IndyCar's Marcus Armstrong couldn't believe Carlos Sainz's "super angry" Ferrari podium moment

IndyCar driver Marcus Armstrong was recently featured on Conor Daly's Speed Street podcast’s latest episode uploaded on April 2, 2025, with the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach fast approaching. As Daly and Armstrong discussed the European open-wheel racing mentality, Carlos Sainz's Ferrari podium moment was brought up.

Armstrong detailed the negative impact of social media comments on a driver's mentality. He suggested that he refrained from looking at the user's comments and highlighted how when fans tried to cheer him up or appreciate him after a disappointing race, it made him feel worse.

Juncos Hollinger Racing's Conor Daly then stepped up and advised that it wasn't the fans but Marcus Armstrong’s European open-wheel racing mentality that led to his emotions. Armstrong raced in the F3 and F2 championships before moving to the US to race in IndyCar and hence was influenced by the mentality.

Reflecting on this mentality, the Meyer Shank Racing driver brought up Carlos Sainz's podium moment, where the Ferrari driver was unhappy despite being on the podium, as Marcus Armstrong said:

“You know, I remember watching the Miami Grand Prix, maybe last year or the year before, and Carlos Sainz finished second or third. And he's got Dan Marino giving him a handshake, you know, congratulating him. And Carlos couldn't look more disinterested.” (39:10 onwards)

“Yeah, I'm a Dan Marino fan... When he was congratulating Carlos on the P2 or 3 and Carlos looking super angry and disinterested, I was like, this just. This isn't a vibe. If I was there, no matter how bad my race was and Dan Marino was in my presence, I would be the happiest man alive. So I kind of get your point about the whole year of you can't be happy unless you win by half a minute sort of mentality,” he added.

Dan Marino was the Quarterback for the Miami Dolphins and handed the podium trophies at the 2022 Miami Grand Prix. Max Verstappen won the race followed by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz rounding out the podium positions.

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Marcus Armstrong on the “balance” issues with his #66 MSR at Thermal Club

Marcus Armstrong qualified P7 for the 2025 Thermal Club IndyCar race. However, the Kiwi driver dropped a place in the first half of the race as he struggled with the car's balance. Only when the team put on the new alternate tires and made the balance adjustment, did Armstrong come to life and made up positions to finish P7. Speaking about the issues, he said (via Frontstretch):

“It was a long race, so I really struggled on used alternates. I wasn’t happy with the balance of the car, but we slowly made adjustments through the race and then put some new reds on at the end and we were pretty rapid. It’s a shame that the used tire runs were so tricky, but I’m glad that we made up some ground at the end and finished where we started.”

Marcus Armstrong had a strong qualifying at St. Pete where he started on the front row but brushing the wall midway through the race forced him to retire.