THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Romain Grosjean. First podium of the season. Best career finish here in this event.
ROMAIN GROSJEAN: No shit, Sherlock. It's the first time (smiling).
THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. Welcome back. We've missed you on the podium.
ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Right? Me, too. I don't know what happened, it's not that hard (laughter).
What happened is that we started on the back foot, reverted to the setup on qualifying that we kind of knew better. I think in qualifying, I'm not going to go into details what happened, but the red flag really hurt us there. Then in the race, I felt straightaway we had some good pace.
It was tough on the strategy to know what to do. It was very hard on the restart. Just couldn't get much temperature on the tires. Did well every time. Managed to pass Siegel. Took the lead, opened up a gap.
At the end of the race I knew we had to go 37-ish laps on the tires, on the fuel. That was going to be a challenge. When I saw the 28 pitting, Marcus, I thought there was no way he would catch us. The 10 was behind me, which is always a worry. Opened the gap. We should be safe. Next thing I knew, the 28 was coming.
Honda did amazing with us. They worked so well, gave us the exact fuel number to cross the finish line with nothing left in the tank.
Nothing much you could do to defend. Not meant to be today. Very happy for Dale Coyne Racing, Max. I am not going to name all the sponsors. I told my engineer Bill Pappas, it's not that hard when everything goes well.
THE MODERATOR: We have a lot of questions.
Q. How do you describe the chaos of this track? It also seems like chaotic tracks are ones that you excel at.
ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Well, let me talk about the track. Amazing, Markham. Thank you for having us. The pavement was great. The racetrack is great. The organization has been good. The track has been fun to drive. I got to say that I'm very impressed with this weekend generally. Smooth tarmac like this makes the racing so much nicer for us compared to some other places.
Yeah, some of the restarts were a bit chaotic. I got lucky. I was never involved in any of those. I always find myself in the clear space.
Yeah, I really like the weekend.
Q. For as happy as you seem, it's hard to get wins in INDYCAR, so how are you able to balance just how disappointed you may be that you pretty much were that close to being able to get it?
ROMAIN GROSJEAN: I cried a little. I'm not going to lie. But control what you can control. I think that comes from Andre Agassi, the book read. I did everything I could.
I don't know how the strategy worked for the 28. I guess the short pit lane helped them, then the fact a lot of people had to save fuel and run out of space.
Obviously I haven't watched the race. Very happy with my team and my performance. Gives me hope for next week, Freedom 250, another great one.
THE MODERATOR: Will Power also joins us. Best finish here at Ontario since a win in 2016.
Will, tell us about your day. What are your thoughts?
WILL POWER: I don't know how we ended up there. Actually we had a really good car on restarts. Definitely made a lot of positions there. Then it was about making good strategy calls.
At the end there you had to make a lot of passes to move yourself forward, which we were able to do. My tires were pretty done at the end there. Just sort of holding on. But the others had to save fuel, so that helped get us up to third.
Marcus was just very fast all day. I was going to let him go on the back straight, but he made his way there. There was a bit of miscommunication with the team.
He's coming.
I'll let him go on the back straight, not lose much to Palou, I'll get through.
It worked out well.
THE MODERATOR: Made it through turn five just fine.
WILL POWER: I had no clues there. I just turned. That was close that we didn't ruin a good day for the team there.
ROMAIN GROSJEAN: It would have been a good day for me (smiling).
WILL POWER: You would have had to survive a restart probably.
ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Oh, yeah (smiling).
THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions.
Q. What were you and Marcus able to do to make it work on the last stint?
WILL POWER: Marcus, like, pulled an 18-second gap. He just took off because he had the pace. He had good pace. We could have opted for that strategy. My tires went off pretty badly at the end. I think the strategy we did was correct for us.
Just didn't quite have the pace 'cause I had that many more laps on my tires. I really hustled to make track position. Kind of hurt my tires early. Tried to conserve.
But that was, man, good day. Good day. Obviously it would be nice to get a win, but I keep getting podiums. That's all we're looking for, really good race pace, good strategies and everything.
Ron Ruzewski usually puts me in the best spot. He did it again today. He told me, What bonus do I get you if you get on the podium?
I'm thinking it is impossible.
I said, Whatever you want.
He's done that many times in my career.
Goal is top three today.
I'm like, There's no way, dude.
We end up there (smiling). He does a very good job. Very good job on the stand.
Q. Overall review of the first Markham race here?
WILL POWER: A very cool track. I said it from the first laps, epic track. Very high commitment. Cool street course. Very easy. Like, as you saw, you got to be so on your toes to drive it.
Yeah, I'm glad the race had a ton of action. I didn't want a full green boring race starting where I was, it just played out like that.
ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Thumbs up.
THE MODERATOR: Will, on the action, 258 on-track passes. 242 were for position, which is the most on record in the 40-year history of this event.
Q. Will, you and Marcus did appear to have a little bit of contact when he passed you. We saw you laughing with him. What did you think in the moment?
WILL POWER: Yeah, it was miscommunication 'cause the team came on and said, Marcus is really quick, he's coming.
I said, Okay, tell him I'll let him go on the back straight so I can stay close to Palou.
He didn't get the message, or it wasn't quick enough for him. Yeah, miscommunication. I didn't even look in my mirror. I just turned. Obviously at that point I was upset because we lost such a gap. Just miscommunication. It was going to be fine, yeah.
But we ended where we were going to end anyway, so it was fine.
Q. Back-to-back new street courses, but how different will Washington be, if any, from here?
ROMAIN GROSJEAN: A lot less right inside corner.
WILL POWER: A lot longer race. Get another 50, another two stints (laughter). It will be interesting, man, how that plays out. It's pretty crazy distance for a street course.
ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Let's not talk about it. We'll see next week.
WILL POWER: At least we're prepping ourselves good with all these street races beforehand.
Q. Will, you mentioned you thought a podium was an impossible task. Talk about your feelings and the feeling of working with this team to be able to achieve a result like that.
WILL POWER: Yeah, man, the guys worked. A lot of those guys got two hours' sleep last night. Repaired a car from practice two, do an engine last night. I wanted to have a good day for them. You have to put everything out of your mind, head down.
Car was really good on restarts. I think we made good changes for the race. Yeah, the team's really clicking. I would say like Mid-Ohio and Portland we were really, really starting to gel, everything is working out. Obviously again today another podium.
It's been a good year. Four podiums in a year in INDYCAR, it's very tough, man. It's very tough to get that. As bad as it has looked at times, we've had great potential. We're really starting to come on now.
Q. Romain, if I said GP2 2011 Hungaroring, is that the last time you've won a race?
ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Yes (smiling).
Q. To be this close today and have it be that long of a gap, how does that feel to you?
ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Good. Again, I did everything I could. I went to Formula 1 for 10 years. Formula 1, if you don't have the car, you don't win a race.
Yes, it's a long time to have not won a race. I don't think I forgot how to win a race. I just think I didn't get the chance to do that, so...
We'll try. We'll keep racing. Maybe I should do a go-kart race, l have more chances (smiling). Or a cycling race.
WILL POWER: I'm doing one after the season, the week after, in KZ. Kyffin is doing it.
ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Yes, it's a long time. It sucks. I thought today when I pulled the gap to Palou, I thought that was good. But I had no more fuel, no more tires, no more anything. I just gave it all.
Q. Your opinion on the hairpin.
ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Amazing. It's really good.
WILL POWER: It's cool. Very cool.
Q. You'd leave it the same way?
WILL POWER: Yeah, man, character. This track is epic.
ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Yeah.
WILL POWER: Crazy track, man, like in good crazy.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports