Alexander Rossi came up just short of winning the Detroit Grand Prix, having to settle for second to Will Power.
The two were on very different tire strategies, with Rossi pitting an extra time over the course of the race. The shorter stints meant that he had to make up the lost time by pushing hard nearly every lap.
The plan very nearly worked, and Rossi would have been contesting for the top spot if the race was just one lap longer than the 70 scheduled.
Talking after the race, the 30-year-old described how he felt like he was putting in qualifying laps for the entire race.
“With the three-stop we knew it was just basically a qualifying run for 70 laps type of thing,” said Rossi. “The team did an amazing job and the NAPA AutoNation Honda was fantastic.
“It’s good to get the car where it should have been and have a shot there at the end. Obviously Will [Power] did a fantastic job on a tire that has a lot of falloff at the end.
“We did our best to kind of manage the pace and go for it at the end, but we were probably a lap short.
“Two weeks in a row where we’ve had very good races and overall a good weekend. That’s the result of a lot of work from the whole organization.”
Rossi finished just one second behind power, and was gaining nearly two seconds per lap at the end of the race.
Power said that he believed he would have been able to defend if needed, but his tires were all but used up after running 20 laps on the softer compound.
A caution period may have allowed the two to fight for the top spot, but none came for the entirety of the race and the battle didn’t have time to materialize.
Regardless, the strategy allowed Rossi to climb from 11th up to a podium position, and gave him his best finish of the season.
