Devlin DeFrancesco gives "nerves are high" justification after bitter fight with Scott McLaughlin after IndyCar race

Even before the race started, Devlin DeFrancesco and Scott McLaughlin came together on the warm-up lap. The pair was then seen engaging in a heated confrontation after the race, and the 25-year-old has now issued a justification on Instagram for the altercation and deemed that the nerves were high in the anger-charged messages shared between him and McLaughlin.

On the warm-up lap at turn 15, the RLL driver lunged up the inside of McLaughlin, causing the two to collide and the Kiwi being spun around. The Team Penske driver was not expecting the RLL car to pop up on his inside line with the race yet to go green and stewards found DeFrancesco to be at fault for the whole incident.

The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver was issued a drive-through penalty for his action. However, the two crossed paths with each other post-race, where they engaged in a heated battle of words.

On the other hand, with the preliminary cause of the accident lying in Devlin DeFrancesco's camp, the Canadian admitted that the nerves were high after the race and he respects the New Zealander despite the altercation, as he wrote on Instagram:

"Definitely not how we wanted today to go. We will keep pushing and we will be back stronger in Long Beach. Super happy with the pace of the 30 @RLLracing today in race especially on reds. I also wanted to add, nerves are high after the race I spoke to @smclaughlin93 afterwards and cleared the air. I have nothing but respect for him! Looking forward to putting this behind us and moving forward to Long Beach."

Devlin DeFrancesco finished 22nd at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix, while, McLaughlin had recorded a P4 finish at the race after leading the most laps of anyone at the Grand Prix.

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Scott McLaughlin laments his Thermal GP weekend after crash with Devlin DeFrancesco

Scott McLaughlin at the NTT IndyCar Series Bommarito Automotive Group 500 - Source: Getty

Disappointed by an unfortunate strategy mishap at St. Petersburg, Scott McLaughlin aimed to get back to winning ways at the Thermal Club. However, the crash with Devlin DeFrancesco led him to being plum last in the initial stage of the race.

Moreover, he suffered a Motor Generator Unit (MGU) failure mid-race, causing him to remain in the pits for six laps and lose further ground in the race. Dejected with his weekend at Thermal Club, the New Zealander said (via Nine):

"Not the day we wanted... Unfortunately, the issue we had with our MGU caused it to go into critical mode and we had to sit on pit lane for several laps while draining the battery and resetting everything. Very thankful that we got a solid finish to start the year at St Pete. We'll just go about climbing back out of this points hole."

Devlin DeFrancesco and Scott McLaughlin stand 22nd and 10th in interim standings respectively, and both will be aiming for a better race weekend at Long Beach to catapult them into the championship fight.