By Lenny Sundahl
Alexander Rossi survived the carnage of the St. Petersburg Grand Prix to put together a top-5 finish, and after the race said the best is yet to come. “I think we’re only going to get stronger as we spend more time. Today was our fifth day working together. It’s only going to continue to evolve and I have a great group of guys and girls around me and really proud to be a part of this organization and can’t wait to continue to improve upon our weaknesses.”
Photo: IndyCar
The team worked quickly despite the lack of time to gel together, and Rossi credited them with improving on a flat qualifying performance relative to the rest of the Arrow McLaren team. Starting 12th compared to Pato O’Ward’s fourth and Felix Rosenqvist’s eighth, admitting that the car “missed a little bit of ultimate pace”.
“Where we came from on Friday, the whole McLaren organization did an amazing job to bounce back from that. Really that’s the first time I’ve used this car in any sort of long running race conditions, fuel save or whatever. A lot of information to take away from here and certainly looking forward to this little gap to reset ourselves.”
On Rossi’s part, his race on the track was clean and mostly uneventful, and he only cited the restart on lap 42, with some close racing between himself and Colton Herta in the difficult turn 2-3 complex that claimed multiple drivers over the course of the race. “I think we all knew it was going to be a little chaotic based on practice and qualifying. Ultimately that was the only drama and the rest was just about taking off the laps and understanding the car as it evolved.”
photo: Indycar
With two top-5s from three cars at St. Petersburg, McLaren–and Rossi–will look forward to Texas with confidence in their progress. Arrow McLaren took five top-5 finishes on ovals last season, including a win for O’Ward at Iowa and two top-4 finishes at Indianapolis. Rossi, who finished fifth at the 500 last season, has his sights set high: “Texas is a place the team has always been really good at. I can’t wait to get there and put on a show for everyone.”
