Hot quotes from the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

On the ongoing war of words between Tim Cindric and Dario Franchitti
Helio Castroneves: “I’ve known Tim for a long time. Obviously, he has his own opinion. To be honest, so many things are said from competitors. It’s just blowing out of proportion when somebody speaks a little bit louder. I don’t see all the fuss about it. Again, everybody is entitled for your own opinion. It’s too much power for me to comment, so I prefer to stay out of it.”

On Andretti Autosport’s performance with Honda powerplants:
Ryan Hunter-Reay: “We’ve come a long way in a short amount of time. Honda has done an exceptional job. … We went to school with each other today. This is our first time in this era of engines with Honda. You really have to learn what to expect from the Firestone tires, with the power delivery and everything else. It’s a pretty complex picture and we’re putting it together. Hopefully Long Beach will be that much better.”

On closing the pits under yellow
Ryan Hunter-Reay: “I was really worried we were going to get hosed by that one. When the yellow came out, just prior to that I had seen cars coming out of the pits in front of us, cars I didn’t recognize that shouldn’t have been up there, and then it went yellow. I figured they all would be in front of us. It worked out today. We started that restart third I think, so it worked out today. It does reward the guys that come in and do some odd-ball gamble, come in early and hope for a yellow. Then it happens and the leaders get hosed on it. But you are protecting the safety team a bit more when you do that.”

On Juan Montoya’s first race back in IndyCar
Helio Castroneves: “I did speak with him on my way here. He had a blast. He learned about the red tires. He made some changes during the warm-up to the race, quite dramatic. But it was good because he learned what to handle. When he was in front of us, I saw that he was running pretty good lap times. That shows he got the hang of it. Trust me, Long Beach, he knows the place. I’m not sure if he won there, but I believe he did. It’s going to be a different picture of him, another bullet for Team Penske.”

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