Kyle Kirkwood finished second in Sunday’s Detroit Grand Prix, but blamed media coverage of previous events for the changes to caution procedures that affected him during the race.
At the heart of the discussion was Alexander Rossi’s incident during the Sonsio Grand Prix on the IMS road course.
Rossi slowed to a stop on the main straight and was sitting stationary for a full lap under local yellow conditions before a full course yellow was eventually thrown.
The incident drew heavy coverage, and IndyCar made a change in procedure to upgrade situations to full yellows more quickly.
Speaking directly to media after the race, Kirkwood put the blame on coverage of that incident for how quickly yellows were displayed in Detroit.
“To be honest, when you get ridiculed and criticized so much by the media, the drivers, everyone involved, that’s what you expect from race control is to throw cautions when there’s incidents,” said Kirkwood.
“Do I think it was the right idea? No. But at the same time, it seemed like they got way too much pressure for leaving a driver on the front straight that was kind of in a safe position, 25 or 26 competent drivers that weren’t going to hit him.
“It wasn’t like it was raining. There was 100 yellows out there. This is what happens when you guys rip into them, to be honest. It was disappointing to see.
“Two yellows out caught me out fighting for the lead, where we almost overcut Palou and then went to make a pass on him. Yellow comes out right when I have a run on him, so I was pretty disappointed with it.
“But I understand their position. You guys all called for yellows, so they’re going to throw yellows.”
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