So that was fun driving on slicks in the wet of Sao Paulo. Unfortunately, it wasn't fast. But to be honest, it didn't make a lot of difference to the finishing position of the No. 26 Venom Energy Andretti Autosport car. Maybe we'd have been two or three positions higher, but so what? That wasn't the make or break; what was make or break was our strategy.
It's easy to be the Monday morning quarterback and say I should have pitted with Will Power, but at the time we were trying to do something different to beat him. Given the number of mistakes and incidents through the afternoon, it seemed reasonable to expect another full-course caution. Unfortunately for us, it never came, whereas Dario Franchitti spun and caused the yellow flag he needed! The day I spin and it puts me fourth, I'll be happy.
Long Beach saw my whole weekend defined by qualifying, when I clipped a wall on my third lap and bent a toe link. That was a shame, because even with only three laps under my belt, I was 14th, so that was a real missed opportunity. We were going to be right there pace-wise, definitely able to stick it in the Firestone Fast Six like Ryan Hunter-Reay and Mike Conway did. I was driving exactly Ryan's car, and that mistake left me very disappointed. Still, I'd rather a mistake while trying, than not. Those places take a certain discipline, and that day I didn't have it and the collision bent a toe link.
Twenty-four hours later I was depressed again – we had just gone on reds when everyone else was on blacks, so I'm pretty sure that would have been a fun stint, but then we had that collision with Bourdais. I had no idea he was there: I even looked in my mirror and didn't see him and I wasn't warned on the radio. So I guess it was 50/50 between me and Dad as to whose fault it was…Well, actually, Sebastien does have brakes!
But, whatever, I'd say it was one of those dumb incidents that was easily avoidable from three different ways. All in all, a bummer of a weekend for us guys, but obviously major props to Mike Conway and the team for getting Andretti Autosport the win.