Alexander Rossi guns for Indy 500 victory after labelling 2019 "the one that got away"

Indy 500

Rossi guns for Indy 500 victory after labelling 2019 "the one that got away"

Rossi competed briefly for Manor in 2015

Sam Hall

Sunday 23 August 2020 16:39

Alexander Rossi is hoping to go one better than 2019 by turning second into a victory at the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500.

The most recent American driver to compete in Formula 1, competing five times for Manor in 2015, Rossi is aiming to take his second victory in the Indy 500 after finishing second to Simon Pagenaud last time around.

Asked by NBC if last year's loss was the one that hurt the most across his career, Rossi replied: “Yeah.

Because I think about last year more than I think about 2016. What could I have done differently?

“You watch the last stint back and it’s like ‘was that it, was that too conservative, could I have seen that coming?’.

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“In hindsight yeah, there are a lot of things I look at and would have done differently, but in the moment I did the things I thought they were the best. But that sticks with me more than the one I won because it feels like the one that got away.”

Rossi had been trading blows with the eventual winner in the closing stages, but the two were only together on the track due to a refuelling problem on Rossi's car.

He explained this is something that is strangely common for him at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Rossi said: “Me and IMS have a weird relationship with putting fuel in race cars during pitstops. Three of the last four years we’ve had an issue with it. Once it worked out really well for us.

“So last year it was just a trigger for me. We had a great car and this place doesn’t owe you anything. You can have five years of success here and come back for number six and be struggling, so you have to appreciate the days when you have a car that is capable of winning.

“Last year, we had a car that was capable of winning and came in from the lead and had a fuelling problem. The for me it was kind of a switch flipped.”

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