Marco Andretti voices 'speed problems' ahead of crucial Indy 500 qualifying face-off with Abel, Armstrong, and VeeKay

Andretti Global driver Marco Andretti participated in the qualifying session on May 17 for the Indianapolis 500. He expressed the speed issues he faced during the qualifying session.

On Sunday, May 18, Bob Pockrass uploaded a clip from the press conference where the #98 driver was questioned about the issues with his qualifying. The driver replied,

"Like I've seen it all in 20 years or so I just I guess the underwhelming part about it is if I executed perfectly at a downforce that crashed earlier. I would have been like 29th, so 30th is you know not a big deal unless we screw up tomorrow. Obviously, I don't want to be in that position but we, have bigger problems like we just have speed problems. I really don't know. I mean, I've seen it across the garage with big teams. It's always like that 1. That just is like they change every bolt on the car and it's just that's how fast it's gonna go. So I drew that straw this year."

The #98 driver drives the Andretti Global car powered by Honda. He put in a lap of 229.859 seconds, which placed him in 31st spot, which means he will be battling it out against the other drivers in the relegation zone on Sunday. The 38-year-old will be going up against Rinus VeeKay, Marcus Armstrong, and Jacob Abel.

This start will mark Marco Andretti's 20th start at the Indianapolis 500. He is being backed up by MAPEI, an Italian-based chemical company. During his previous outing in 2024 at the 'Greatest Spectacle of Racing,' the American driver crashed out on lap 114 of the 200-lap race.

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"Nothing is really different": Marco Andretti opens up about driving for Andretti Global after change in the leadership

The third-generation Andretti, Marco Andretti, recently opened up about driving for the team for the first time after a change in the leadership. The change in the team took place somewhere in September last year.

On May 15, Thursday, in a clip uploaded by Bob Pockrass, Marco Andretti was questioned if it feels different to drive for the team after a change in the leadership, now that his father, Michael Andretti, has stepped down as the owner of the team. He replied, saying,

"Actually no, there's like still a bunch of the same people in the paddock , so it nothing is really different right now. Well, we always looked at it as business anyway. That's why I was able to work for 20 years. Because yeah, we don't. You know, we try not to pull a family card on either side so."

The change in the team hierarchy took place last year in September after Michael Andretti announced that he was stepping down as the team's CEO after handing over the responsibility to Dan Towriss. Michael Andretti is currently the strategic advisor at the team. This is the first time Marco Andretti will be driving for the team after this big change.