Alexander Rossi looks to leave Andretti on a high note

The 2016 Indy 500 winner will wrap up his seventh and final season with Andretti Autosport next week, moving to Arrow McLaren SP next season

PORTLAND, Oregon – The final two races of the 2022 IndyCar schedule will be bittersweet for Alexander Rossi.

After seven seasons together, Rossi and Andretti Autosport are parting ways.

Since 2016, the former F1 driver has called the blue and yellow NAPA Honda his home. But come 2023, he’ll be driving a papaya orange and light blue car for Arrow McLaren SP.

Perhaps the move was overdue. Until he won the GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis road course, Rossi was stuck in a massive 49-race winless streak. Before that, his last win came at Road America in the summer of 2019.

Still, Rossi came close a few times. And he certainly will want to end his tenure with Andretti on a high note before moving to the rapidly-expending McLaren team.

Like other drivers, Rossi takes things day-by-day and race-by-race. But he did admit that there will be a bittersweet feeling lingering over him this weekend at Portland and at next weekend’s season finale at Laguna Seca.

“There’s people, relationships and friendships that I’ll miss,” Rossi said. “But we’re going our separate ways and this is a change that I knew was coming for a while.”

When asked what his favorite memory with Andretti was, Rossi’s answer was obvious: winning the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie in 2016.

Besides his phenomenal win at Indy, Rossi restated that some of his fondest memories at Andretti came from the relationships he built with the team.

“Those special relationships I’ve made are something that I’ll keep with me forever,” Rossi said.

During his tenure with Andretti, Rossi also gave advice to up-and-coming teammates, notably Colton Herta. Ironically enough, Herta may very well be the first American driver since Rossi to compete in Formula One soon.

“I’ve received a lot of advice coming into IndyCar from him,” Herta said of Rossi. “The biggest thing is the [Indianapolis Motor] Speedway. There’s so much to know about it. Early on in my IndyCar career, (Rossi) and Ryan Hunter-Reay really helped me out.

“Going to the Speedway and having these questions. Even in a general weekend, having questions. They’ve been in the series so long that they’ve been through every situation that I’ve had to go through, so it helps.”

Perhaps Rossi could give no better goodbye to Andretti than by winning one of the final two races of the season. The stats would certainly be on his side this weekend at Portland.

In three starts at Portland, Rossi has two podiums, including finishing second in last year’s race.

“We’ve been in a position to win this race a couple of times,” Rossi said. “We’ve always qualified well and the car has been good. The test we had last week was positive. We've got to start up front, but if we do that I think we got a shot.”