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Simon Pagenaud has criticised the driver who shunted him out of the Indy 500 for, he claims, not slowing in response to a yellow flag.
Pagenaud was nudged into a spin just behind Pato O’Ward’s unfolding crash with little more than seven laps remaining in the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500, bringing a premature end to his race.
Replays showed that it was in fact Scott McLaughlin who made nose-to-tail contact with the #60 Meyer Shank Racing entry as they ran just outside the top 10, putting it into the wall.
Whether the Frenchman knew that when he was speaking after exiting the circuit’s medical centre is not clear, but he was adamant that he was the innocent victim.
“We were in a nice position for a top 10 at the end so it was mission accomplished – almost accomplished, I would say – obviously always wanting to go for a win, and who knows what would have happened with all these red flags?” said Pagenaud.
“But, unfortunately, I got rear-ended under yellow. The cars ahead of us are crashing, it’s yellow, slowing down, but the car behind me did not slow down and took me out in a pretty big crash. So, very unfortunate.
“Obviously, on oval racing, you’ve got to be eyes up and I hope that driver understands the mistake he made.
“So, I feel terrible for the guys that wasted a good day for us to be crashed under yellow.”
The clash had repercussions for Agustin Canapino, who himself spun into the wall in an unsuccessful bid to take evasive action, and then shunted into O’Ward.
McLaughlin was forced to the pits as a consequence of the incident but that was ‘Emergency Service Mandated by IndyCar’ in order to address the front wing damage which he picked up, with no other penalty issued.
The New Zealander started and finished 14th having run thereabouts all afternoon while Team Penske team-mate Josef Newgarden achieved a maiden Indy 500 victory in a thrilling finish.
.@simonpagenaud and @smclaughlin93 come together on Lap 193.
Simon was seen and released following the incident.
#INDYCAR // #Indy500 pic.twitter.com/6LZaNM9ivz— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 28, 2023
“It just didn’t seem like it was the Thirsty Three’s day today,” said McLaughlin.
“We had a great car, and it’s always a privilege to drive the Pennzoil ‘Yellow Submarine’ here at Indianapolis for Team Penske.
“Massive congratulations to Josef and his crew. He was a very determined driver all month and he deserved the win today.”
It was also a sorry day in the #12 Penske entry for Will Power, who fought his way well into the top 10 from 12th on the grid and remained there despite a weight jacker failure, until being shuffled back to 17th at the first restart, halfway into the 200-lapper.
The 2018 Indy 500 winner was running 13th when he brushed the wall with 33 laps remaining and broke the right-rear toe link, ultimately taking the chequered flag five laps down in 23rd.
“Our race started off really strong,” recounted Power.
“I was able to put the Verizon 5G Chevy where I wanted and the Chevy power was great.
“It’s the Indy 500 and you never know how the race will play out. This year, the second half was pretty crazy.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have a strong second half and got into the wall, which basically ended our day.
“Congrats to Josef. I know what he is feeling right now, and he definitely deserves it.”
In the series standings, Newgarden is fourth at 37 points behind leader Palou, with McLaughlin sixth and Power ninth, ahead of this weekend’s (June 2-4, local time) Detroit event.
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