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Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach 2019: 3 IndyCar takeaways

By Brittany Frederick

Alexander Rossi celebrates after winning the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Photo Credit: Shawn Gritzmacher/Courtesy of IndyCar.
Alexander Rossi celebrates after winning the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Photo Credit: Shawn Gritzmacher/Courtesy of IndyCar. /
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What can IndyCar fans learn from the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach? Here are takeaways from the fourth race of the 2019 IndyCar season.

With the 2019 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in the rear view mirror, NTT IndyCar Series fans have quite a bit to digest. The event formerly known as the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach may not have been particularly complicated, but there’s still a lot to unpack.

Alexander Rossi finally got his first win of the 2019 IndyCar season, and he did so in in an almost perfect way. The No. 26 Andretti Autosport driver led all but five of the race’s 85 laps on Sunday, while also capturing the pole position.

Not only did he win, but Rossi’s margin of victory was the largest at Long Beach since Al Unser Jr. in 1995.

While the California native was the clear man of the hour, there were other stories throughout the field from the week in IndyCar. Long Beach was the last race before the month of May, with teams wanting to finish strong before preparing for the busiest and most important part of the season.

It worked out for some teams, and not so much for others.

Whether it was Rossi’s dominating victory or the controversy surrounding Graham Rahal and the blocking penalty, there are several different talking points to take away from the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

IndyCar
INDYCAR Acura GP of Long Beach. Photo Credit: Stephen King/Courtesy of IndyCar. /

Alexander Rossi is a future IndyCar champion

It’s only a matter of time before Alexander Rossi wins an IndyCar title. It may very well happen this year, as his Long Beach victory moved him to second in the championship standings behind Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden.

But if it doesn’t take place in 2019, Rossi will be holding the Astor Cup within the next two years.

He’s that good of a driver, and more importantly, he’s that good of an IndyCar driver. Coming over from Formula 1, Rossi didn’t just rest on his laurels and assume that he was going to slide right in to America’s open-wheel series.

He’s adapted exceptionally well to what it takes to win here—an even more impressive feat when one considers the level of his competition. It’s not easy to hang in with drivers of this caliber, yet in relatively short order, Alexander Rossi has become one of the top contenders.

Rossi is delightfully aggressive, which makes him a lot of fun to watch; he’s willing to take risks and drive on the edge if he has to. But he’s also got great resources behind him with the Andretti organization, too.

That combination of courage and the proper tools is a surefire path to success, especially since we’re moving closer to the Indianapolis 500, which Andretti Autosport has a long track record of dominating. It would be no shock at all if Rossi adds a second Indy 500 win to his growing resume.