After a podium in Detroit, Felix Rosenqvist had quite a disappointing result in Elkhart Lake.
He got spun around by Rinus VeeKay, dropping the Swede all the way to the back of the pack. But he wasn’t too spiteful afterwards, as it didn’t really influence the eventual outcome, he said to PitDebrief.com.
“I mean, we were in a pretty good position when that happened. But to be honest, we actually managed to get back from that afterwards. We were pretty much last after that and we actually, with everything that happened with the yellows and stuff, we did some pretty clever calls in the pits and some really good restarts.
“And we were actually back up better than we were at the time when that happened. So, actually, I have no idea what would have happened if that didn’t happen, but you can’t predict the future. But, yeah, we bounced back from it. So, it was all good.”
The Arrow McLaren driver highlighted that his comeback is one of the reasons why IndyCar is such a great series and that it shows that you should never give up during a race.
“That’s how IndyCar is sometimes. You’re having a really bad day, you’re in the gravel and your engine is stalled or whatever. And then all of a sudden, you’re back in the contention. So, I think that’s a good testament to that. You just have to keep your head down and keep fighting no matter what happens.”
Rosenqvist was able to claw himself back into seventh position when disaster struck. An issue with the fuel gauge meant that he had to do some massive fuel saving in the final stint.
“So, basically, there was something with the instruments from the car that wasn’t true, basically. I think it started a bit early. I haven’t really seen the full report of the issue, but there was basically… On the last pit stop, we had to pit a lap earlier, because something was indicating that the fuel calculation didn’t seem right.
“So, we had to go in earlier just to be safe. With hindsight, we wouldn’t have had to have done that. But we did that.”
And to make matters worse, it seemed like there wasn’t enough fuel that went into the tank at the final stop, he explains:
“And then when we came out, there were two laps of fuel missing from what we could see on the instrument. So, first, we thought that the fuel wasn’t in the car. But it actually was. But at the time, there’s no way for you to know. You just have to try to make the best thing.
“I guess with hindsight, I kind of wish we just gave it a go and see what happened. But that could have potentially made us run out of fuel.
“We would have had to do a splash. We probably would have ended even worse than we did. It’s a tough one. And when that stuff happens, normally your day is over. So, it was a shame. It was kind of a painful last stint.”
Tough luck seems to be the tale of Rosenqvist’s season so far. His qualifying efforts are great, but with a couple of unlucky DNFs, there is little to cheer about so far. Perhaps his most painful DNF came in Indianapolis, where he crashed out of the Indy 500 while being in a good position to win the greatest race of them all.
“It was a tough one for sure. I knew I had a good opportunity. You can kind of feel in the car when it’s right. The communication with my engineer the whole month was really good. It felt like we knew where we needed to be with the setup and everything.
“And the race went so good. We went basically as planned, until lap 184 or something like that. We could have made some better calls there. But yeah, then it just ended how it ended.
“And it’s a shame. You’re fighting for it at the end and everyone wants to win, and it gets tight. It sucks, but I’m proud of what we achieved. I’m sure we’ll come back even stronger.”
The two-time Macau Grand Prix winner also had a message in response to the rivalry that seems to exist between fans from different series.
“I think always just because something new pops up, it doesn’t have to mean that it’s… I think things can be good on their own. Like IndyCar and F1 for example. Everyone was like: ‘IndyCar is way better than F1. F1 is…’ — you can have both being great at the same time.”
The 31-year-old Swede believes that the popularity of F1 can be a benefit to other racing categories as well. He does not see any kind of competition between the various series’.
“They don’t have to compete with each other. I think actually the truth is that F1 is probably pulling everything. If F1 is good, then all other racing is good. So I don’t think there’s competition between them.”
