A fundamental failure had Will Power blowing up deluxe on the radio to his team after he was forced to relinquish a potential podium finish in the latest IndyCar race.
The Team Penske driver was challenging Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta for third on the Toronto streets when the call came that he needed to pit on the second-to-last lap.
Power was fourth and less than a second behind Herta at the time and passed him just seconds before entering the pit lane.
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The pit stop dropped him way down the standings, with the Aussie star finishing the race 14th.
Power wasn’t the only driver caught out, with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson also making a splash-and-dash at the end.
“For Power and Ericsson, that is a shocking surprise,” said IndyCar driver turned commentator Townsend Bell.
“Something went horribly wrong on projections.”
Power was none too happy with the call, making his feelings abundantly clear.
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His crew chief said, “We’re going to have to pit this time for a splash.”
“You didn’t give me the f—— number,” yelled Power.
“Why didn’t you give me the f—— number?
“I don’t know what you guys are doing on the f—— stand.”
After the chequered flag, Power came on the radio again.
“It would have been f—— easy for me to save another lap of fuel, you just had to tell me.
“You’ve got a f—— 1:10s, I could have got a fucking 1:10s. It’s bullshit. I could have got it.”
Speaking post-race, Power said the strategy needed to be reviewed and offered to take some of the blame if he had inadvertently pushed too hard too soon.
Asked post-race whether he was surprised to get the call to pit, Power said, “Yeah I was.”
“Giving me a number and I could have quite easily have got the number and made it,” he explained.
“We’ve just got to review all that. I’m not sure what happened there.
“It was good. The car was really good. The strategy was right. I could have got a much bigger number earlier and I had no idea we were going to run out.
“If I didn’t get the numbers and attacked too hard too soon it was my fault.
“I was trying to put the pressure on the two guys in front to run them out of fuel, probably not watching mine close enough.”
Power wasn’t the only Team Penske driver hindered by strategy.
Scott McLaughlin ran inside the top two until just shy of the half-race distance when the decision was made not to pit under the safety car while most around him did.
That hung him out to dry and meant he needed to stop under green flag conditions, which dropped him outside the top 10.
He eventually recovered to sixth just behind teammate Josef Newgarden.
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