Santino Ferrucci tussled with Andretti Global drivers Kyle Kirkwood and Colton Herta during IndyCar practice Saturday morning on the streets of downtown Detroit for the Chevrolet Grand Prix.
As drivers were making mock qualifying runs, Ferrucci and Kirkwood made contact shortly before a red flag late in the session. During the stoppage, Kirkwood approached the No. 14 pit, and Ferrucci leaped over the pit wall and accosted Kirkwood, shoving him away.
“You turned into me, you (expletive) piece of (expletive),” Ferrucci said to Kirkwood in an exchange caught on camera during the Peacock broadcast.
During an ensuing interview with NBC Sports’ Marty Snider, Ferrucci also took aim at Herta, accusing both Andretti drivers of impeding his fast lap.
“I’m on a lap that’s going to put us P3, and I know everybody’s fighting traffic, and I’m coming down the hill, and who just turns into somebody and slides their car into you,” Ferrucci said of Kirkwood. “It’s such a dick-ish move, man. I grew up karting with him. Known him a long time. I’ve always been better than him with racecraft. Never seen him do something that dumb. But you saw him turn into (Josef) Newgarden yesterday. I think it’s a shame. It’s a tight track. We’re way quicker than this, and it would have been nice to get one clean lap in, but it’s fine. It is what it is.
Tempers are already being tested 🔥
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) June 1, 2024
To be continued?
“And then his little boyfriend teammate (Herta) over there did the same thing. Leave it to them, man. We’re out here doing our own thing. It’s Detroit. I’m having a blast. The crew is all fired up. We know we got a hot rod.”
After qualifying 10th a couple of hours later, Ferrucci apologized in an interview with Dillon Welch.
“First, I just want to say sorry for what I said and how I acted to Kyle and towards Colton,” Ferrucci said. “They’re great competitors. I stepped a little hot out of the car. I love racing against them, man. It’s good now.”
Kirkwood, who had radioed his team that Ferrucci should be kicked out of IndyCar for the contact, said he was approaching just to have a conversation. Kirkwood said Ferrucci was in the wrong for trying to to zoom past other drivers who were waiting their turns to get a clean lap on the tight nine-turn, 1.7-mile track.
"Never seen him do something like that dumb."@SantinoFerrucci gives his take on the incident with the No. 27. pic.twitter.com/KN7O7CX2tP
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) June 1, 2024
“I did that? Of course he’s going to say that,” Kirkwood told Snider. “No, it all happened right there. Everyone stops here. Everyone has to wait. Get your gap, get a clean lap in, it’s practice. Relax. That’s not what he did. He decided to do it to me, and then he did it to Colton, too, and they nearly collided. I don’t know what he’s 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. He purposely tried to drive me into the wall.
“And then I went up to him and tried to talk to him about it. Then he grabs me and is like shaking me. What are you getting mad at me for? It’s insane. But we’ve seen it before so ... I was just going to tell him it was completely unnecessary. Everyone needs to get their gaps. Everyone needs to get a lap in so you can try and tune on your car. But if you’re crashing into people on purpose, then you’re not going to be able to tune on your car. So it was just kind of to see where his head was at. Because he clearly wasn’t on a fast lap anyway. It just makes no sense at all.”
Herta was similarly perplexed.
“I don’t even know what I did,” Herta told Snider. “I don’t know. That guy’s a head case. I’m happy with our program. I’m not really sure what I did to make him mad. He passed me before the alternate line. We’re all waiting for our gaps, and he passed me and so I passed him back and ruined his lap, but yeah, I really don’t know what happened. He passed me the lap before so I tried to pass him back.
“He can do his thing, we’ll do ours. He’s driving a Penske car to P20th again for the fifth consecutive weekend. I’m happy with what we’re doing here. The car is fast.”
After winning the pole position three hours later, Herta remained miffed at Ferrucci. Asked by the Indy Star if he had talked to Ferrucci or anyone at A.J. Foyt Racing since the incident, Herta said, “I don’t have a problem with anyone at Foyt except one person. Everyone there is lovely besides one person.”
Asked by NBC Sports whether he had any reaction to Ferrucci’s apology, Herta said, “No.”
Ferrucci is known for being one of the series’ most confrontational and controversial drivers. Last month, he took shots at Team Penske drivers before the Indy 500 over a seeming difference of perceptions about how the alliance between A.J. Foyt Racing and Penske worked at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
At Barber Motorsports Park earlier this season, Ferrucci had a run-in with Romain Grosjean during practice that carried over into the next two races.
But neither Andretti driver seemed worried about retribution Sunday in Detroit.
“We don’t have time for him and his shenanigans at the back,” Herta said. “He’s always a ‘you-know-what’ in the race, so it doesn’t affect me. Most of the time I don’t race him, so it’s not really my problem.”
Said Kirkwood: “Based on that (incident), he’ll be (starting) a little behind us, so I’m not too worried.”
An IndyCar spokesman confirmed to NBC Sports that the series would take no further action to address the on-track incidents or the pit lane altercation.
The spokesman also said that IndyCar officials spoke with Ferrucci after practice to express displeasure with his interview, and Ferruci was said to be “very apologetic and recognized his remarks reflected poor judgment.”
During qualifying, Ferrucci advanced from the first round while angering Grosjean again.
The Juncos Hollinger Racing driver went to the No. 14 pit apparently looking for Ferrucci and left after
having a talk with team president Larry Foyt.
“They need to do a better job of not blocking people, crashing into people,” Grosjean told NBC Sports’ Dillon Welch. “Just generally being in the way of everyone. (Ferrucci) screwed me in qualifying. I don’t know why he slowed down on his lap. I was 7 10ths down on my lap, finished the lap 3 10ths down, lost 4 10ths behind him.
“I really don’t understand IndyCar Race Control. If that’s not blocking, I don’t know what it is. We’ve had a tough weekend. I think the car came alive in qualifying. I just couldn’t get my lap. Too many mistakes on our end, but that one is on us.”
In his interview after qualifying, Ferrucci said he didn’t realize it was Grosjean behind him.
“I thought it was Will (Power),” Ferrucci said. “That was the last car I passed, and they were reading off the gaps trying to do cooldown and push. It’s tight. It’s tough, man.
“If IndyCar’s not calling it, then it’s not really that big of a deal, and he honestly didn’t look that close to me when I was checking the mirrors. It’s just a small track and short track racing on a street course.”
