Marcus Ericsson on winning the Indy 500, the importance of focus, and more

Sunday brings the 109th running of the greatest spectacle in motorsports, the Indianapolis 500. It is an event rich in heritage and part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport, along with the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It is a race that every driver dreams of winning, and the most-attended sporting event in the world. Only 75 drivers have tasted victory — and milk — in this event.

Marcus Ericsson is one of those drivers.

Ericsson moved to IndyCar for the 2019 season, following five seasons on the F1 grid with Caterham, Sauber, and Alfa Romeo. After his debut campaign with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, he moved to Chip Ganassi for the 2020 season. And in the 2022 Indianapolis 500, Ericsson held off Pato O’Ward over a two-lap shootout at the end to take the checkered flag, which came under caution when Sage Karam hit the wall at the exit of Turn 2.

Now driving for Andretti, Ericsson is set to start ninth on Sunday, and has his eyes firmly set on another win in the Indianapolis 500. SB Nation caught up with Ericsson ahead of the weekend to talk about his chances in the 500, what it takes to be successful at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and his special No. 28 Allegra that he is running this weekend.

Marcus Ericsson’s Indianapolis 500 so far

“I think we had a really good qualifying weekend,” began Ericsson when asked about the qualifying runs for the Indianapolis 500, which will see him start ninth, on the outside of the third row.

“Of course we always want to be number one, but I think this race, it’s a long race, and it’s about being there at the end and starting in ninth position, I think it’s a perfect spot,” continued the Andretti driver.

As Ericsson outlined, however, the first part of the race is purely about survival.

“The first sort of 100 laps are about just protecting the race car and running up front, so I think starting the ninth will be perfect for that. So we’re happy and we know we can win from that position,” continued Ericsson.

While Ericsson is happy with how qualifying turned out, it was not a stress-free weekend. Multiple crashes on both Saturday and Sunday — involving Marcus Armstrong, Colton Herta, and Scott McLaughlin — added to the anxiety all weekend long.

Add in the fact that the drivers were getting used to the hybrid engines, which debuted last July and are being used in the Indianapolis 500 for the first time this season, and you have some high-wire moments for the drivers, Ericsson included.

“It was pretty stressful weekend, to be honest, because also this year with the hybrid added and the extra weight from the hybrids, it was a lot of incidents, a lot of crashes,” added Ericsson. “When you go out during a qualifying run at this track, you’re on the limit and you want to be as close to crashing as possible without crashing, and that’s a fine line to sort of balance on.

“It was tricky with the weather conditions and the winds and everything, so it was definitely a high-tension weekend for all of us drivers, I think.”

The No. 28, Allegra, and the importance of staying focused

Allegra

Something I have thought about a lot the more I cover motorsports, given my struggles with allergies, is this.

What happens when you have to sneeze?

It is one thing when you are making a run to the grocery store, but it is quite another when you are rocketing around Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 235 miles per hour, where you cover a football field per second as Pato O’Ward explained to me recently.

That can be a pretty scary sneeze.

This month Ericsson is partnering with Allegra, running a special livery on the No. 28, to promote an important message: “Alertness on the road is a no-brainer.”

It is a personal message to the driver.

“Winning races comes down to how sharp my pit crew and I are, because a split second can make all the difference,” said Ericsson in a press release earlier this week. “As someone with allergies, I know how much of a difference non-drowsy Allegra with zero percent brain interference can make in keeping your reaction time sharp. Staying focused matters, not just for racers and crews at the Indianapolis 500, but for everyone on the road this summer.”

I asked him first about the livery on his No. 28 this week.

“I think it looks amazing and it really stands out, which I think is cool because a lot of cars, they have similar color combinations and sort of doesn’t stand out very well. Whereas the Allegra car really pops with the purple and the sort of orange bits and white, and it really looks good out on track,” said Ericsson.

“So yeah, 10 out of 10 on the livery.”

Ericsson then stressed the importance of being alert on the road, and how Allegra is helping in that effort.

“It’s extremely important because driving at 230-plus miles an hour, you have to stay super sharp, laser-focused, and that’s where Allegra plays a big part there with zero percent brain interference. It helps you stay sharp and non-drowsy.

“So those are things that obviously when driving a race car is super essential, but really for anything you do. To be able to do that for me personally with my busy schedule is essential.

“Allegra definitely helps with that.”

Allegra has even developed an app where fans can test their reaction speed in the No-Brainer Reaction Time Game. If you ever wanted to put your reactions up against the winner of the 2022 Indianapolis 500, now is your chance.

“I have played it a few times now and I get better every time, so I encourage people to play it multiple times to get some good scores. I think at my best was like 0.5, so there’s still room for improvement,” said Ericsson. ”But yeah, if someone wants to challenge me [they can] try and beat my time there on the Allegra game.”

What it takes to win in Indianapolis

Having won the Indianapolis 500 before, Ericsson knows what it takes to have success at IMS.

It starts with focus.

“Yeah, it’s really tough because you need to be laser-focused and, you know, very subtle and precise movements with your steering wheel,” said Ericsson when I asked him what it takes to be successful at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “You’ve got to really feel the car, what the car is doing, and doing your adjustments on the steering wheel, but it is extremely tough.

“I always say qualifying for the Indy 500 is one of the biggest challenges of the year because of those speeds that you do, and the margin for error being pretty much zero.”

As for those adjustments, Ericsson outlined just what is at his disposal in the car, to make the changes he needs to keep up with the track, and the pack.

“So we have quite a few tools in the car. We always have the weight jacker to move the cross weights [between the front wheels]. We have the front and rear bar that we’re adjusting as well. And then now we have the hybrid as well, which you can deploy the batteries,” described Ericsson.

“There’s a lot of things going on on the steering wheel and in the cockpit that you can adjust and the track here at Indy, the four corners might look very similar, but they are all a little bit different.”

Something else that multiple drivers, including Ericsson, have stressed to me this week is the wind, and how subtle changes in the windsock can be massive inside the cars.

“And also another thing that’s really important to take into account is the wind direction. Having the wind head-on, or tailwind, or crosswind, really changes the way the car behaves at those speeds, so you need to take that into account all the time.

“You look when you’re driving, you look at the wind socks on top of the grandstands and trying to read that and trying to anticipate what the car will do because of that.”

All these small details add up rather fast at these speeds.

“So it’s very, very small details, and very complex.”

Another difficult challenge is handling all the time you get in the car as a driver ahead of the Indianapolis 500, with several practice sessions and extended qualifying sessions.

That means as a driver, you have to think about the long game and stay patient throughout the month.

“Yeah, it’s a long month, so you need to always sort of think about the long game,” began Ericsson. “I always say patience is the name of the game. So you need to sort of do things step by step, and sometimes you go in the wrong direction with the setup or the driving, then you need to take a step back and sort of reset and get back after it again.”

When those moments arrive, that patience needs to kick in to keep the stress levels down.

“Not get stressed and sort of brush things off. You need to do it step by step and be patient, and I think that’s what we’ve been doing really well with the Allegra car this year.

“We’ve been taking it step by step, getting better each day, and hopefully we will peak on race day.”

As one of the drivers who has tasted victory in the Indianapolis 500, Ericsson knows what it means to win this race.

And what it would mean to win again.

“It meant the world to me because it’s the biggest race in the world. It’s something I dreamed about and worked towards all my career, so to win it made all those sacrifices, all that I’ve done throughout my life worth it in a way,” recalled Ericsson.

It also meant racing immortality.

“And also being the biggest race in the world, you’re part of racing history after winning it. You have your face on that Borg-Warner Trophy and you will forever be an Indy 500 champion, and I think for that, it’s just a life-changing thing.

“Which means everything.”