Podiums are ‘not that hard when everything goes well’ - Grosjean

Dale Coyne Racing-Honda driver Romain Grosjean has elected to take a “glass half-full” approach to his podium finish in Markham’s first NTT IndyCar Series race, despite only relinquishing the lead on the 86th of 90 laps.

Grosjean (at left above with fellow podium finishers Marcus Ericsson and Will Power) had been affronted by losing his qualifying lap due to a yellow for a spinner, as it forced him to start a wholly unrepresentative 13th on the grid, but he survived the early chaos to reach the lead through smart alternate strategy from race engineer Bill Pappas, and some deft passes.

“What happened is that we started on the back foot, reverted to the setup on qualifying that we kind of knew better. In qualifying… I'm not going to go into details what happened, but the red flag really hurt us there," he said. "Then in the race, I felt straightaway we had some good pace.

“It was tough on the strategy to know what to do. It was very hard on the restart. Just couldn't get much temperature on the tires. Did well every time. Managed to pass [Nolan] Siegel. Took the lead, opened up a gap.

“At the end of the race I knew we had to go 37-ish laps on the tires, on the fuel. That was going to be a challenge. When I saw the No. 28 [Ericsson] pitting late, I thought there was no way he would catch us. The No. 10 [Alex Palou] was behind me, which is always a worry. Opened the gap. We should be safe. Next thing I knew, the 28 was coming.

“Honda did amazing with us. They worked so well, gave us the exact fuel number to cross the finish line with nothing left in the tank.

“Nothing much you could do to defend. Not meant to be today. Very happy for Dale Coyne Racing… I told my engineer Bill Pappas, ‘It's not that hard when everything goes well.’

Despite this cheery outlook a half hour after the race ended, Grosjean admitted he was distressed in the cockpit at losing the lead to the charging Ericsson.

“I cried a little, I'm not going to lie,” he admitted. “But control what you can control. I think that comes from Andre Agassi, the book I read. I did everything I could.

“I don't know how the strategy worked for the No. 28. I guess the short pit lane helped them, then the fact a lot of people had to save fuel and run out of pace.

“Obviously I haven't watched the race. Very happy with my team and my performance. Gives me hope for next week, Freedom 250, another great one.”

Asked again if it hurt particularly since his last win in any series was a GP2 [now Formula 2] race in 2011, Grosjean replied, “Again, I did everything I could. I went to Formula 1 for 10 years. In Formula 1, if you don't have the car, you don't win a race.

“Yes, it's a long time to have not won a race. I don't think I forgot how to win a race. I just think I didn't get the chance to do that.”

This was Grosjean’s first IndyCar podium since back to back runner-up finishes for Andretti Autosport in the spring of 2023. Dale Coyne Racing’s most recent podium was far more recent, when Rinus VeeKay took second, again in Canada, last summer in Toronto.