Alexander Rossi, the winner of the centenary Indy 500 in 2016, expressed his annoyance about the lap 101 restart in this year’s race. Rossi, who finished in fifth position in his first start with McLaren, was passed by Marcus Ericsson and Rinus VeeKay around the outside of Turn 4. It gave Ericsson a run into Turn 1 where he passed both Penskes of Will Power and Josef Newgarden. Rossi believes that IndyCar needs to look into the jump starts as he felt that Marcus had a huge one. He added that people were getting away with some pretty crazy restarts creating chaos, which was not ideal.
Controversial Decision to Red Flag Race
Rossi had less issue with the controversial decision to red flag the race for a green-white-chequered flag finish. He acknowledged that there were arguments on both sides and that it did not affect them as they were restarting in fourth place. However, he had never seen a leave pitlane to a white flag before.
Missed Opportunity for McLaren
McLaren lost its strongest entries when both Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist were taken out by crashes inside the final 15 laps. Rossi was its best-placed driver in fifth, while Tony Kanaan was on the lead lap in 16th in the final race of his IndyCar career. Rossi admitted that Arrow McLaren had three cars to beat, and it was frustrating to come away with a fifth when their cars were that good. The team was annoyed and disappointed to miss an opportunity, but they would try to learn from it and move on.
Rossi was grateful for the cars that they had, and it was amazing for Team Chevy to have the win. It was an amazing showing from the team all month, and they would take the positives from what they accomplished this month and move forward to Detroit. The drivers would look into their mistakes and try to improve in the next race.
Rossi expressed his frustration over the restarts and the missed opportunity for McLaren. He believes that IndyCar needs to look into the jump starts and that people were getting away with some pretty crazy restarts creating chaos. Though he had less issue with the controversial decision to red flag the race, he had never seen a leave pitlane to a white flag before. McLaren lost its strongest entries in the final 15 laps, but Rossi was grateful for the cars they had and the team’s amazing showing in the month. They would take the positives and move forward to Detroit, trying to learn from their mistakes and do better in the next race.
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