IndyCar: Andretti Autosport, Takuma Sato and Alexander Rossi rumors may not be true

Recent rumors regarding Takuma Sato’s 2018 landing spot as well as the futures of Andretti Autosport and Alexander Rossi may not be true.

One way or another, fake news has struck again, this time in the IndyCar world.

Let’s start with the NASCAR world. In the beginning of the month, Stewart-Haas Racing failed to renew Kurt Busch’s contract before he became a free agent. That got blown up into a false story about Busch definitely not returning to the team, which Stewart-Haas Racing quickly shot down.

Let’s move on to the Formula One world. A few weeks ago, a photo emerged of a Lewis Hamilton-looking black man dumping an alcoholic beverage into the gas tank of a gold Maserati. After further investigation (more like a few seconds worth of it), it was safely determined that, despite popular belief, the man was clearly not Hamilton. It was a rapper by the name of Slim Stunta, hence the “SS” on his robe.

Now, fake news has come full circle in the three major motorsports series all within a month’s time, as IndyCar has now been hit.

On Saturday, RACER reported that Takuma Sato would be leaving Andretti Autosport following the conclusion of the 2017 season to race for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in a Honda. While that remains a likely destination for Sato and may be true, IndyCar.com never officially reported it.

On Monday, RACER also reported that Andretti Autosport would actually be sticking with Honda in the 2018 season, which, following the report that Sato was leaving the team, came as a surprise to many. However, IndyCar.com never officially reported it.

More from IndyCar

After all, Sato has to drive for a Honda team, so why would he leave Andretti Autosport for another Honda team when they had never confirmed Chevrolet as their engine manufacturer for 2018 to begin with?

RACER also reported that because of the team sticking with Honda, Alexander Rossi was staying with the team in 2018 as well. However, once again, IndyCar.com never officially reported it.

So how is this fake news if all of those stories may be true? Well, it may not be fake. And I’m certainly not saying IndyCar.com is the only legitimate IndyCar news source out there; it isn’t. But there is guaranteed to be a fake side to these stories. Why? Because another site reported the exact opposite of what RACER did. And that site claims to have spoken with Rossi.

Following RACER’s report of Andretti Autosport sticking with Honda and Alexander Rossi continuing to pilot the #98 car in the 2018 season, Motorsport.com reported that Rossi himself claimed those rumors were simply not true.

"“The big domino was always was going to be the potential for Andretti Autosport to become a Chevy team and to the best of my knowledge, Michael hasn’t even made the decision. So to say I’ve re-signed with Andretti simply isn’t true because I literally have no clue what engines his team will be using!”“When the talks and rumors started, because of my relationship with Honda, we – myself and my ‘team’ – naturally started talking with other Honda teams. So now we’re still continuing down that road to see what the best fit may be.”"

Now, how does this involve the Sato story you might ask? Further down the article, Motorsport.com also said that Rossi spoke on Sato possibly remaining with Andretti Autosport when prompted with a question about the future of the team.

"“Absolutely, 100 percent. And maybe run a fifth car. I know there have been those conversations. There’s endless possibilities though, because nothing’s been finalized. That’s the point I’m trying to get across.”"

According to the Motorsport.com article, Rossi also had a lot more to say about this whole situation going on right now within Andretti Autosport. You can read it all at the link right here.

The bottom line here is that you have two generally reliable sources telling you two things that are total opposites of one another when one, no more, no less, of those opposites is possible.

If I were you, I would wait until IndyCar.com officially confirms any news like this before making a big deal about it, or I would wait until a team officially confirms it as opposed to a news source reporting that they spoke with a team or a driver.

Next: IndyCar driver power rankings

Do you think the rumors surrounding Andretti Autosport, Takuma Sato and Alexander Rossi are true? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to follow along with Beyond the Flag for the latest news, opinions and analysis stemming from a number of different motorsports series. You don’t want to miss any of it. Also be sure to follow Beyond the Flag on both Instagram and Twitter.