The 2022 Indianapolis 500 was won by Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, who beat Chip Ganassi Racing driver Marcus Ericsson by 0.0974 seconds. Although Ericsson led Newgarden to the green flag for a green-white-checkered finish, Newgarden got a run to pass him on the backstretch into Turn 3, which proved to be the decisive move.
Ericsson, who led for 30 laps in his bid to score back-to-back Indy 500 wins, thinks there was nothing else he could have done differently – having grabbed the lead from Newgarden just before the final red flag for a multi-car crash.
“I feel disappointed because I thought we did everything right,” he said. “I think we did an awesome race, I had a great car and race strategy and pitstops, some good restarts. I tried to catch Josef by surprise going early and it worked. After he passed me, I tried to get a run back on him, but it wasn’t enough unfortunately. He did his job well.”
The Restart
Ericsson did not agree with the decision to restart the race straight out of the pits with no time for a full warmup lap. He believed that it was an unfair and dangerous end to the race as the drivers could not get their tires up to temperature.
“We’ve never done a restart straight out of the pits. We don’t get the tires up to temperature,” he said. “I think it was a tough way to end the race, I don’t really agree with how they did that. I don’t think there was enough laps left to do what we did, I don’t think it’s safe to go out of the pits on cold tires for a restart when half the field is trying to get out on track as we come to green. I don’t think that’s a fair or right way to end a race. I don’t agree with it.”
Ericsson also said it was tough to bring the field to the green without the risk of being passed immediately. He added that the cars with the aero spec they had this month made it really hard to lead, so it was almost impossible to keep the lead for the last restart.
The Outcome
Despite feeling disappointed in the outcome of the race, Ericsson praised his team for their efforts. He thought they had a great race strategy and pitstops, and he tried his best to catch Newgarden by surprise with an early move. Although he was able to keep the lead into Turn 1 after the last restart, it wasn’t enough to secure a win.
“I think I did an awesome last restart and caught Josef completely off guard and by surprise, kept the lead into one, but I just couldn’t hold it after that – it wasn’t enough so it’s hard to swallow,” he said.
Ericsson expressed his disappointment with the decision to restart the race straight out of the pits with no time for a full warmup lap. Despite leading for 30 laps, he was unable to secure a win against Newgarden. Ericsson praised his team for their efforts and tried his best to catch Newgarden by surprise with an early move, but it wasn’t enough to secure a win.
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