Marcus Ericsson narrowly missed out on becoming a two-time champion of the Indianapolis 500, getting passed by Josef Newgarden on the final lap of the race.
He was close to being able to pass the Team Penske driver back, but ended up falling 0.0974 seconds short at the line.
After the race, Ericsson was upset that he was even having to fight on the final lap. The race was restarted from a late red flag with just one lap remaining, giving the field of drivers a very short time to sort out the final order.
Even the normal pace lap procedure was truncated in the name of ending the race under green flag conditions, and that is the part that the Swede had the biggest problem with.
“I think it wasn’t enough laps to go to do what we did,” said Ericsson. “I don’t think it’s safe to go out of the pits on cold tires for a restart when half the field is sort of still trying to get out on track when we go green.
“I don’t think it’s a fair way to end the race. I don’t think it’s a right way to end the race. So I can’t agree with that.”
Ericsson was asked to expand on his position, and explained that he would have preferred to have the race finish under caution when the late crash happened with three laps remaining.
“I don’t think it was enough laps to go when the yellow came, so I think it should have finished under yellow.
“I think it was a tough way to end the race. I don’t really agree with how we did that. I don’t think that was a fair way to end the race. But I’m proud of our effort.”
Of course, Ericsson’s viewpoint is influenced by the fact that he was ahead when the final caution period began. If the race finished behind the pace car, he would have been declared winner for the second consecutive year.
Further confirming that perspective goes a long way in these sorts of situations, Newgarden dismissed the idea that anything was unsafe with the late restart. He was able to make his move stick in the final lap to claim his first Indy 500 victory in his 12th attempt.
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