Scott McLaughlin was one of the two Team Penske IndyCar drivers that were retroactively disqualified from the season-opening race around the streets of St. Petersburg that took place on March 10.
He was deemed to have used his Push to Pass system at a forbidden point in the race, on the first lap after a restart, and had his podium stripped along with all points and prize money earned from the result.
McLaughlin took to social media to present his side of the story hours after the penalty was formally announced.
In his response, he accepted the penalty and admitted to the infraction, but made a point to claim that no advantage was gained from his use of the boost system.
“First and foremost, I am proud to be a member of Team Penske,” the post read. “I fully stand with every one of my teammates.
“Simply put, a mistake was made. I have the highest level of integrity and it is important to protect both my own reputation and that of the team.
“I was not aware of the situation with the software. In this instance, I used a single, very brief (1.9 second) deployment of push to pass in a section of the track exit of Turn 9 where it is typically utilized throughout the race.
“I hit the button out of habit, but I did not pass any cars nor did I gain any time advantage. The data, which IndyCar has, confirms all of this information.
“While I accept the penalty, I want to clear that I did not gain an advantage over my competitors.
“IndyCar’s competition is the best in the world and I would take no pleasure in achieving success in any way other than honestly.
“We will all press forward from here and focus on the task at hand this weekend in Barber.”
Turn 9, the turn in question, sets up an 1,800-foot run down Bayshore drive, which ends in a tight 90-degree left hand turn. Using Push to Pass at the start of that straight is a common occurrence during an event.
The alternate start-finish line, which denotes when the Push to Pass system should have been activated the first lap of a restart, was located after Turn 12, just before the final hairpin turn.
McLaughlin, along with team-mate and original race winner Josef Newgarden, were disqualified specifically because they both used the Push to Pass system during a disallowed period and gained a competitive advantage.
Will Power was given a softer penalty because he did not actively use the system at an inappropriate time, even though his car was also configured to allow him to use his boost button when it should have been electronically disabled.
The infractions were not discovered until nearly seven weeks after the race took place, but IndyCar still chose to levy harsh penalties on the entire team.
New checks will be carried out by race officials beginning this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, which will specifically check for the proper functioning of all cars’ Push to Pass system.
