Newgarden gets angry about "wrong day of strategy" after 4th place in Detroit

Josef Newgarden was hoping for a better result than a fourth place starting from the pole-position for the Detroit GP, held last Sunday (5) at the street circuit of Belle Isle Park. The strategy of starting the race on red tires proved to be incorrect, as the low grip track caused a big drop in performance.

After also starting on pole in race 2 at Detroit last year, Newgarden and Penske opted to change their strategy for 2022. The problem is that the yellow flags that hindered him in 2021 didn't come, and the lack of luck with the choice of tactics left the two-time Indy champion angry.

"It's hard not to be irritated. When we need a race without yellows, it doesn't happen. We needed it last year, where we did [Will] Power's strategy, but it wasn't the right day to do it. Today was going to be the day, and we didn't do it because of what happened last year. I don't know what to tell you, we had a good race, but the strategy didn't work," Josef commented.

"On a day like today, when the track doesn't have much grip at the beginning, the red tires are not favored at the beginning, but you don't want to take risks with the yellows, which is what happened to us last year," explained the American.

The victory ended up in the hands of Newgarden's teammate, Will Power. Starting in 18th position, the Australian also made two stops, but left to use the red tires in the final part of the race and overtook Alexander Rossi by only one second.

"We had a good race, it just wasn't the right day for that strategy, I have no one to blame. It's a typical Indy thing, you can't predict these things. It's good to see a Chevrolet car win, I'm happy for Penske and Will, but I'm a little bit annoyed," confessed Josef.

With the result, Power reassumed the Indy's leadership with 255 points. Newgarden is fifth, 47 points behind the Australian. Indy returns this weekend, with the Road America GP on June 12.