Ericsson has won four races so far in his IndyCar career. Photo: IndyCar
Marcus Ericsson took home his fourth IndyCar trophy on Sunday, winning the opening round of the season on the streets of St. Petersburg.
His victory came by way of Pato O’Ward’s minor engine trouble with two laps to go, which helped the Swede navigate past to claim victory for himself.
The fact that his win came in part due to another’s trouble gave Ericsson reason to discuss how he feels about some people not taking his skills as seriously as he thinks they should.
Even if people continue to feel that he is only winning races because others are making mistakes around him, the 32-year-old feels that not making mistakes himself is plenty worthy of earning him any victories he racks up.
“It seems whatever I do, people are thinking maybe I don’t deserve it or stuff like that,” said Ericsson. “I don’t know, I won a lot of races, four races now in IndyCar. And been at the top of the championship the last couple years, so I’m just going to keep doing that.
“Obviously today I didn’t want Pato to have a problem, but from what I heard the problem was because we were putting pressure on and they did a mistake or he did a mistake. And that’s when these things can happen.
“I felt bad for Pato, but we were there to pick up on it. If I wasn’t putting pressure on him and hunt him down, he would have been fine and we would have been second. But we were there right on his gearbox, and we got past.
“I’m here to win. I want to win a championship. I want to win another 500. That’s our goals, and what other people say doesn’t really matter.
“But I think we’ve proven last year and the year before that we can be up front and run, fighting for a championship. We just need to keep doing that, and what people say, I don’t really mind too much.”
Aside from his Indianapolis 500 win last year, all of Ericsson’s wins so far have come on street courses. And all have included a red flag period.
Those races have given him prime opportunities to capitalize on situations that have caught out his competition, allowing him to swoop in and take the victory for himself.
Keyword: Ericsson brushes off doubters, defends skills