Alexander Rossi reveals inside details of McLaren's 'brand image' rules for them to publicly admonish Nolan Siegel for radio controversy

Alexander Rossi has explained why Arrow McLaren issued a public statement to reprimand Nolan Siegel after their team radio controversy in the IndyCar race at WWTR. Rossi drove for McLaren for two years in the series before moving to Ed Carpenter Racing for 2025 and beyond.

He spoke about Siegel's X-rated team radio rant against Team Penske at WWTR on a recent episode of the Off Track with Hinch and Rossi podcast. Co-host James Hinchliffe highlighted how Arrow McLaren forcing an apology out of Siegel with a public statement about the situation was "over the top". He also emphasized how the team should've had their driver's back.

Alexander Rossi politely disagreed with Hinchcliffe in this particular scenario, knowing how strictly Arrow McLaren takes its 'brand image', especially concerning team radio communication.

"Each year, there's an entire... several hours set aside for communications and media training, if you will, with reminders and things. One of the very first things is 'We are very concerned about how you express yourself on the radio'. So that is a McLaren brand image thing," Rossi said [7:08 onwards].

The 2016 Indy 500 winner highlighted the weight the British team gives to those guidelines by touching upon Theo Pourchaire's example. Pourchaire was with the team for only six races in the 2024 season. He subbed in for an injured David Malukas for five races in the first half and an injured Alexander Rossi for one race in the second half.

"I'm not saying that I agree with it, but what I am saying is all drivers, even Teddy Porkchops (a nickname given to Theo Pourchaire), when he came for a little bit, was made aware of how they feel about these certain things."

Nolan Siegel's team radio rant against Team Penske stemmed from IndyCar giving him a drive-through penalty. The cause of the penalty was his aggressive defense to avoid getting lapped by race leader Scott McLaughlin.

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Alexander Rossi admits Arrow McLaren's public statement worsened Nolan Siegel's situation

Nolan Siegel at the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 - Source: Getty

Arrow McLaren issued a statement condemning Nolan Siegel's conduct on Wednesday (June 18), three days after the race weekend at WWTR. Clips of the 20-year-old driver's team radio comms had gone viral some time after the race on Sunday.

Though Alexander Rossi understood the reasoning behind the team's statement, he highlighted how it added fuel to the fire. The Ed Carpenter Racing driver said (via the aforementioned podcast):

"Maybe still do it (reprimand) behind closed doors. Like, 'Hey, we've talked about this. Don't do that.' The public statement thing with the apology, I do think that that honestly drew more attention to it than what it was." [7:56 onwards]

The 33-year-old parted ways with Arrow McLaren because they couldn't come to a middle ground over his contract extension. It was strictly 'business-related' negotiations, as he revealed to Motorsport last year.

Alexander Rossi is having a decent first season with ECR. He has scored four Top 10 finishes in nine races and suffered only one DNF, a costly one at the 109th Indy 500.

Edited by Luke Koshi