The Swedish duo describes the first curve as a "mental struggle". The foot wants to lift from the accelerator pedal at the same time as the idea is just to continue accelerating.

- In curve one, it is mostly a feeling of speed, because you have stands and everything that you see in the periphery. In that curve, it feels like you have to focus extremely much on where you want while the other curves come a little more naturally, says 28-year-old Felix Rosenqvist in Viaplay's F1 pod.

- In the first, the right foot wants to lift from the gas, but you can only push it down in some way.

Trust the car

Marcus Ericsson:

- That curve is definitely the most difficult on the track and it is important that you trust the car, because it is only important to turn in when you get there. You just have to turn in. And it becomes a lot, as Felix says, that the brain tells you to let go, but you just have to hold down.

The curve will be the first of many when more than 80 km and 200 laps will be run when the classic racing competition Indy 500 is decided in front of empty stands in Indianapolis.

In a corona-free season, the competition is usually run in connection with the Memorial Day weekend in May - and has done so since the start in 1911 - but the prevailing pandemic forced the organizer to move the race to the end of August.

But more than that, Ericsson does not think that covid-19 affects the Indy 500.

"Goosebumps"

- Last year you got goosebumps when you went out on the track, when it was full of people as far as the eye could see. It was a huge feeling then and you got even more pump in the body somehow. It is clear that it will be different now, but once you drive, it is only competitors and the race you are thinking about, says Ericsson, 29, who finished in 23rd place last year and has 11th starting place on Sunday.

Rosenqvist was involved in driving for a top ten position last year but then crashed into a competitor and was forced to cancel the race. This year he starts in 14th place.

- That does not matter much when the race starts, then it is important to be "in the mix" and I feel that we have a pretty good starting position, he says.

The Indy 500 will be decided on Sunday evening Swedish time.