IndyCar: Robert Wickens comments on incident with Alexander Rossi

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ Robert Wickens commented on his late incident with Alexander Rossi in the 2018 IndyCar season opener at St. Petersburg.

In his first career IndyCar qualifying session yesterday, Robert Wickens took the pole position for the 2018 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida in his #6 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda.

Throughout the 110-lap race around the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit, Wickens was dominant despite the fact that he had never driven in an IndyCar race before. Heading into the race’s final restart on lap 109, he had led 68 laps.

One lap earlier, Wickens had held off second place Alexander Rossi and the rest of the pack on a restart that came as a result of Rene Binder crashing his #32 Juncos Racing Chevrolet in the turn 10 tire barrier.

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However, he would be unable to do so again.

Rossi was right behind Wickens when Wickens began to accelerate to the green flag after the seventh caution flag period of the race, which lasted for not even one full lap after Max Chilton stalled his #59 Carlin Motorsport Chevrolet in turn 8.

Rossi made an attempt to pass Wickens on the inside, but he got loose and ended up hitting the side of Wickens’ car. Despite his best attempt to keep the car from spinning, Wickens spun out and ended up finishing the race in 18th place.

Rossi ended up in 3rd, while Sebastien Bourdais stole the victory.

Here is a video of the incident.

It is not at all surprising that this incident has been widely debated by drivers and fans alike. Here is what Wickens had to say about the incident, according to Motorsport.com.

"“To be honest, I felt very comfortable with the pace I had. The whole day was going better than I could have ever anticipated for my first day in IndyCar.“I let Alex get within a second of me, but he was never going to pass me [before the yellows]. He saw his opportunity, he tried, and in my opinion, it was probably a bit optimistic, but it happens. Honestly, I knew it wasn’t going to be over until it was over, but I just hate how the day ended. I expect more from Alex. I thought we would have had a good fight.“I thought I gave him enough space that actually would have held P1. I went very late on the brakes, and he tried to stay beside me, but the track is so dirty on the inside he couldn’t keep the line and just slid into me. I don’t know. Just super disappointed.“Alex and I are off-track friends. On-track is a different story, we race for every inch and everything we can. I just expected more from him today. He saw how late I braked. Obviously, he’s desperate. It was the last lap and it was his last chance.“Before the race, everybody [the drivers] was joking about how slippery it was off-line, and the amount of pick-up, the amount of rubber that was out there. That’s why I didn’t defend that hard. If you want to go there, all the more power to you. It just didn’t work.”"

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Will there be any on-track aggression between Robert Wickens and Alexander Ross throughout the rest of the 2018 IndyCar season? The next race is set to take place on Saturday, April 7th. That race is the Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix at ISM Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, which is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network at 9:00 pm ET on that day.