Don’t even think about ruling out Marco Andretti in this year’s Indianapolis 500.
It might be strange to hear someone who qualified 25th say “I think we have a car that can actually win the race”, especially when we know passing from fourth in line backwards is going to be extremely tough in this year’s event without the help of strategy.
However, the third generation racer helped diagnose a floor issue with Andretti Autosport’s car and come race day he’s promised to challenge.
It’s an interesting year for Andretti as he has scaled back to a part-time schedule in IndyCar, which could end up being the 500 only. It’s the first time the now-34-year-old hasn’t attempted to run a full schedule since he stepped up to IndyCar in 2006.
In an exclusive interview with The Race, Andretti discusses his career, this year’s 500 chances and reflects on his extraordinary 2006 race 15 years on.
Why 2020 went wrong
Andretti was the 2020 polesitter, the first time he’s managed this having led seven of the 15 500s he’s raced in.
However, despite dominating the build-up in 2020, Andretti (the team) really struggled in the race and Marco fell back to 13th by the end.
Sadly, he’d seen such a result coming.
“Actually last year on ‘Carb Day’ [final Indy 500 practice] I knew we were out of the race because we made an engine change and we went out and we were 1mph and a half slower, and the car felt different because of it,” Andretti tells The Race.
“We were like 26th or something and I just knew we were out of it. And I really pushed to put the engine back in and then internal people at Andretti said that there’s no issue with it and I said ‘I’ve done this 15 years. There’s an issue’. I wasn’t asking, I was telling.
“I wasn’t heard and so we dropped back plus we had pretty bad pitstops last year. The team made a huge gain in that department for the end of last year, and for this year.
“So, I think we look at where we were weak last year, we don’t have those issues this year.”
Qualifying nightmare, race rebound?
There was a certain amount of intrigue surrounding Andretti’s 2021 Indy 500 prospects given his scaled-back schedule as he plays with sportscars and attempts to enjoy life better away from the track.
However, as the reigning pole winner and a regular Indy 500 leader, expectations were high as always.
Unfortunately, he’s not set any significant speed trap markers or qualified well, starting 25th, which is a shock given his domination of the build-up to last year’s event.
However, after qualifying, he implored his team to try something, and it paid off.
“It was a problem with the floor,” Andretti says.
“We had more drag and less downforce so we were just really struggling. No matter what we did mechanically, the car was a struggle to drive, and it was slow.
“We popped a new floor on for practice [after pole qualifying on Sunday] and the car just came right alive and finally we were talking the same language across the team again.
“It felt really good and we made a couple of tweaks to make it even better.
“I think we have a car that can actually win the race.
“It’s a long, long race and I’ve been in this position before, we have a really comfortable car and now we just need to execute.”
Asked if that sort of floor issue is something that’s happened before, Andretti replied: “I think that’s what actually made me think of it and I said ‘It feels aerodynamic, because it doesn’t feel mechanical and I feel we need to change the floor’.
“I said it’s the same car that was on pole last year, and we’ve already had two engines in it. So the only other thing on the car is the new underwing [with a bigger hole in the floor than 2020], so I was the one who pointed to it, and that was from experience.
“So, as far as having a car that I have right now, every time I’ve sort of felt this way, I’ve led the race.
“I’m feeling pretty good about it.”
The pressure is off
Andretti’s IndyCar career is 15 years old now and he’s delivered two wins and a best championship position of fifth. That’s not the lofty heights of his grandfather Mario or father Michael, but those are exceptional drivers.
Not every driver can reach a consistently elite performance level, but that should take nothing away from Andretti as a solid IndyCar driver who has his merits.
Being an Andretti though, when Marco wins it’s often perceived to be through having great machinery through nepotism, and because he’s had a privileged rise through the ranks with such a surname. When he loses, he’s perceived to not be good enough to do the family justice. It’s a lose-lose scenario in many ways.
Asked if our summary of the situation is accurate, Andretti merely replies: “Exactly”.
He continued: “You pretty much hit the nail on the head with the results thing. It’s like a double negative when things don’t go right, and it can take the fun out of it and it did for me.
“Now I’m able to do it for two weeks a year and I really love Indianapolis so I’m excited for that.
“As a family we kind of play into it, just because of how cool it would be to end that curse or whatever you want to call it” :: Marco Andretti
“I’m loving it [the part-time schedule], I really am. I have no regrets. I’m feeling great.
“I’m relieved and I can still have a shot at the biggest race in the world but I could still go racing my friends and my cousin and to take opportunities, leave them, whatever I feel like doing on that particular weekend.
“I have been really extracting more from the sport, which is just the purity of driving. For me that’s what I love about it and so I’m able to do different types of disciplines and stuff like that so I’m really happy.”
Andretti often bears the brunt of fan rage on social media, but in the paddock he’s one of the most well liked characters.
He’s never been short of self-confidence, but he’s also taken admirable steps over the years to improve his driving like visiting esteemed driver coach Rob Wilson in the UK.
This isn’t the behaviour of a brat with everything handed to him and while he might never have reached the heights of his strong rookie season in 2006 again – when he won at Sonoma after nearly winning the Indy 500, more on that in a moment – his career has been respectable.
There are certainly sons and grandsons of famous drivers that have got away with far less criticism than Andretti, with worse career CVs.
The fairytale rookie year
The 2021 version of Andretti – and the expectation around him – is very different to when he burst onto the IndyCar scene as a 19-year-old in 2006.
He was a champion at the lowest levels of US single-seater racing, then had won three of the six races he contested in Indy Lights in 2005 alongside a decent Star Mazda campaign.
But then it was straight into what was then the Andretti-Green Racing IndyCar team. And, incredibly, he nearly won the Indy 500 at the first attempt.
A relatively quiet month of May went out of the window when he showed his speed on race day having qualified on the third row.
In the last stint of the race, Marco took advantage of a late caution – the timing of which took team-mate Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti out of the equation as it hurt their strategies – to run second behind his father, Michael.
Michael had come out of retirement to race with his son and with four laps remaining they were fighting for victory.
Marco passed Michael into Turn 1 with three to go while an aggressive Sam Hornish Jr of Penske picked his way through and soon moved into second.
On the last lap, in Turn 3, Hornish reeled in Marco and slingshotted past on the front stretch to win by 0.0635 seconds from a heartbroken Andretti, who at least had the rare consolation of sharing the podium with his father. It was the second closest finish in Indy 500 history.
“For Dad, he was able to literally be on the podium with his dad and his son [at separate times], I don’t think that’s ever been done, so it was just really special,” says Andretti.
“He was able to come out of retirement to run with me and man it was almost a fairytale ending too.
“Even though it was 15 years ago it seems like just yesterday and it’s something I replay in my head a lot.
“The only reason I got any sleep since is because there’s not much I could have done different to hold Sam off.
“But to be able to pass Dad for the lead with a couple of laps to go in the Indy 500, you can’t even write that.”
It was Michael’s 15th attempt at winning the race, and that day he and Marco made it 49 and 50 attempts by Andrettis to win the race since Mario’s 1969 success. Incredibly given the family’s achievements in motorsports and all those Indy 500 bids, that 1969 triumph is the only Andretti win in the event – in what has become known as the Andretti curse.
“I think as a family we kind of play into it [the curse] just because of the storyline and all that, just because of how cool it would be to end that curse or whatever you want to call it,” says Marco.
“To be honest as a family and at least speaking for myself, I’m more blessed than I am cursed.
“I’ve had great results at that place, four or five podiums there, almost a third of the starts there have been on the podium there so I run really well and hopefully I can continue to.
“I have a really good race car this year, I think the car is a lot better this year than it was last year.”
