INDIANAPOLIS – Simon Pagenaud ran a perfect race. There is no questioning that the best car won the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Alexander Rossi's and Takuma Sato's second- and third-place finishes left them wondering “what if” they had been able to execute the dream day that Pagenaud had.
Rossi left everything he had on the oval, but an extended pit stop and a lack of straight-line speed put him at a disadvantage. Sato suffered issues in his second pit stop, forcing him to fall behind a lap and into 31st place.
Still, the two had miraculous comebacks, nearly taking he checkered flag.
“Our team did a great job to stretch the field and then get back to the pack. I think it took more than 100 laps. But I think it was brilliant and after the restart, it was very exciting,” Sato said.
“It's a little bit of a pity that we couldn't challenge for the win, but we got third under some very difficult circumstance. Huge credit to the team.”
The 2017 Indianapolis 500 winner started 14th for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. At times in the final 14 laps of the restart, Sato looked like he might sneak by Pagenaud and Rossi, who were busy battling each other.
“There's always a scenario,” Sato said about whether he thought that might happen. “If something happened between the two – of course I was thinking just make sure you're not involved.
“But then of course if you have little cushion then end of story. You have to grab every opportunity, just never give up, and just try to challenge. ... I think it was a great race for the Indy 500, and I'm sure fans really enjoyed it.”
Nobody was more upset after – and during the race – than Rossi. His No. 27 NAPA Autoparts car started ninth and proved quickly it was fast. But that faulty pit stop had him playing catch up, and Pagenaud held him off for what could have been a much different race had there been one more lap.
“When you come here four times and three of the times you can't get fuel in the car, I think you can understand why I was upset,” Rossi said. “It can't happen. It wasn't a human error, it was a mechanical problem, but still it's not something that we can have here.”
Rossi won the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 in 2016 as a rookie in somewhat of a surprise. But he was expecting to win Sunday, and he was more than willing to share some of his frustrations with IndyCar and other drivers after the race.
He made a number of daring passes in the 200 laps and was visibly frustrated with Oriol Servia, who was a lap down and blocked Rossi from passing. Rossi shook his fist in the air as he passed Servia moments later.
“I think it was one of the most disrespectful things I've ever seen in a race car, to be honest,” Rossi said. “He's a lap down and defending, putting me to the wall at 230 mph. It's unacceptable. It's unacceptable for him, and it's unacceptable that IndyCar allowed it to happen as long as they did.”
During the final restart, the drivers who were running a lap behind but still in the field were removed form the track, giving drivers in contention more room.
While he didn't show it, Rossi, who led 22 laps, did admit he was proud knowing that he left it all out there.
“The car was by far the best in the field in terms of what we could do and pass pass at will when I needed to,” he said. I didn't see anyone else doing that, so a huge testament to the whole Andretti Autosport organization for really my fourth year here giving me a car that was capable of winning.”
ewyman@jg.net
http://www.journalgazette.net/sports/20190527/rossi-sato-left-wondering-what-if
2019-05-27 05:01:49Z
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