Santino Ferrucci ended Saturday’s (June 1) NTT IndyCar Series practice session on the streets of Detroit hot under the collar after on-track contact with Kyle Kirkwood.
The two came into contact entering turn 5, where Ferrucci attempted to place his No. 14 A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet to the inside of Kirkwood’s No. 27 Andretti Global Honda. Their sidepods touched under braking, pushing Kirkwood wide while Ferrucci drove away on the corner exit.
After the session, the two drivers had very different interpretations of what had happened between them, made evident before there was single word exchanged in the paddock. Upon seeing Kirkwood walking toward the No. 14’s pit stall, Ferrucci jumped the wall and grabbed the Floridian by the collar, making his stance on the matter perfectly clear.
“You turned into me!” Ferrucci said as the two were separated by a crew member and an INDYCAR official. “You turned into me you f****** piece of s***. Don’t f****** ever do that again!”
Kirkwood quickly left the scene after being unhaded by Ferrucci could be seen chuckling as he walked away. When NBC caught up with the Floridian, he seemed unbothered by the exchange.
“I did that?!” he asked with an expression of amusement.
“It all happened right there, everyone stops [at turn 5]. Everyone has to wait, get your gap, get a clean lap in. It’s practice, relax! And that’s not what he did. He decided to do it to me, then he did it to Colton [Herta] too … I don’t know what he was doing. His lap was already ruined, he just ruined his next lap too.
“It’s just dumb, it’s dangerous! He drove right into me, purposely tried to drive me into the wall. And then I went up and tried to talk to him about it and then he grabs and is shaking me. It’s like ‘what are you getting mad at me for?!’ It’s insane, but we’ve seen it before with him.”
Ferrucci had, in fact, drawn the ire of Herta at the same corner later in the session. The Foyt driver was slowed up running behind another car and, based on the available footage, may have intentionally backed Herta up at the apex before accelerating.
Whatever the case, Herta was likewise nonchalant about the exchange after the end of the session.
“I don’t even know what I did,” Herta exlaimed. “That guy’s a head case … I’m not really sure what I did to make him mad. He passed me before the alternate line, like we’re all waiting for…
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