Marcus Ericsson: Alex Palou’s pass for Indy 500 win will keep me up at night
Marcus Ericsson came really close to scor𒆙ing a second victory in the Indy 500.
Marcus Ericsson admitted that it was “painful” and “frustrating” to miss out on another victory in the Indianapoli🔯s 500.
Andretti driver Ericsson emerged as a surprise contender for the Indy 500 after runn🎀ing out of kilter on strategy, with a late pitstop propelling him to the lead ahead of his former Chip Ganassi teammate Alex Palou.
Although Palou had to save fuel to make it to the finish, he was able to pull off a brilliant move at Turn 1 with 14 laps t🔯🌌o go to deny Ericss🔯on victory in the biggest race on the IndyCar calendar.
This was the second time in three years that Ericsson finished runner-up in the Indy 500, having previously lost victory to Penske’s Josef Newgarden on the fಞinal lap in 2023.
Ericsson admitted that this defeat would be hard to swallow for him, given the fuel advantage he had on his rival in the closin🌺g stages of the race.
“That was painful to miss out again," he said.🅰 "Second time second place here and this is a winner-takes-all kind of place. Just really painful.
“Still really proud of the 2ꦜ8 crew. The🌠y did a really good job race.
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar)Palou caught Ericsson by surprise when h𝔉e found room on the inside of the Swede under braking for Turn 1 to grab the lead with 14 laps to run.
It was expected that P𒊎alou would prefer to sit behind Ericsson to save as much fuel as possible to mount a late aꦚttack.
But wi🌃th Devlin DeFrancesco and Louis Foster running almost a lap down and directly in front of them,ꩲ Palou could use their slipstream to save fuel.
Ericsson said the race-winning pass Palou made at Turn 1 will k🐓eep him up at night, as he regrets not shutting the door on the Spaniard going into the left-ha💎nder.
“We🧸 had the lappers ahead of us which was making it difficult and he got a run on me.
“I didn'꧑t know if he was going for it or not. That's the thing. I'm constantly thinking constantly now that I should have covered 🌠the inside.
“When he got by I tried ev🐈erything to get back on him but it's really hard in that dirty air. It's really frustrating.
“I was in the lead, I had that race covered and I just ꦕmissed it. That's going to be a tough one to swal🅘low.
Hꩵe added: “That's the thing that's going to keep me up at night for a while. That moment. What I did and what I didn't.
I need to look back at that. As I said, it's going to keep me up at 🎐night for a while.”
