Colton Herta gave his thoughts on Friday about the Team Penske disqualification, which was levied by IndyCar because the team misused the Push to Pass system on its way to a double podium finish at St. Pete in March.
Herta seemed unimpressed with Josef Newgarden’s reasoning for why he was allowed to use the system at a time when it should have been locked out.
He also specifically called out that the illegally modified software was loaded on the team’s cars in Long Beach as well, which eventually led to the series discovering the system’s misuse at the previous event.
“It’s hard to know what everybody else is doing,” Herta said to a small group of reporters. “I’m not affected by it. I don’t think everybody is a cheater. Maybe it was just a mistake.
“But it’s hard to think it was a mistake when you keep it in the car in Long Beach and expect to use it again. No matter what you say about why it was in the car.
“By the way, it was in their hybrid car, which is not one of their race cars.
“What else can you do with that software? Can you make it to where it doesn’t count down your Push to Pass? I don’t know. There’s a lot of unknowns.
“Obviously now, I have complete trust nothing will be happening going forward. They’re going to be under such a magnifying glass that it’s going to be hard for them to do anything. It could be an honest mistake. St. Pete could be. It’s hard to believe Long Beach is.
“Ultimately, the biggest thing is it’s a Penske mess up. It’s not the driver’s that was in the car. But it is the driver’s fault that they used it, and were going to use it again in Long Beach. They were all fine with it in Long Beach. Nobody said anything.
“I find it hard to believe that anybody would have a hard time feeling an extra 50 horsepower in the car. Any excuse they have is bullshit.”
Newgarden admitted to purposely using the Push to Pass system on the restarts for the St. Pete event, saying that both he and his team were under the impression there was a rules change that allowed the use.
The two time champion even had his team remind him of the rules, which were not actually changed going into this season, and he pressed the activation button with the expectation the boost would work on the first lap of the restart.
Herta also was not buying the fact that a veteran driver would not know the rules inside and out.
“You just know the rules,” continued Herta. “It’s said in every driver’s briefing when overtake is allowed. You know it.
“He’s driven IndyCar for how long? It’s always been locked out until you get to start / finish. He pushed it 29 times before and it didn’t work, then when it did work… I don’t know.
“It’s interesting [to see Newgarden have to defend his actions]. I don’t feel bad at all. I don’t know how you couldn’t know the rules. I just don’t understand that bit, for somebody who’s been in the series for over 10 years.”
