F1Weekly Podcast # 1161

ON TODAY'S PROGRAM... MAX PREPARES FOR HIS LAST DUTCH GRAND PRIX! PRETTY BOY GEORGE PREPARES TO GET HIS ASS WOOPED CADILLAC PULLS OUT THE "YOUR FIRED" LOWDON GETS HIS PINK SLIP... AND FERNANDO SAYS...I'LL SEE YOU IN 2027... THIS WEEK'S NASIR HAMEED CORNER....INTERVIEW WITH SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS AND, WE REMEMBER DANIKA PATRICK'S WIN AT MOTEGI JAPAN! Ericsson Undeniable in Markham to End 63-Race Drought.

MARKHAM, Ontario (Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026) – Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson wasn’t to be denied victory in the new Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham even as it meant tormenting a longtime rival.

Ericsson charged through the field late in the 90-lap Canadian race to hunt down and pass Dale Coyne Racing’s Romain Grosjean for a victory.

SEE: Race Results

Ericsson scored his fifth career NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory while denying Grosjean his first. Grosjean was trying to reach the top step of the podium only to come one step short for the sixth time. Coincidentally, Grosjean’s last win of any kind came in a GP2 series race in Hungary in 2011. Ericsson finished fifth in that race.

Ericsson’s victory here came 10 days after being confirmed to return to Andretti Global for a fourth season. It also ended his 63-race drought dating back to his 2023 season-opening victory in St. Petersburg.

“It’s been long enough,” Ericsson said. “It doesn’t come as much of a surprise. We’ve had such a good year. We’ve been working every weekend, getting stronger and stronger, qualifying up front every weekend. We might not have got the results we deserved every weekend, but I really felt we deserved (this).”

Ericsson’s voice cracked during the interview, which he blamed on screaming too much after taking the checkered flag. But he said it was a bold and aggressive drive over those challenging street-course laps.

“We were the fastest car all day, I thought,” he said. “Obviously, there were a lot of (cautions), so we had to stay out (longer on the final sequence). I wanted to show the pace and open a gap, so we gambled on staying out. I had the pace and we were lapping so quick (after coming out of the pits on Lap 69) seventh. It was a lot of work to get through the leaders.”

In that charge was contact in the Turn 5 hairpin with Andretti Global teammate Will Power for third place. Ericsson called the hard bump “unfortunate,” but Power said he understood.

Said Ericsson: “You never want that, but I had to get through. I knew I could win this race.”

Ericsson won another race like this. In 2021, he emerged as the winner of a trouble-filled first race on Nashville’s streets that included his car getting airborne vertically. The winner of the 2022 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge now has four street course victories.

Grosjean settled for second place – his best since finishing second at Barber Motorsports Park in 2023. Power finished third with series points leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing taking fourth and Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward fifth.

“We did everything we could,” said Grosjean, who led 28 laps and scored his first top-five finish of 2026. “I wanted to (keep Palou in second place) – I knew (with that gap) it was safe. But then (Ericsson) came … unfortunately that (wasn’t our) day. But on to the next one.”

Several other drivers could say the same.

The race o