Arrow McLaren SP confirms signing of Alexander Rossi on multi-year deal starting in 2023

IndyCar's worst-kept secret isn't a secret anymore. One day after Alexander Rossi's current team, Andretti Autosport, announced his imminent departure at the end of this IndyCar season, his future home, Arrow McLaren SP, formally welcomed the 30-year-old American driver to its expanding three-car program for 2023 and beyond. According to a release, Rossi has signed a multi-year deal with the team that last week announced a new contract for Rossi's new teammate Pato O'Ward through 2025.

"Alex is a proven race-winner and an Indianapolis 500 champion who shares our desire to win," said McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown in a release. "It is essential that we put the right talent in place, both inside and outside the car, so we can consistently compete for championships and race wins as a team. He is someone we have had our eye on for some time, and we're excited to see what he'll do as a part of Arrow McLaren SP."

Thursday's announcement marks the final step in a months' long saga involving Rossi and Andretti, the team he spent all seven seasons of his post-F1 career with and won seven times. The 2016 Indy 500 winner and his No. 27 Honda team performed at a championship-contender level in 2018 (2nd) and 2019 (3rd), helping cement his decision to sign a new three-year deal to stay with Andretti Autosport through 2022.

Since the announcement of that deal at Mid-Ohio in July 2019, Rossi has been winless in more than 40 IndyCar starts, placing him 9th in the championship in 2020 and 10th in 2021. His IndyCar career since then has been filled with close calls on the podium, a few strategy gambles, mechanical failures, mistakes in pitlane, freak accidents he had no involvement in and a few on-track errors on his part. It's combined to produce one of the most surprising drops in results over a few years in the sport's recent history.

More on Rossi's contract journey:

• Insider: Rossi's future with Andretti grows murkier with end of contract

• Insider: Andretti seeks change in struggling IndyCar team, hopeful F1 venture

• Insider: Here's why I expect Alexander Rossi to land with AMSP for 2023

• Alexander Rossi on IndyCar future: 'Everything for next year has been settled'

It's believed Rossi held a driver option for the 2023 season to stay with Andretti, which he declined this past offseason, and when reporters asked Michael Andretti about his possible future with Rossi in February at St. Pete, the team owner made clear it was a topic he didn't want to discuss, noting that Rossi's contract technically didn't allow him to speak to other teams at that time, but that Andretti had allowed him to do so. In April at Long Beach, Andretti's tone completely changed, perhaps not coincidentally after rumors began swirling around the paddock that Rossi had already signed a deal with AMSP, still with more than six weeks before his sponsors' biggest day of the year: the Indy 500.

Andretti said then he hoped Rossi would be back, and that that chance still existed, but added it may be best if both parted ways. Three weeks later, IndyStar reported that Andretti had signed Rossi's replacement Kyle Kirkwood for a deal to jump on board in 2023, all but cementing the news that was formally announced this week.

In Miami, Rossi told IndyStar he'd settled his future plans, though he couldn't divulge them at the time. Among the most important factors in his decision, he said, was the ability to compete for a championship and his next team's attention to detail. Though AMSP hasn't been able to deliver the same results on its No. 7 car with Felix Rosenqvist, O'Ward has been in the championship fight each of his two years with the team, finishing just behind his Andretti rival Colton Herta in 2020 (3rd vs. 4th). In 2021, O'Ward stood 2nd coming into the finale and ultimately finished 3rd, while Herta took 5th. Clearly, on a new team, Rossi believes he can match those results in a way he wasn't able to with Andretti.

"I think IndyCar now has become such a game of minute details. Having a fast car is half the battle, but you've got to be in a place where you feel that the small details are all being looked at and adding up to give you the best opportunity every single weekend," Rossi told IndyStar. "You have to have good equipment -- obviously, that's priority No. 1. But then beyond that, it's all about being able to go out every single weekend and having your ducks in a row and being able to execute on the very small details. That's what adds these tenths-of-seconds that make or break these race weekends and championship runs."

Email IndyStar motor sports reporter Nathan Brown at nlbrown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @By_NathanBrown.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar: Arrow McLaren SP signs Alexander Rossi to multi-year deal