Alexander Rossi defends Santino Ferrucci against IndyCar penalty that was "identical" to his 2022 Indy GP with Andretti

Alexander Rossi has defended Santino Ferrucci, and the decision of him keeping his second-place finish at the Detroit Grand Prix, claiming that the driver did not have any performance advantage as a result of his technical infringement. The American also claimed the situation was "identical" to the one he witnessed during the 2022 Indy GP, which was his last victory with Andretti.

Santino Ferrucci was penalized following the Detroit GP, after his combined weight with ballast was found to be 1.8 pounds under the required 185-pound limit, exceeding the one-pound tolerance. As a result, the entrants were fined $25,000, lost 25 championship points in both championships, forfeited an extra point for leading a lap, and gave up both Chevy’s engine points and all prize money from the race.

Despite this, Ferrucci was not disqualified and kept his P2 finish, because his car still met the minimum overall weight of 1785 pounds per IndyCar rules. This has led to some backlash from fans on social media, amid which Alexander Rossi has come out in defence of Ferrucci and the decision.

Speaking on his podcast, Off Track with Hinch and Rossi, on Wednesday, Rossi mentioned that Ferrucci did not gain any competitive advantage due to the infringement, and even compared the situation with the one he witnessed after the 2022 Indy GP. [3:40 onwards]

"It was very similar to the penalty that I had in 2022, Indy GP, where we won the race, rolled across the tech scales, we were over the minimum weight, combined weight, but they pulled out the water bag, which I had in the car the entire race, and the car fell under."

"Technically the water bag cannot be used as ballast, even though it was something that was inside the car the entire race....identical to Santino," he added.

Alexander Rossi's entry was similarly fined $25,000, and 20 points were deducted in the driver and entrant championships, but he was allowed to keep his race victory.

---

Alexander Rossi explains why Santino Ferrucci’s Detroit penalty wasn’t as harsh as Indy 500 punishments

Alexander Rossi during Indy 500 Practice - Source: Getty

Alexander Rossi explained that Santino Ferrucci's penalty was not as harsh as the one given out during the Indy 500, as it was down to human error, rather than an illegal modification. Josef Newgarden and Will Power were penalized pre-qualifying, and Marcus Ericsson, Kyle Kirkwood, and Callum Ilott were all stripped of their race results after the conclusion of the race at the IMS.

Rossi's co-host on the podcast, James Hinchcliffe, mentioned that the penalties given at the Indy 500 were given due to an illegal modification to the car, rather than a simple human error, like in the case of Ferrucci. Rossi reiterated the same.

"I think, as much as 'malicious' is an unfair word, I think two can be viewed as intent, to live in the gray area, or to break a rule, or to try and be clever, or whatever. And the other one is purely a human error, or like you said, an oversight sort of thing," said Rossi. [6:30 onwards]

Rossi also reiterated that he was purely speculating, based on previous precedent set in the series. The 33-year-old mentioned that he would like IndyCar to provide more clarity on such issues, explaining the rationale behind such decisions to the fans and drivers.