Rossi confirmed at Arrow McLaren SP in multi-year deal

The news follows yesterday’s confirmation that Rossi has decided to leave Andretti Autosport, his home for seven seasons, and will be replaced by Kyle Kirkwood.

Rossi told Motorsport.com two weeks ago, “It’s all about the championship, for me,” and said there were just three teams currently capable of winning the title. When asked if one of those was his current employer, Andretti Autosport, he replied, “We haven’t been for a long time. Just look at the stats.”

Nonetheless, Rossi heads to Arrow McLaren SP with seven wins – including the 2016 Indy 500 – and six poles to his name, and having twice finished a season in the top three of the championship.

He said: “First, I want to thank everyone at Andretti Autosport for an incredible seven years. It has been a great ride with an awesome team, and it has been an honor to race for the Andretti name and for Michael for so long.

“The time has come for a new challenge, with a team that is growing in the sport. I look forward to contributing to the development of Arrow McLaren SP and helping them reach the top. I see the commitment this team has to each other and to me, and I’m looking forward to getting started. It’s time for me to race for another one of motorsport’s biggest names: McLaren.”

Taylor Kiel, AMSP president stated: “As we look forward to 2023, we are looking for a driver that will be a great fit and bring experience to the team. Alex is a driver who knows what it takes to succeed in this sport and will strengthen our talented driver line-up. He shares the same winning mindset that I see every day across Arrow McLaren SP and I think we will find a lot of success together in the years to come.”

“Alex is a proven race winner and an Indianapolis 500 champion, who shares our desire to win,” said McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown. “It is essential that we put the right talent in place, both inside and outside the car, so we can consistently compete for championships and race wins as a team.

“He is someone we have had our eye on for some time and we’re excited to see what he’ll do as a part of Arrow McLaren SP.”

Arrow McLaren SP will run three cars in 2023, and it has not yet confirmed (publicly) whether Rossi is the team’s third driver to supplement Pato O’Ward – confirmed with the team through 2025  – and Felix Rosenqvist, or whether Rossi is replacing Rosenqvist in the #7 AMSP-Chevrolet, and a third driver has not yet been nominated.

Rosenqvist’s form has improved since August last year, to where he now looks like the driver who won in all-but-one category he’s ever raced in, and in terms of pace, a match for O’Ward on most weekends. Continued form such as this would likely see team owners Brown, Kiel, Sam Schmidt and Ric Peterson content to go into 2023 with an O’Ward-Rosenqvist-Rossi line-up.