Alexander Rossi Excited To Return To The Beach
Photo courtesy of INDYCAR
Twice with Andretti Autosport, driver Alexander Rossi was King of the Beach. Can Rossi achieve that same level of success now that he’s with the Arrow McLaren Indycar team?
The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is arguably the second biggest race on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES schedule. Now entering its 48th running, America’s oldest street race trails only the Indianapolis 500 in longevity and prestige.
Native Californian Alexander Rossi is excited to return to Long Beach not just because he’ll be racing in front on family and friends. He’s also eager get back to a track where he’s enjoyed success, winning the pole and the race in both 2018 and 2019 for Andretti Autosport.
“Yeah, man. I say it all the time, outside the Indy 500 I think this is one of our flagship races if not the flagship race. It's always such an amazing event from not only an entertainment on-and-off-the-track standpoint but a turnout standpoint. The fans there are passionate, they're incredibly knowledgeable about the sport, there's obviously a huge amount of history that exists with that city and that track.
“Jim Michaelian and his whole group do an amazing job for us every year. Real excited to get back there. As you mentioned, we've had some success there in the past. With the new team and the momentum that the Arrow McLaren group has at the moment, we're very much looking forward to the weekend.”
In addition to the huge fan turnout, there’s the glitz and glamour that surrounds the entire race weekend at Long Beach. According to Rossi, it has a vibe and energy that stands as an example to other street circuits on the schedule.
“Yeah, 100% right. It's an awesome event. It's one of those ones where you feel kind of like a Super Hero when you get to go do driver introductions. It's annoying sometimes how busy pit lane is, but that's just a testament to the excitement and energy that exists at that track.
“It's certainly one that we try and model as many of our street courses after it. I think St. Pete comes close. Nashville comes close. I think Detroit this year is going to be phenomenal.
“Yes, the pedigree it has in terms of its history, just the location, all of the extracurricular activities that you can find throughout the weekend just makes it pretty unique.”
After seven years with Andretti Autosport, Rossi joined the Arrow McLaren at the end of last season. Now that he’s done a couple of races with McLaren, how does Rossi feel as he settles into his new surroundings?
“Yeah, I mean, for sure we're two races, but also only two races, right? It's still early days.
“I think the entire atmosphere and the positivity within the team is obvious from the outside. I think the cohesiveness that they were able to keep and also the continuity of adding a third car, the people we've talked about many times, it's a testament to everyone there from the top all the way to the bottom.
“It's a real privilege and joy to be part of that team every single week. I think we're only going to get stronger as time goes on.”
Rossi got off to a good start with his new team at the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, finishing just off the podium in fourth after starting twelfth. While both St. Pete and Long Beach are street circuits, Rossi says they’re different in terms of set-up and how they race.
“They are different. I think St. Pete's borderline getting to the point where it's almost a road course, it's so smooth and the grip level is what it is. I think you definitely take a little bit of a different approach there than you do other street courses.
“Yeah, there are obviously some similarities. I think as a whole, obviously I didn't drive the car last year, but I think the team has taken a step forward in terms of the street course program. I think Chevrolet has made monumental steps, especially coming from 2021, their evolution of '22, then again a step this year.
“I think it's going to be the normal competitive obviously qualifying and race. I think your normal participants are going to be fighting for pole. It's going to take perfect execution from everyone and exciting to see how it shakes out.”
Photo courtesy of INDYCAR.
Rossi’s two wins at Long Beach came with Honda power at Andretti Autosport. Now that he’s with McLaren and Chevrolet, Rossi noticed in spring training at the Thermal Club and the season-opening race at St. Petersburg that there are some subtle differences between the two engines.
“I mean, again, I can't speak for what it was like. I think they had a huge focus on the bottom-end drivability side of things. Even when it was a challenge, they were still obviously very successful. Even when it was difficult in '21, they were still winning races.
“Again, it's very hard to have that big of a difference when the engine architecture is similar or the same, and the rules have been around for so long, everyone kind of follows to the same point.
“But, yes, there are still subtle differences. It's kind of about maximizing the strengths and weaknesses of each engine, right? Honda might go about that a different way than Chevy does. For us as drivers, me making the transition from one to the other, you've got to understand the areas that the Chevy is working in a better range, and you got to focus on those areas to make sure you maximize the performance available.”
Although there’s always an exception, history has shown that qualifying near the front of the field has been important at Long Beach. Rossi’s two wins there came after winning the pole. That makes qualifying at Long Beach one of the most important sessions of the year.
“Yeah, I mean, for sure. I think you're right: every qualifying is very critical, but especially Long Beach because the way it works out, it's a two-stop race, pretty straightforward two-stop race.
“There's not many yellows. It's a pretty clean race, historically speaking. The leader doesn't really get hung out by a close pit situation type of thing.
“Yeah, I mean, it's very important to start in the top two or three I think if you're going to want to try to win that race.”
While the qualifying sessions may be nail biters, the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is a straight forward two pit stop race. That may appeal to some drivers, but Rossi would like to see the race lengthened in order to provide teams with strategy options.
“I kind of am of the opinion that we could make Long Beach a little bit longer so you have the two options. Some of our best races are when you have guys on a fuel save two-stop, other guys on a flat-out three-stop race trying to make up that pit lane difference.
“It's been this length for a long time. It's put on some great shows. Colton, I think it was '21 or '20, where he started 14th and ended up winning, no yellows to help him.
If you have a strong car, like always in INDYCAR, you can usually have a pretty good result. But yes, in the perfect world we'd probably extend it a little bit, but that's for people that are paid more than me, so we'll leave it to them.”
Given the closeness of the competition in INDYCAR these days, every little detail matters. That includes pit selection. Rossi was knocked out of the most recent race at Texas Motor Speedway after colliding with Kyle Kirkwood while exiting his pit following his first stop of the day. Rossi says where your pit is located matters more than just on race day.
“Yeah, I mean, it really depends on the track. For example, Long Beach, you want to be towards the front. I assume everyone knows, but if you don't know, it goes in order of qualifying. For example, Felix got to pick first at Long Beach based on Texas, then down the qualifying order.
“For Long Beach it's important to be in the front in terms of pit selection just so that when you're leaving to go to practice, qualifying sims, whatever, you have as much clear track in front of you as possible.
“For the ovals it's a pretty big advantage to have an open in just because of the way the cross weight is set up, you can carry more speed into the pit box. On a track where we have a lot of cars and a small pit lane, at Mid-Ohio or Toronto, an open in or open out is kind of the preferred choice. You'll see guys, even if they qualify third, they'll choose the 15th box because it's an open in or open out.
“Indy is a little bit similar, but there's the added superstition that goes into that. There's metrics that are run on these pit boxes historically have been the most successful. There's really no rhyme or reason to it other than odds. That's kind of what goes into it.
“It's a little bit of everything.”
With his DNF at Texas, Rossi dropped to ninth in the season standings. Given the performance Rossi and his teammates Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist have show this season, how important would a win be at Long Beach, where he’s he’s won twice before, to get himself back in the championship mix?
“Yeah, I mean, every race is important. But, yes, obviously you highlight the tracks that you've been historically good at, either for yourself or team perspective. It was a missed opportunity for two of the cars in Texas with very fast race cars not ending up getting a result.
“I think you're correct in saying that the program that the team has this year and the performance of the cars has been really strong through the first two races. There's no reason to not think that that won't continue.
“Yeah, we're excited about Long Beach. We feel very confident in what we have, what we can do there. It's just about hoping a couple things go your way and you can come out of there with a strong result.”
After flexing his muscles as King of the Beach twice with Andretti, can Rossi do it again with McLaren?
“We're still learning as we go at this point. Yeah, I mean, I think based on St. Pete, I think based on the fact that I think Felix was in the top six in qualifying last year, their cars are good.
“Certainly there is a step we need to make to be as strong as Andretti or Penske I think on the street courses in general. But I think we're close. I think we have just as good of a shot as anyone this weekend.”