Blunder “all on me” admits Ericsson after nearly failing to qualify for Indy 500

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Marcus Ericsson admitted he was to blame for jeopardising his place in the Indianapolis 500 by ending a qualifying run early.

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The 2022 race winner only secured his place in the race with a last-gasp effort which put him 32nd on the 33-car grid.

Ericsson was one of four drivers competing for the final three places in this weekend’s race after struggling for pace following a crash earlier in the weekend.

But he slipped up during his first run in the Last Chance qualifying session on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. When his race engineer told him “white flag”, indicating he was beginning the last of his four consecutive laps, Ericsson misunderstood the message and slowed down.

Ericsson said he alone was to blame for the mistake, but the team will change its communication to him for future qualifying sessions.

“You live and learn, right,” he said. “It was all on me.

“We’ve done the same all week. We’ve done, I don’t know, 58 qualifying runs this weekend it feels like, and it’s always been the same countdown. So it’s just all me.

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“I messed that up and I shouldn’t be doing that with my experience. We’re going to change the procedure going forward, for sure.”

Ericsson narrowly lost victory in last year’s Indy 500 after leading the field on a contentious last-lap restart and being passed by Josef Newgarden. But he said the experience of almost failing to qualify was “at least as hard or even harder.”

“Especially after my mistakes in my first run when we were safely in,” he said. “I can’t believe I did that.”

His Andretti team sent him out for a slow run around the track to cool his engine before the final run which secured his place in the field.

“To have to sit there and wait and think about that I had one shot to make the race and I have to hit that run because I knew that the car was hot, so it was not ideal after the first run.

“We had to trim out the car. It’s been really hard to me to drive all since my crashed. So it was a very, very tough mental challenge.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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9 comments on “Blunder “all on me” admits Ericsson after nearly failing to qualify for Indy 500”

  1. Profile Photo

    Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
    20th May 2024, 11:21

    At least he got it done in the end. A mistake under that kind of pressure it’s sort of understandable, even if it’s a stupid one.

    1. Profile Photo

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      20th May 2024, 12:13

      @fer-no65 That was a jaw-dropper. He must have been mortified.

  2. Jay
    20th May 2024, 12:25

    It’s good to see a driver admit blame. Haven’t followed Indycar all year except the Penske stuff but I’m actually really looking forward to the Indy500. No favourites, just hoping for a good race!

  3. Profile Photo

    hunocsi (@hunocsi)
    20th May 2024, 13:27

    Sounds a bit like Aleix Espargaro last year at Catalunya, thinking he finally scored a MotoGP podium on home soil and starting to celebrate, only to realise there was one more lap to go and having to pick up once again after already losing four positions.

  4. Profile Photo

    Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
    20th May 2024, 13:33

    He owned up to it, but finishing 1st and 2nd the last two years he should not be in the bottom anyway. That car must be horrible to drive, because Marcus is proven to be very fast around Indianapolis.

    1. Profile Photo

      Maisch (@maisch)
      20th May 2024, 13:55

      Yeah, they dont seem to have any speed in that car somehow regardless of the white flag situation, one would think a team like Andretti could sort it out if they wanted to. I think they moved the engine over to the spare car aswell, it was slow already before the crash.

    2. A Practiced Observer
      20th May 2024, 16:29

      You have to remember that he was driving a replacement car after the crash earlier in the week. For the Indy 500, the teams have a specific car prepared which is prepared specifically so that the tolerances on the body panels and all the other parts are as tight as possible to minimize drag. Preparing the spare car is going to come with a performance penalty.

  5. Don
    20th May 2024, 14:34

    That was unreal! High drama. Indy is so special, can’t wait for the race.

  6. Tommy Scragend
    20th May 2024, 19:19

    Did he think he was telling him to surrender?

Comments are closed.