The AMSP full-timers will line up in seventh and eighth, the inside and middle slots on the third row of the 11 x 3 grid, and for both it’s their best starting for the Memorial Day Weekend classic. O’Ward’s previous best was 15th and Rosenqvist’s was 14th.
“I think it’s really good that we have both cars in the same row,” said O’Ward who went on to finish sixth and fourth in his first two 500s. “It’s me, Felix… and Romain [Grosjean of Andretti Autosport-Honda].
“Romain has never done an Indy 500 start before. That’s definitely going to be new to him, so I think the biggest thing there is to be aware of who’s around you, and don’t get too excited on certain things. It’s 200 laps, it’s so, so long. Last year I lost two positions at the start or something, but if you get the first pitstop sequence right, you can move up 10 or 12 positions… I think we’re in a great spot to do a really good race.”
Rosenqvist, who has yet to be confirmed by McLaren CEO Zak Brown as retaining his ride for 2023, struck a note of caution.
“It’s always a bit terrifying to be next to your teammate because it’s the last person you want to take out of a race,” he smiled. “I’m not planning to take anyone out of the race and I don’t think he is either, but once we’ve settled into it, I think it helps because then you can get a strategic advantage if that situation appears.
“But honestly, we’re competitors too, we want to beat each other, so I don’t think it really changes much. Maybe just keep a little extra attention at the start, because I don’t want to get a call from Mr. Brown after the race!”
Rosenqvist said that his car was good at Indy last year but reckons this year he has his best Speedway car yet. However, he added: “It’s also a bit about nailing it on raceday. These past weeks, some times I had a phenomenal car, some sessions it’s been average, but I think if you take the average of the month, it’s probably been way up there compared with other teams. There are a few cars that look a little bit stronger still, but for just pure handling performance, we’re definitely one of the best cars.”
O’Ward, meanwhile, emphasized that the majority of changes in the running order were likely to be a result of swift pitstops and strong in- and out-laps.
“I think there’s a huge emphasis on how smooth you can do those pitstop sequences,” he said. “I really think that’s where you make or break your race. As good a car may be, if you’re in a train of 10, you ain’t passing anybody until somebody has a moment or somebody doesn’t time a tow correctly and has a mistake.
“But if no one is making a mistake, you’re not getting by anybody. If you’re in the first three or four, specifically the first one or two, then yes. But other than that, you need to wait for them to make a mistake or get them on pitstop sequence…
“It’s such a long race, it’s all about doing your pitstops correctly, hitting your marks, the guys have to be making the right calls on the strategy… Those 200 laps are all about keeping it clean, taking care of your car, being aware of your surroundings, and once the closing stages start and you see what strategies are going on, then I think you can be a bit more aggressive on certain things.”
Both O’Ward and Rosenqvist said there remain question marks over Chevrolet’s and Honda’s relative fuel mileage because in any given practice they didn’t know if their rivals were running low or high levels of fuel, rich or lean fuel mixtures or old or new tires.
“We’ve been running in the pack and going through [fuel] mixtures and I’m really happy with where we stand,” said O’Ward. “It’s hard to know where people are, you know? It’s hard to know where Ganassi-Hondas are whenever you’re fuel saving or whenever you’re full power, you don’t know if they’re full power or fuel-saving. But I think we’re in a really good place.”
Rosenqvist made the point that when it comes to fuel-saving, a fine-handling chassis can make the difference.
“It’s a lot about how close you can follow another car,” he said, “because the closer you can follow, the more lean you can go in your mixture and get more benefit from the slipstream from the guy in front and therefore spend less fuel.
“So [fuel mileage] is a lot about the actual car itself, not only the engine. Obviously if you’re leading the race then it’s all down to engine consumption, but honestly I don’t know. We’ll see.”
