Rossi positive about progress and about IndyCar

Although the largely European-trained Californian was perceived to have taken a gap year from his pursuit of a Formula 1 ride by racing for Andretti-Herta Autosport in 2016, he says he has been impressed with the IndyCar scene and its challenges. And he denies his views have been colored by his shock win in the 100^th running of the Indianapolis 500.

He told Motorsport.com: “Even prior to the Month of May, I enjoyed the Verizon IndyCar Series a lot more than I thought I would. I’ve enjoyed working with this team, I’ve enjoyed working with my teammates and getting to know all the drivers.

“There are some tracks I don’t like, but there have been a lot of positive things that I literally wasn’t aware of prior to February this year. I love to drive these cars; they’re great fun.

“I admit it was a bigger adaptation than I initially expected, in terms of how to drive the car. There are always areas to improve, no doubt, but I’m learning every single time I get in the car. And I think I’ve figured it out and now we can focus on developing it and moving further forward.”

Regarding his own performance, he says that using one of his teammates, 2012 IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, as his barometer of competitiveness has been useful.

“[Last weekend’s race at] Mid-Ohio was good because it was the first time we’d shown that when Ryan’s competitive, we can match him in terms of lap times. The fact it took two sets of tires for me to do it hurt my further progression in qualifying so that’s something I definitely need to work on in terms of understanding the reds more.

“But it was positive to be on pace with him around a track that’s really good for Ryan, and being ahead of our other teammates all weekend. It’s really the first time I’ve been able to do that when the cars have been relatively competitive. It’s obviously less important at times when you’re 17^th and the others are 18^th, 19^th and 20^th because it doesn’t really matter because no one cares!

“So I think last weekend was a sign of a step forward and we need to do that again at Watkins Glen and Sonoma. On the ovals we’ve been strong, and I’ve been the top-finishing Andretti car on two of them now, so that’s good.”  

Team and Honda struggles haven’t hurt

Rossi said that HPD’s difficulties with drag in the road/street/short-oval kit and Andretti Autosport’s vain search for mechanical grip on street tracks have not damaged how he is perceived, talent-wise.

He remarked. “I don’t think that the struggles we’ve had this year have hurt me or my reputation in any way. I mean, from the outsider’s perspective they can see the whole organization has struggled on certain tracks so it’s not something that has damaged me. If there was a car that was always at the front and I wasn’t getting in the top 10, then that would be an issue.

“But from an internal perspective, none of us are happy. No one is content with how it’s gone, when you look at the season. So we’ve all put ourselves under a lot of pressure to make it right before the end of the year.

“From my perspective, I’m trying very hard to finish as top Honda. That’s attainable for us and we’re only 13 points out of that position, and that is our goal for the end of the year.

“I suppose you could say I expected a lot more from myself from a results-on-paper standpoint,” he said of a season that has seen Rossi score just one top-six finish outside of Indy. “Some of that is out of my control, some of it is in my control.

“But as a group, we’re all trying to figure out how to make the whole team faster.”