INDIANAPOLIS — It was an eventful Saturday morning warmup session for the Sonsio Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as Santino Ferrucci issued some payback to rival driver Romain Grosjean.
The two were involved in a bumping incident on pit lane at the previous race warmup before the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park on April 28.
Ferrucci, who drives for A.J. Foyt Racing, returned the favor as the cars left pit lane Saturday morning by blocking Grosjean’s Juncos-Hollinger Chevrolet, then banging wheels and then giving him a one-fingered salute.
“Man, he drove into me at Barber in the warmup for no reason,” Ferrucci said afterwards. “I’m simply just returning the favor, my friend.
“It’s not Formula One anymore. With these cars, you can hit people and be fine. You want to turn into me when I have the inside, I’m not lifting. I’m sorry. So, I had the corner. And yeah, that’s on him. He doesn’t like it, then come over here and talk to me about it.”
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Ferrucci admitted the incident stems back to the previous run-in at Barber.
“That’s kind of where it started,” Ferrucci admitted. “Honestly, I don’t really have a beef with the guy. He’s a nice dude, but you’ve got to have a little bit more respect for your competitors on track. No sense banging wheels with me in Barber.
“I’m on the inside this time. It’s my corner, and you want to turn into me, then so be it.
“Like I said, I’m not lifting.”
Later in the session, two of the three Arrow McLaren cars had engines issues including Pato O’Ward and seventh-place starter Alexander Rossi.
The team is changing the Chevrolet engines in both cars before the scheduled 3:45 p.m. Eastern Time start.
According to the team, preventive measures being taken for the 7 — no issues on-track in the warm-up akin to the 5.
Entering the day, this was engine No. 1 for both cars and were nearing the end of the mileage limitations.
The new engines will be the second of five that each team is allowed before going over the engine limit requirement.
Marcus Armstrong of Chip Ganassi Racing was the fastest driver in the warmup session with a lap at 1:09.8485 around the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course for a speed of 125.706 miles per hour in the No. 11 Honda. Andretti Global’s Colton Herta was second at 1:10.2314 (125.021 mph) in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda. Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing was third at 1:010.3889 (124.741 mph) in the No. 21 Chevrolet. Pole winner Alex Palou was fourth at 1:10.4222 (124.682 mph) in the No. 10 DHL Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing rounded out the top five at 1:10.4573 (124.620 mph) in the No. 15 Honda.