Alexander Rossi was in a slight state of bewilderment after learning he’s about to embark on his sixth season as an NTT IndyCar Series driver.
As a 24-year-old rookie in 2016, Rossi was at the leading edge of IndyCar’s next-generation talent, but now, at 29, he’s become part of the establishment — expected to win and vie for championships. And he’s not entirely sure how to process the realization.
“It sucks… it means I’m getting old!” he said with a laugh. “It’s weird because IndyCar still feels new to me in a lot of ways. I don’t know why, I guess it’s because IndyCar seasons are pretty condensed, right? It doesn’t feel like you’ve been doing it that long because there’s such big off-seasons. Whereas in Europe, you start in March and you go all the way through to November and then testing is immediately right after in January.