Scott McLaughlin says he was “disappointed” to be taken out of Sunday’s IndyCar Series race in Toronto by Team Penske team-mate Will Power, especially as they were running ahead of points leader Alex Palou at the time.
Power punted McLaughlin into the wall at Turn 5 during an over-ambitious overtaking move with nine laps to go, with the driver of the number three car remaining trackside to provide Power with a sardonic round of applause when he came around under yellow on the following lap.
It was their second collision of the season, with the positions reversed in Laguna Seca last month. This time, their clash promoted Palou to the race position they’d just been contesting.
In the previous double-header round at Iowa, McLaughlin gained 40 points on Palou, who crashed out of race one, while Power narrowed his gap to the championship leader by 13 points to get within 35 of him.
But the shocking clash between team-mates on the streets of Toronto, which earned Power a drive-through penalty, means the Australian has slumped to 49 points behind, due to his 12th-placed finish.
“Look, it was just… it's hard to say,” McLaughlin told NBC Peacock. “It's a low percentage move when probably we were both have gonna have a pretty good day. It was probably… [as he watches the replay] yeah, he's come from a long way back and it's just hard stop, isn't it?
“Do you do that to a team-mate? I don't know. I mean, I mucked up at Laguna Seca and we had contact as well. It happens. So, I get with that we were racing for a championship, but when we're both ahead of Palou, it's just a low percentage one. It's a little disappointing. [I'm] disappointed for everyone.
“The Team Penske Gallagher Chevy was fast. You know, we weren't the quickest today. Colton [Herta, who dominated the weekend], props to him. He had a very fast car all weekend, but I felt we could actually salvage some really good points today and put ourselves in the championship fight, but now it's gonna make it a little bit harder.
“Unfortunately, it's contact with a team-mate, you didn't want to see that.”
When asked if he thought Power deserved his drive-through penalty, McLaughlin replied: “Absolutely.”
The Kiwi is now 83 points off the lead of the championship with five races remaining, after being classified 16th in Canada.
Power, who retains second place in points, apologised to McLaughlin and his team.
“I never want to run into a team-mate,” stated Power. “That is not something I ever set out to do and I apologise to Scott and his team for knocking them out of the race.
“We were both in a position to have a solid day against the two Andretti cars and I knew I had a better tyre situation than Scott. Unfortunately, we got together and gave away too many points.
“The Verizon Chevy was solid all day, great pitstops and we are leaving without much to show for it.”
