Kirkwood: “No chance” of McLaren F1-style undercut by Andretti in Toronto

Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood says that team-mate Colton Herta “deserved” his Toronto IndyCar win and that there was no question of performing an undercut like the one that complicated McLaren’s Formula 1 strategy in Hungary.

Ironically, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown had been spotted watching the Hungarian GP on TV with Michael Andretti on the morning of the Toronto race, just before IndyCar warm-up started.

Herta beat Kirkwood by 0.3469s, with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon – who had charged up from 15th on the grid – a further six tenths behind.

“There were no preconceived notions,” said Kirkwood of his strategy, which mirrored the timing of Herta’s two pitstops. “Of course, we went into the race saying we need to dominate this race, and we need to run up front and we need to not put each other in positions where we might potentially get beat by other people.

“Ultimately the strategy we were both on was the best one to be on. It just so happens that we both pitted on the same lap. Fortunately, (our pit boxes) were not next to each other so we're not hurting each other in pit lane.

“There was no chance of an overcut and undercut potentially slowing somebody down just to get a position on one another, which obviously would hurt us.”

Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global Honda

Photo by: Josh Tons / Motorsport Images

When Motorsport.com asked Kirkwood if he was ‘doing his best Rubens Barrichello impression’, the Floridian replied: “To be honest, I was pressuring Colton because I was trying to get him to go faster because Scott was breathing down my neck for the (late-race) restarts.

“I was trying to do the best I can to manage the gap in front, that way I'm not going too slow in certain sectors where Scott was quick. I'm also trying to make sure Scott is not passing me.

“It was definitely a chess game out there, especially at the end with the restarts. Before then, we had a ton of pace, right?

“I think if we were in front of Colton, we would have sailed off into the sunset. We were super, super fast. I was stuck in his dirty air the entire race. Maybe could have passed him, caught him off guard a couple times. Ultimately it was team first.

“Colton qualified on pole, he’s deserving of the win. I was also very fast. I think we were faster, but he was very, very fast himself. Yeah, he's deserving.

“I wasn't going to pressure him to an extent to where it might cause a hiccup for either one of us, not only for him.”