NTT INDYCAR SERIES: CHEVROLET DETROIT GRAND PRIX

June 4, 2023

Will Power

Felix Rosenqvist

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined now by the second-place finisher and last year's winner of this event, Will Power.

Second podium of the season for you. Some craziness there at the end. Pleased with your podium today?

WILL POWER: Yeah, very satisfied. Good strategy. I mean, starting on the blacks, everything played out as we thought. I guess we were worried when the yellow came. Everyone packs up. But then we got a yellow again, so that kind of helped us. We had 10 laps to push hard. I got Palou on the restart. Then they went off, he got me back. Yeah, I couldn't get him. I tried everything.

I think my one chance was when Dixon got into me a little bit, I was trying to switch back and get a run, get him into four. Apart from that, yeah, the next restart was in third so I didn't have another shot at him.

Very good job. Man, you're never looking back on seconds as a bad day. Although the guy I was needing to close points to was the guy that won. We limited the damage.

THE MODERATOR: Consistency was your key last year, too.

WILL POWER: Yeah, that's why I kick myself for the tiniest mistake at Indy. Caught me a chance to win. Just got the wall. That was a big chunk of points.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Will Power.

Q. Was that one of the most aggressive drives you've had in the last couple years? When you were coming up through the field, it was pretty fierce.

WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, no, pretty measured moves. But yeah, I was never going to do something that I didn't feel was going to be pulled off. I've been around too long to try that.

Yeah, we're in the situation to be aggressive. That's why we start on blacks. We're too far back to try to play conservative. We've got to attack every chance. That's why I'm trying to do as hard as I can right now.

Q. Went up on two wheels there. It was obvious what you were trying to do. What comes over you guys going into a turn like that with a race on the line?

WILL POWER: For me, it was just trying my absolute best to get Palou in a clean way. I wasn't going to do any sort of dive bomb.

Yeah, as it gets down to it, depending on who's in the game, obviously Palou had the most to lose because he's leading by a chunk, but there's a few guys in there that don't have as much to lose. I was one of 'em. I'm thinking in my head I've got to try to get this guy, if I can, to limit the damage.

Q. Do you ever think, We put on a heck of a show?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I did. I said it coming up the elevator, It's a pretty good race from the outside. Some pretty big moves in there from people. I can't imagine what it was like back in the pack. Looked like it was a great race.

THE MODERATOR: Also joined by the third-place finisher, Felix Rosenqvist. First podium of the season, fifth of his career.

Felix, great way to finish out this weekend for you.

FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, that was an awesome race. I have to say, I was really impressed what GM and Chevy have done to make this happen. There was some criticism to start the weekend, but it all played out really nicely. I have to say it was a fun racetrack, it raced really well.

That long straightaway, we picked a low downforce option and we were able to pass on cars at the end of the straight. Yeah, it was awesome. I thought it wasn't going to be a lot of passing, but it raced super well. Big thanks to GM and Chevy.

Yeah, good race. I thought it was good to be back on the podium. It's been a while. We'll take that.

THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions.

Q. Will, when you won last year at Belle Isle, you used the alternates on the last stint of the race. What was the reason you went for the alternates the second stint this time around?

WILL POWER: Yeah, to protect from losing too much 'cause if they happen to go off badly, you have a full stint, the last stint was going to be the longest because you're always going to pit on the early side and save fuel for the chance of getting caught by a yellow and the pits are closing, you're done, everyone's got you. That was the reason.

Try to minimize the amount of laps basically.

Q. Felix, how great is it you have the momentum coming in now going into Road America?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: I think we needed it. We've been pretty much up there every weekend. We had three DNFs which hurt.

It seems this year in the championship a lot of the top runners have had tough races as well. I think we can recover if we keep the momentum going.

It's nice. I think all the boys and girls on the 6 car, Arrow McLaren, really deserved it. We've been up there sniffing for a long time. Hasn't worked out.

It was a fun race. Felt like we were just quick all through it. We went up every stage of race. We were in a position where we could maybe win it in the end. Yeah, it was a bit dicey on the restarts in the end. The second to last there, Dixon went wide. I had to grab the clutch. I think Will had the same. That potentially could have cost us a bit.

I'm happy to finish on the podium after all the close calls.

Q. Felix, the thing with Rossi at the end. You have been racing around each other all year. A thing at Toronto. Have you talked to him before? How do you work through it?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: I mean, we race hard, but I think we also race fair. Obviously we like each other. We don't have any intentions to put each other in the wall.

But, yeah, it was tight. I think the move wasn't really high-risk. I was completely alongside him into three. Yeah, just gets tight, man. It's so close. He squeezed me a little bit on entry, I squeezed him a little bit on exit.

Yeah, I think it's a good problem to have. The Arrow McLaren cars have been up there every race. You're going to find yourself in a situation where you're fighting teammates. I think it's something we'll discuss internally if we can manage it differently. Obviously there were no team calls on this one, which is cool. They let us battle it out on the track.

I think Will can explain how it works when you have a lot of good cars at the front. It's good problems to have.

Q. Will, can you give us the entire Flavor Flav story, how he got your T-shirt?

WILL POWER: I was just sitting and talking to Roger and Tim yesterday. No, we were watching an interview of Kevin Lee, an interview of Flavor Flav. I said, If he's here, he's got to come over.

I got to meet him. Then he came on to my truck. He had the Will Power shirt on. His girlfriend had the same. A couple of my boys from Toowoomba said, You have made it. We all listened to Public Enemy in the '90s. Flavor Flav was someone I thought I would never meet.

He is the most (indiscernible) dude you will ever meet. I thought he was going to come to the podium. I think if I won, he would have.

Pretty cool experience. Pretty cool to put it on your personal Facebook. All your friends that you went to school with, This man is big-time, he's hanging out with Flavor Flav.

I sat next to Ice-T at dinner. I have also had dinner with Slash from Guns N' Roses. No one cares about race cars or I won the Indy 500, it's like, You had dinner with Slash, you know Flavor Flav.

Q. Did he buy the T-shirt?

WILL POWER: I think he went to the (indiscernible) and bought the T-shirts.

Q. Do you have a favorite Public Enemy song or album?

WILL POWER: I said this morning to Flavor Flav, People today are going to have to fight the power. That's what I said. It was true. They have to fight the power.

Q. (No microphone.)

WILL POWER: Yeah, he lives here. Should get Eminem. I'm more of a '90s rap guy. If I met Eminem, that would be epic. If I could meet Ice Cube or Snoop Dogg in Long Beach. Why doesn't someone bring them to Long Beach? Maybe they should have an Ice Cube day. It would be dope.

Q. (No microphone.)

FELIX ROSENQVIST: I'm older than you think (smiling). I'm 10 years older than Pato, nine maybe. I'm getting there.

THE MODERATOR: This is your wheelhouse? Something you understand?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah.

Q. The fact that you said it needs to be discussed internally, you're racing for position at the end of the race, racing for a victory. What is there a reason to discuss?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: I don't know. I mean, we'll talk about it. As I said, I didn't think committing to the move was high risk. I wouldn't want to do it high risk. With a teammate, you never want to.

Yeah, we'll talk about it. We'll get through it. Alex is a good dude. As I say, we've been fighting each other before, and a lot this year. We've pretty much been around each other all season.

Yeah, we're probably going to keep doing it.

Q. He squeezed you going in, you kind of squeezed him going out, but nobody hit the wall.

FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, I mean, I think he actually hit the wall, but I think he got out in the marbles. I think it's a good thing he was able to get back in.

I have to say, I pretty much didn't have any more room on entry. I was just trying to not go into the wall on apex. After that, I just tried to get out of the corner as quick as I can, give him the room he needed.

As I say, we'll talk about it. No biggy. I'm just happy we both finished up front, so...

Q. People criticized this track. When did it become apparent to y'all it turned into a pretty good racetrack? Did it become apparent yesterday or in the race?

WILL POWER: Yeah, like second session you started to like it, like the challenge of it. Yeah, racing perspective, having that long straight with the hairpin is definitely good. I think next year if they resurface the second half of the straight you would have more passing. It was tough to go on the outside.

FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, I think the track really came alive during the race. It seems like this track, every session the track goes more slippery. As you do more laps it gets grippier and grippier, more than other street courses.

I thought during the race it really came alive. It was cool. The steering was heavy, you're carrying a lot of speed. Even on full tanks, we were doing like qualifying lap times.

This is cool, you're doing some good corner speeds. You have to be so focused. Bouncing between the walls, it's insane how much effort goes into it mentally to do a hundred laps out there, especially when you have to race other guys around you.

I think it was a cool challenge and awesome show for everyone.

Q. You said it got really grippy. We also saw a couple drivers that got a hair offline, found themselves in the wall. Was it that slick out there because of the marbles or that much different based on what had built up?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: If you go out there, it's not fun. You don't want to be offline there.

But I think surprisingly on the braking, the inside line was really good. We have some tracks like St. Pete, if you do a dive bomb into one, you just go straight because there's so many marbles. Actually here was fairly clean.

I don't think the fact that we all like swerved left on the straight was actually good for the marble pickup, allowed you to do some good passing.

THE MODERATOR: Great job, guys. Take a couple weeks off.