‘What the f***’: Supercars great blasted by ex-F1 star after IndyCar crash frenzy

Sweden’s Marcus Ericsson won IndyCar’s season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in Florida on Sunday, prevailing after a chaotic race that saw pole-winner Romain Grosjean crash out after a controversial collision with Team Penske driver and Supercars great Scott McLaughlin as they battled for the lead.

Chip Ganassi’s Ericsson snatched victory in dramatic circumstances, darting past Mexico’s Pato O’Ward with two laps to go after the Arrow McLaren driver’s car momentarily lost power.

O’Ward was forced to settle for second while Ericsson’s Chip Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon took third in the 180-mile 100-lap race.

Ericsson admitted that his victory had an element of good fortune. “It was our day I think,” Ericsson said. “That’s racing. I feel bad for Pato having an issue but that’s racing.

“We were hunting him down all the way through, putting the pressure on and that’s when things can happen … really proud of the team. That’s a hell of a start to the season.”

O’Ward was disconsolate after agonisingly missing out on victory. “We did everything right today. It’s just, there’s always something,” O’Ward said.

“The boys deserved that. But we gave that one away. We can’t have that happen any more.”

Ericsson’s last-gasp victory was the final twist of an incident-packed race that erupted in chaos on the first lap. Contact between Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist triggered a spectacular pileup that took out Santino Ferrucci, Sting Ray Robb, Devlin DeFrancesco, Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud and Benjamin Pedersen.

DeFrancesco’s Andretti Steinbrenner was sent hurtling into the air after Pedersen’s A.J. Foyt Enterprises car slammed into his side.

Remarkably, DeFrancesco avoided serious injury while Dixon, Rosenqvist and Robb limped back to the pits and were eventually able to continue racing.

Grosjean roared on team radio: “‘Come on, come on I’m ahead, what the f***, what is he doing, f***!”

Arguably the most controversial moment came on lap 72, when pole-winner Grosjean of Andretti Autosport crashed out after a collision with Team Penske’s McLaughlin as the two men surged into turn three.

Grosjean seemed to have done enough to take the inside line but McLaughlin refused to yield and crashed into Grosjean, ending the Frenchman’s race.

A bitterly disappointed Grosjean said afterwards: “I still admire what (McLaughlin) has done coming from V8 Supercars and he has done amazing. Today, I think what we saw on track is not racing.”

A distraught McLaughlin took responsibility for the incident after the race.

“First and foremost I’m very sorry to Romain. He’s a friend of mine and I know we were both going for the win there. I just made a big mistake – I tried to push with cold tires but just didn’t have the grip on the inside,” the New Zealander said.

“I don’t race like that, I apologise, I’ve had many good battles with many good drivers. I just made a stuff-up. And I really do apologise to Romain. I’m going to go and see him soon. I need to be better than that.

“Big apology, I was just racing hard man, and I promise I don’t race like that. Very gutted. I’ll go man up and see Romain now.”

McLaughlin did end up apologising to Grosjean in person afterwards, with the pair embracing.

The next race in the 2023 season takes place at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth on April 2.