Marcus Ericsson: Alex Palou’s pass for Indy 500 win will keep me up at night
Marcus Ericsson cꦕame 🏅really close to scoring a second victory in the Indy 500.
Marcus Ericsson admitted that it was “painful” and “frustrating” t💝o miss out on another victory in the🌟 Indianapolis 500.
Andretti driver Ericsson emerged as a surprise contender for the Indy 500 after r꧋unning out of kilter on strategy, with a late pitstop propellingಞ 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 toไ go to deny Eric🌄sson victory inꦏ 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 final lap in 2023.
Ericsson ad♋mitted that this 𒁏defeat would be hard to swallow for him, given the fuel advantage he had on his rival in the closing 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 28 crew. They did a really♔ good job race.
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar)Palou caught Ericsson by surprise when he 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 Palou would prefer to sit behind Ericsson ꧙to save as much fuel as possible to mount a laꦐte attack.
But with Devlin DeFra🍌ncesco and Louis Foster running almost a lap down and directly in front of them, Palou could use their slipstream to save fuel.
Ericsson said the race-winning pass Palou m🔯ade at Turn 1 will keep him up at night, as he regrets not shutting the door on the Spaniard going into the left-hander.
“We had the lappers ahead of us whic🔥h was making it difficult and he got a run on me.
“I didn't 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 everyt✅hing to꧑ get back on him but it's really hard in that dirty air. It's really frustrating.
“I was in the lead, I h♎ad that ꧋race covered and I just missed it. That's going to be a tough one to swallow.
He 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 ꧒at that. As I sa🦹id, it's going to keep me up at night for a while.”
