Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi fought for the podium on the last laps of the Detroit GP.
The new city center Detroit GP circuit saw a fight for the podium until the end with both Arrow McLaren drivers Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi banging wheels. The Swede came on top with two laps to go and got his first podium of the year.The duo were fighting for the top 5 throughout the whole race. When it restarted with 10 laps to go, they were 4th and 5th. But when Scott Dixon hit the back of Will Power, it allowed the 2016 Indy 500 winner to overtake three cars at the hairpin on his way to second place momentarily. Rosenqvist could also overtake Dixon a corner later, as Will Power shoved the Ganassi driver out.
That green flag only lasted one lap though, with Sting Ray Robb and Santino Ferrucci causing the last yellow of the race. With 5 laps to go, when the race restarted, Power overtook Rossi after the No. 7 had a snap of oversteer on the exit of turn 3. The defending champion was able to build a gap immediately, and that caused a scrap for the last step of the podium between Rossi, Rosenqvist, and Dixon.Rosenqvist tried his first move with 4 laps to go, outbraking his teammate at turn 1. Both went side by side through the first two turns, with Rossi coming on top. But with two laps remaining, the Swede had another go at turn 3, with both drivers banging wheels in the braking zone, but this time Rosenqvist came out on top. Rossi was pushed wide on exit by his teammate and that made him also lose 4th place to Dixon.
“I mean, we race hard, but I think we also race fair,” said Felix Rosenqvist. “Obviously we like each other. We don’t have any intentions to put each other in the wall.
“But, yeah, it was tight. I think the move wasn’t really high-risk. I was completely alongside him into three. Yeah, just gets tight, man. It’s so close. He squeezed me a little bit on entry, I squeezed him a little bit on exit.”Rossi, after being asked about the racing with his teammate, said: “We’ll discuss that internally.”
The driver of the No. 6 was positive about having to fight with Rossi.
“Yeah, I think it’s a good problem to have. The Arrow McLaren cars have been up there every race. You’re going to find yourself in a situation where you’re fighting teammates. I think it’s something we’ll discuss internally if we can manage it differently. “Obviously, there were no team calls on this one, which is cool. They let us battle it out on the track.”
