But when the first round of stops had shaken out, it was McLaughlin – who had started sixth on the harder ‘prime’ Firestones – that held the advantage out front. Grosjean looked desperate to win back his lead as he tracked the No3 Penske entry through every turn. The trouble was McLaughlin, who won here last season, knew that as long as he made a clean exit out of the final Turn 14 onto the main straight – an airport runway on which Grosjean had landed his own plane a few days earlier – the ex-Haas F1 ace was powerless to do much in attack. That’s why it all came down to the final pitstops.
Grosjean as the driver following threw the dice first and pitted, in an attempt to undercut into the lead. But the Penske crew, which had already played a big part in handing McLaughlin his edge in the first place, were flawless once more as the ex-Aussie Supercars king stopped a lap later. The Penske Dallara accelerated back out on to the track almost exactly as Grosjean’s yellow DHL racer fired into Turn 2. McLaughlin had it – just.
But he was on cold tyres, and Grosjean knew he had one final chance to win this race by making the most of his warm rubber on the run into Turn 4. McLaughlin blocked the inside route, so Grosjean jinked left and was later on the brakes… He turned in, but not fully ahead – and McLaughlin refused to yield, losing the backend and skittling the Andretti and himself off the circuit.
McLaughlin probably should have relented, but few pure-blood racers would have backed out in the same situation. Still, two into that corner was never likely go and what had been a great battle ended in a sorry collision, with both parked nose first in a tyre wall. A furious Grosjean stepped out and thumped the tyre wall in anger, while McLaughlin recovered to be classified 13th. What a damn shame it ended this way.
In his TV interview, Grosjean alluded to dark insinuations against McLaughlin, but this turned out to be the disappointment talking in the immediate aftermath. McLaughlin spoke of his intention to personally apologise to the Frenchman, and was later seen doing so. The only intention of both was to come out of Turn 4 with the lead, and it should be ruled a hot-blooded racing accident.