"It's bullsh*t": Alexander Rossi accuses IndyCar of facilitating unfair advantage to Chip Ganassi Racing

Ed Carpenter Racing’s Alexander Rossi was featured in the latest episode of the Off Track with Hinch and Rossi podcast, where he called out IndyCar’s rules and regulations, and said it facilitated an unfair advantage to CGR. The IndyCar driver pointed at Chip Ganassi Racing’s alliance with Meyer Shank Racing, and how the test at Barber Motorsport revealed the unfair advantage.

Meyer Shank Racing ended its long-term technical partnership with Andretti Global at the end of the 2024 IndyCar season and signed with the championship-winning team Chip Ganassi Racing. The technical alliance between CGR and MSR is similar to the one between Red Bull and VCARB in F1.

As per the technical alliance, CGR will be providing the engineers, and sharing the technical data and the MSR driver will attend the debriefing sessions with Chip Ganassi Racing. The data sharing between the teams is what Alexander Rossi pointed out as an unfair advantage.

Meyer Shank Racing ran at the Barber Motorsport Park IndyCar test whereas Chip Ganassi Racing did not. However, the technical alliance means CGR got all the data from the test, and will still be able to participate in the future test at Indy, while the teams who ran at Barber already gave up a portion of their test time.

“So everyone is testing minus (Chip) Ganassi, Andretti (Global) and Juncos (Hollinger Racing). But Ganassi's kind of testing because Meyer Shank's here. You kind of got to split that up and almost. Ed and I were talking about this and it's like that should not be allowed. Or if it is allowed, then team should have the ability to like, 'We're going to send Christian (Rasmussen) to Barber and Alex (Rossi) to the Indy GP next week'. You should be able to split up drivers,” Alexander Rossi said (27:15 onwards)

“It's kind of bullsh*t, like Ganassi's getting completely extra day,” he added

“Well then again, if you did it that way, then every Ganassi driver could get a day. So they could test at three tracks instead of two,” James Hinchcliffe responded

“So you need to eliminate. If Shank's going, Ganassi has to go,” Rossi replied.

Alexander Rossi then mentioned how Team Penske and AJ Foyt Racing also have an alliance, yet both were present at the test.

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“Lays the foundation for future manufacturers”: Alexander Rossi hails IndyCar's switch to hybrid power units

F1 introduced the hybrid power trains in 2014 which attracted Honda to join as an engine manufacturer. Even when the Japanese manufacturer decided to quit in the early 2020s, the new engine regulations for 2026 pushed them to make a comeback since the electric capacity of the power units is getting a significant boost. Even Ford partnered with RBPT because of the same.

AUTO: MAR 02 INDYCAR Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Source: Getty

IndyCar on the other hand, was late to the party and only introduced hybrid power trains midway through 2024. Nonetheless, Alexander Rossi hailed the move made by the series and detailed how it laid a foundation for more manufacturers to join in the future.

“The biggest thing is, I truly believe this, this isn’t a marketing PR line, it lays the foundation for future manufacturers to come into the sport. It’s no secret that the car market, the automotive market, the world market, in terms of automobiles has changed over the past decade,” Alexander Rossi said (via motorsportweek).

“With the current format of engine that we have, it also makes perfect sense that a manufacturer wouldn’t want to necessarily come in and try and catch up to 10-plus years of development of an existing power train, right?” he added.

Honda was rumored to leave the IndyCar project but with the introduction of the hybrid system, has decided to continue in the American open-wheel racing series.