Marcus Ericsson was left fuming after narrowly missing his chance to score a second consecutive victory in the Indianapolis 500.
The Indy 500 was red-flagged a total of three times, the last of which necessitated a one-lap sprint following just one formation lap out of the pits. Ericsson led that restart, but was passed by Josef Newgarden on the final tour.
“I just thought it was an unfair and dangerous end to the race,” Ericsson said after the race came down to a one-lap sprint after a crash with four laps remaining.
A multi-car accident involving the Benjamin Pedersen and Ed Carpenter set up the last restart. Ericsson had taken the lead after a previous restart.
“I don’t think there was enough laps to go when the yellow came, so I think it should have finished under yellow,” he said.
“We’ve never done a restart out of the pits, we don’t get the tyres up to temperature.”
Ericsson said the delay in throwing the final red flag led to an unprecedent final-lap restart. “They should have called it earlier. If they wanted a red, they should have called a red earlier. I think when they kept it going, then I think they should have called it.”
The Ganassi driver said there was nothing more he could have done to keep Newgarden behind him at the end. “I think we did everything right behind the wheel.
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“I did an awesome last restart – I caught Josef completely off-guard and got the gap, and kept the lead into turn one, which no one has done all day. But I just couldn’t hold it on the back (straight). I was flat, but I couldn’t hold it.”
Despite the frustration over his defeat, Ericsson praised Newgarden, who scored his first win in the race at his 12th attempt.
“Congratulations to Josef, he did everything right as well. He’s a worthy champion. But I’m just very disappointed with the way that ended. I don’t think that was fair.
“I feel like we did everything right, I feel like we won that race, and then it sort of got taken away from us. It is what it is. It’s tough to swallow, for sure.”
Ericsson found himself on the receiving end of aggressive defending from Newgarden on the run to the chequered flag. But he harbours no ill feelings towards Newgarden for the way that he raced.
“I mean, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to win this race. I knew he was going to do it. I still tried to get a run on him, but it was not enough, unfortunately. He did it well.”
Newgarden dived beneath the pit entrance dividing line as they sprinted to the line. “I don’t think it was too bad,” Ericsson said. “For me, it’s fine to keep doing what we’re doing. It’s okay for me, I think.”
Ericsson came just 0.097 seconds away from being the first back-to-back winner of the Indianapolis 500 since Hélio Castroneves in 2001 and 2002 – and only the fifth driver ever to win the race in consecutive years.
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