?

That’s where things get, unsurprisingly, cryptic.

Rossi told Racer that he has contract offers from two Formula One teams – Manor and a second organization he did not name – for next season.

He also added that he has unspecified “options” in IndyCar, so at least two teams are interested in the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner, though of course Andretti-BHA is hoping that he’ll return.

Is Rossi leaning one way or another? With everyone looking his way, he’s showing some business savvy and keeping his cards close to the vest.

“I can say Andretti and I have a great working relationship,” Rossi said. “Everyone at Andretti is aligned and working in good faith to extend our deal for several years. There’s a sense of loyalty to Michael [Andretti], his team and Honda.”

From an IndyCar fan’s perspective there’s some small consolation in Rossi’s decision. Even if he did it out of contractual obligation, he still decided to finish out the IndyCar season; he wouldn’t have been the first driver to pull out of one team to pursue another opportunity.

IndyCar as a whole stands to benefit if Rossi can be persuaded to stay. He’s the only Andretti driver with a win in 2016, and that organization needs to find a spark to re-light its fire.

And his fuel mileage gamble to take the Indy 500 put his name – and IndyCar – into national conversation. The league is looking for more American stars to market and Rossi is doing all the right things to become exactly that.

But it ultimately comes down to where Rossi’s heart is. The big “but” with him is that he seemingly would rather be in F1 when talented drivers dedicated to IndyCar, like 2015 Rookie of the Year Gabby Chaves, can’t find a seat.

If he really would rather be in Europe then no matter what makes business sense, it’s best to let him go.

For his part, Rossi is aware that he now holds a lot of power in future negotiations and things look much different for him than they did just five months ago when he formally joined IndyCar.

“I’ve invested most of my career in F1 and I would love to continue,” he said to Racer, “but as I’ve said all year, an F1 deal must be right.”

Do you think Alexander Rossi will be part of the Verizon IndyCar Series in 2017?