Some supporters of Argentina’s Agustin Canapino have gone on the attack once again, with his Juncos Hollinger Racing teammate Callum Ilott as the target for the second time since April. The torrent of social media abuse aimed at Ilott comes in …
Some supporters of Argentina’s Agustin Canapino have gone on the attack once again, with his Juncos Hollinger Racing teammate Callum Ilott as the target for the second time since April.
The torrent of social media abuse aimed at Ilott comes in response to the contact between the teammates late in Sunday’s race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca where Ilott passed Canapino on the outside of Turn 2 in the final stages of the 95-lap event.
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With Canapino’s car sliding across the apex and briefly oversteering – from his in-car camera, he can be seen correcting the quick slide that moves his car right and into Ilott’s path – Canapino’s right-front wing connected with the left-rear tire on Ilott’s car, which broke the wing.
Ilott would go onto finish fifth, matching his best result of the year, while Canapino’s wings issues caused him to fall back to 14th. But in his best IndyCar performance to date, Canapino persevered and managed to earn the final Leaders Circle contract for the team, giving JHR a pair of $910,000 payouts from IndyCar for the 2024 season.
Despite the positive outcomes in Monterey, Ilott was treated to another non-stop barrage of hatred and threats from Canapino’s fans since Sunday afternoon.
More than 24 hours later, JHR released a tepid plea for civility.
The same routine took place in Long Beach when Ilott was blamed for Canapino’s misfortunes and was treated to death threats that were extended to himself and the rest of his family.
Apparently, the road to an IndyCar top-five finish is pretty straightforward. First you start from 20th on the grid, and then work through a shopping list of tripwires. “I had a broken front wing, I was spun around twice, I was off the road at Turn …
Apparently, the road to an IndyCar top-five finish is pretty straightforward. First you start from 20th on the grid, and then work through a shopping list of tripwires.
“I had a broken front wing, I was spun around twice, I was off the road at Turn 10…” relates Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Callum Ilott. “I took some damage on a restart and had a bent rear and was fighting it like crazy, so that’s why I kept going off the track. And I was right on the limit with fuel –I ran out right after I crossed the line. It was crazy.”
Ilott matched his career-best IndyCar finish of fifth in Sunday’s chaotic season finale at Laguna Seca. The list of random setbacks that he had to navigate during the afternoon were perhaps offset to some degree by the fact that just about every other driver in the field was dealing with an array of dramas of their own. But on the flipside, the No. 77 team had gone into the race planning on a two-stopper, and the early cautions played into their hands.
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“I knew when we had the first pit stop that the strategy we decided was coming to life,” he told RACER. “What we were thinking was, if there was an early yellow we’d take it and try to do a two-stop. And that was working — I think we were second out of the cars doing that strategy.
“I was saving fuel the whole race. So from when I had to do the front wing at the first caution, there was a big (fuel) number to the end, basically. It was all going well, then there was an earlier caution than we would have liked, and then I was getting fuel saving to that point.
“It’s good points. We could have got a bit more because unfortunately the contact got past me because (Scott) Dixon got past me. It is what it is; it’s IndyCar racing, and a top five is still good. It’s a great result for us. We could have got a bit more, but it also could have been a lot worse.”
Sunday’s race will be remembered as much for the seemingly endless chain of incidents that punctuated the race as for anything else. The challenges presented by the different levels of grip across the new track surface were very apparent right from the start of the weekend, but according to Ilott, a bigger problem emerged during the race.
“(The track) was OK to overtake, but if you got to the mid-corner and you were still on the outside, you were in trouble,” he said.
“I think one of the bigger problems was, on the restarts everybody had cold brakes, everybody had cold tires, and having everybody concertina up into that last corner was super tough. No one could brake, really, so I don’t blame anybody… even me, I got spun around by (Will) Power, I think.”
Callum Ilott joins RACER’s Marshall Pruett to share insights about the rain-shortened day at World Wide Technology Raceway and how the first-time use of Firestone’s alternate tires on an oval went with his rapid No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy. …
Callum Ilott joins RACER’s Marshall Pruett to share insights about the rain-shortened day at World Wide Technology Raceway and how the first-time use of Firestone’s alternate tires on an oval went with his rapid No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy.
Two drivers who followed Callum Ilott during Thursday’s Indianapolis 500 practice session said the Briton is among the bravest people on the Speedway. With his car understeering into the corners and snapping to oversteer on the way out, the No. 77 …
Two drivers who followed Callum Ilott during Thursday’s Indianapolis 500 practice session said the Briton is among the bravest people on the Speedway.
With his car understeering into the corners and snapping to oversteer on the way out, the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy was horrendous to drive — fighting its pilot on every lap. After making more changes and failing to rectify its ill-handling behavior during a seven-lap outing early Friday afternoon, the team finally decided to make a change of cars for Ilott.
The new chassis he’s been using will be swapped for the chassis teammate Agustin Canapino used during April’s Indy Open Test.
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“I don’t think we can get back today, but we think we can put a good race car together for Callum,” Ricardo Juncos told RACER. “Now he’s gonna be in the one we tested in April and was good with Canapino. Unfortunately, by losing Tuesday because of the rain, we thought the car would be so much better when we got out, and it was so much better yesterday, but obviously, it’s too late to make the decision to change. You could ask why we didn’t do this earlier, but we cannot look back. We’ll make this change for safety first. Something is clearly wrong in the car.
As RACER noted during its end-of-day video on Wednesday, an immediate need to switch to a different chassis was evident on Day 1 of on-track activities. The obvious lack of speed with Ilott’s car — the same one that wandered on the straights and behaved like it was possessed by a demon at the Open Test — came after the team spent weeks trying to find and improve any deficiencies in the chassis it pointed to. As the first day of practice confirmed, the majority of the car’s problems remained unsolved, and while Ilott did go faster on Thursday, it required constant heroics to keep the car off of the walls.
Nonetheless, JHR wanted to give the search for comfortable speed one more try and held off on doing the chassis swap until Friday afternoon. The decision leaves the team without any running time of value with high boost, and provided the replacement No. 77 Chevy is ready to go when practice starts at 8:30am, Ilott will be playing from behind while hoping Canapino’s former chassis is a breeze to drive.
“This is a massive undertaking for the mechanics,” Juncos added. “So now I think is the time to do it and we’re gonna try to be as quick as possible and get it on the track tomorrow.”
How does a 28-car NTT IndyCar Series grid sound for 2024? Or 29? If the 27 full-timers we have this year weren’t enough, there’s talk of two IndyCar teams adding more entries next year and a brand-new one being created, and with all the other …
How does a 28-car NTT IndyCar Series grid sound for 2024? Or 29?
If the 27 full-timers we have this year weren’t enough, there’s talk of two IndyCar teams adding more entries next year and a brand-new one being created, and with all the other potential movements among current teams and drivers in mind, we’re on the verge of a magnificently hectic silly season.
The first piece in play is Andretti Autosport’s Romain Grosjean, who’s in the last year of his contract with Andretti Autosport but isn’t expected to hit the market after Michael Andretti told us they’re headed towards signing him to an extension. So far, Grosjean is but one of many drivers who are untethered until a new contract is presented or a new team comes calling.
Before we run through the leading free agents, let’s peer inside the teams that will or won’t factor in the hiring sprees.
Among the high-level teams, only one is locked in with their drivers for the coming years as Team Penske are fully sorted through at least 2024 with Will Power, Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin as its title-contending trio.
The story of year-to-year driver consistency among top teams starts and ends there; the majority of Penske’s key rivals will go through at least one significant driver change heading into next season.
Chip Ganassi Racing tops the list of teams that could look radically different by the end of the year: Of its full-time drivers, only Scott Dixon is under a long-term contract. Both sides are keeping calm with the Alex Palou situation, but everyone knows he’s headed to Arrow McLaren at the end of the season. That means a coveted and paying seat could be open. More on that in a moment.
Reigning Indy 500 champ Marcus Ericsson is just of the elements in play at Chip Ganassi Racing.
Marcus Ericsson is in the last year of his current deal and if he leaves, that’s a prime seat in need of a funded driver. It’s unclear if the rideshare in the fourth car between Takuma Sato and Marcus Armstrong is meant to last more than one year, but there are hopes that Armstrong will stay and possibly expand his program to include all the races. Like Ericsson, he brings funding to the car, but that sum would need to increase by a decent amount to add the ovals, unless CGR finds sponsors of its own to cover the tab.
Sato, I’m told, after working hard throughout the offseason to find sponsorship to do the ovals with Ganassi, is unsure what next season might look like. I won’t be surprised if it’s something closer to an Indy-only role unless someone offers him a paid opportunity to return as a full-timer.
And then there’s CGR development driver Kyffin Simpson, who is on the IndyCar horizon. The teenager is in his second year of Indy NXT and has a packed schedule arranged by Ganassi that includes racing in a few sports car series to expedite his learning curve in preparation for a future move to IndyCar. There’s no timetable for the Barbadian’s graduation to the big team, but if he does well this year, I understand he could be stepping up next season, and if all four of its existing cars are full, there’s a chance a fifth IndyCar could be entered to accommodate Simpson.
At Arrow McLaren, Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi have long-term deals in place, but Felix Rosenqvist does not. The team will welcome Palou alongside O’Ward and Rossi once we close the season in Monterey, and the early season rumor of looking at running four cars next year was recently confirmed by McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown. Whether that’s a 2024 thing or 2025 is unclear, if it happens at all, but the fact that it’s being discussed internally at this stage of the season is encouraging.
If you look at its three current cars, there’s no room left to sell, and if greater prosperity can be engineered through expansion, McLaren will have its pick of IndyCar free agents and recent F1 talent to draw from for that car.
Within Andretti Autosport’s quartet, Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood are under multi-year deals and they are expected to be joined by Grosjean in that regard. It’s Andretti’s fourth car for Devlin DeFrancesco, who is in the last year of his deal, where change is anticipated.
At Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Christian Lundgaard is secured, but Graham Rahal and Jack Harvey are in the final year of their contracts. Harvey is one of a few drivers who needs a big showing to convince his team owners that he’s still the right one for the job. If last year’s debut for RLL was a disappointment that produced 22nd in the championship, Harvey’s current fortunes are no better; he’s 23rd.
The same is true of Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud at Meyer Shank Racing, both of whom are in the final year of their current deals. A 50-percent turnover seems inevitable, and if the worst start to any season of Pagenaud’s IndyCar career continues, a 100-percent changeover isn’t out of the question. If the rumors are true, one seat could already be committed.
In recent weeks, Tom Blomqvist, MSR’s 29-year-old rocket-fast IMSA prototype champion, has been repeatedly mentioned as being headed to one of the team’s IndyCar seats in 2024. With his vast experience in all forms of racing, including Formula E and the new hybrid GTP cars, Blomqvist might be the perfect person to lead an open-wheel reboot for the team as IndyCar goes hybrid. And if, by chance, RLL moves on from Harvey, would he be welcomed back at MSR where he was on the verge of winning his first race?
Throw in other potential driver changes at Dale Coyne Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing and Juncos Hollinger Racing, and the IndyCar driver market is looking like it will be busier than we’ve seen in many years.
Long Beach has become a popular event for teams, drivers, and their managers to meet and engage in initial talks about interest and future availability, and as such, quite a few breakfasts, coffees and dinners were shared between interested parties. A larger number of private meals and conversations are already scheduled to take place throughout the month of May at Indianapolis, and by the time we get to June, we should have a better feel for who’s going where during the offseason.
To get the pulse of the market, I’ve asked several drivers, managers, team owners, and team principals to name their top free agents, and with the group speaking under the condition of anonymity, it was interesting to hear a consensus form on the leading candidates.
It’s worth noting that the list below doesn’t encompass every free agent, but rather, the top picks by those I spoke with, in order of frontline drivers for the upcoming silly season, starting with:
CALLUM ILOTT
Mentioned first by the paddock more than any other driver, Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Ilott is the proverbial belle of the ball. According to the group, he’s on the radars of Andretti, Ganassi, McLaren, MSR and RLL, and was rumored to be of interest to Team Penske before Will Power signed his new extension.
What’s unclear is whether the Briton is truly free to leave JHR, if there’s a buyout or exit clause that could be used, or if JHR would hold onto him at all costs.
Like Ganassi hiring Scott Dixon from PacWest and Team Penske signing Josef Newgarden from CFH Racing, standout drivers in small teams eventually move upward and this seems like an inevitability for Ilott. Imagining an Andretti lineup of Grosjean, Herta, Kirkwood and Ilott is easy. Picturing Ilott alongside Dixon and other Ganassi stars isn’t hard. If McLaren goes to four cars, an O’Ward-Palou-Rossi-Ilott quartet would be a nightmare. Ilott with Blomqvist or whomever would be big for MSR, and RLL with a Rahal-Lundgaard-Ilott trio has the same big level of potential.
Whatever the scenario and timing might be, one thing is clear, and it’s that Ilott is coveted by more big teams than any other driver on the market, but only by a small margin.
MARCUS ERICSSON
Next on the list is Ganassi’s Ericsson, who was nearly tied with Ilott with first mentions.
The reigning Indy 500 winner is the most interesting free agent in the series for reasons that are wholly unique to Ericsson. Most of his career has been funded by a benevolent backer — Finn Rausing, owner of the Sauber/Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team — who then opened the door to IndyCar for the Swede after F1.
Within the paddock, person after person cited a strong understanding that Ericsson and his backer are done with bringing sponsorship after the season is over. Most of the teams linked to having an interest in Ilott are mirrored with Ericsson: Andretti, MSR, and RLL are understood to want Ganassi’s front-runner in their camps.
Having won two races and finished sixth in the 2021 championship for Ganassi, won the Indy 500 and finished sixth again in 2022, and won the opening race of the new season, it’s fair to say Ericsson has shed the idea of being a driver who needs to bring sponsorship to drive Indy cars.
What you’d hear from those I spoke with is Ericsson wants to be treated like the other top drivers in the series by being hired to deliver those wins and consistent championship results.
It’s here where Ericsson’s situation is unlike any other because at his current team, which has expected funding to be provided each season, the idea of keeping him in 2024 and beyond would reportedly require CGR to convert Ericsson from a paying driver to someone who is signed to drive without bringing a budget just as they do with the entries for Scott Dixon and Alex Palou.
If Ericsson’s backer is indeed done with writing checks, CGR would need to find sponsors to keep Ericsson and the No. 8 Honda on track, or move him to Palou’s No. 10 Honda, which is believed to be funded for next season, and backfill the No. 8 with another paying driver. Just as some high-powered teams want to get their hands on Ilott, Ericsson’s drawing interest from Ganassi’s rivals for the same reason, and one more: Destabilizing one of IndyCar’s perennial title contenders.
First, almost nobody believes Ganassi will let Ericsson go because he’s become such an important part of the team’s success. Second, what’s emerged as an added point of attraction is a bit more sinister.
If any of those rivals can sign Ericsson away and add his annual wins and top fives to their squad, it would be great, but in their quest to displace Ganassi as one of the top two teams in the series, Ericsson’s been spoken of with equal interest to take those wins and top fives away from Ganassi and weaken their program. Nobody said racing is all hugs and kisses.
“I couldn’t even go in a straight line. It was like a ping-pong ball across a corridor. Just bouncing, bouncing, so I’m like, ‘That’s not good…'” Those were the best things Callum Ilott had to say while describing his worst day on an oval since he …
“I couldn’t even go in a straight line. It was like a ping-pong ball across a corridor. Just bouncing, bouncing, so I’m like, ‘That’s not good…’”
Those were the best things Callum Ilott had to say while describing his worst day on an oval since he joined the NTT IndyCar Series, and in his welcome candor, the Juncos Hollinger Racing driver tells RACER’s Marshall Pruett what it’s like when everything goes wrong on a Indy 500 test day where everything was expected to go according to plan.
Ranging from unkind words to death threats, more than 1500 comments were aimed at Callum Ilott and his loved ones on social media after he and teammate Agustin Canapino found themselves in an unfortunate on-track sequence during Sunday’s Long Beach …
Ranging from unkind words to death threats, more than 1500 comments were aimed at Callum Ilott and his loved ones on social media after he and teammate Agustin Canapino found themselves in an unfortunate on-track sequence during Sunday’s Long Beach Grand Prix.
Similar levels of online abuse were also produced after a contentious incident between Pato O’Ward and Scott Dixon, which inadvertently created the situation between Ilott and Canapino.
After losing a lap when he hit the wall and broke a wheel and flattened a tire, Ilott used the Lap 20 caution for contact between O’Ward and Dixon to stay out and unlap himself as the rest of the field dove into the pits for service. The only outlier in that scenario was Juncos Hollinger Racing rookie Canapino, who was left out and inherited the lead.
Having pitted for new tires just prior to the race returning to green, Ilott was released from the pits and emerged directly in front Canapino who led the field into Turn 1. Back on the tail end of the lead lap, but with cold tires limiting his immediate pace, the Briton held up the Argentinian and defended his position to avoid going down a lap, and it’s here where the situation began to rapidly devolve online.
Moments later, contact with the Turn 5 wall damaged Canapino’s car and he was forced to pit and seek repairs, and with an enraged fan base aiming its anger at Ilott, a steady wave of toxicity was unleashed on him which continued into Monday.
Contrasting views on the incident responsibility between Arrow McLaren’s O’Ward and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Dixon where the New Zealander blamed the Mexican for the clash and O’Ward refused to accept blame for the contretemps led to more ugliness on social media.
Early in the day, Ilott took aim at Argentinian IndyCar commentator Martin Ponte, who he believes is responsible for the torrent of hatred after blaming him for Canapino’s race-altering dramas.
A certain level of professionalism is needed when you hold a microphone that sends a message to 100k+ people. I suggest you think about the message you want to send to people. I suggest you educate yourself on Indycar racing and commentating to a better standard. Be kind please. https://t.co/QJ9HCT0uhH
IndyCar’s passionate audience has rarely strayed into the darker side of social media behavior, making the escalating nature of what’s taken place since Sunday a new experience for the series owned by Penske Entertainment.
Juncos Hollinger Racing is working to repair Callum Ilott’s No.77 Chevrolet in time for NTT IndyCar Series qualifying after the car sustained damage in a bizarre crash during practice at Long Beach on Saturday morning, and team co-owner Ricardo …
Juncos Hollinger Racing is working to repair Callum Ilott’s No.77 Chevrolet in time for NTT IndyCar Series qualifying after the car sustained damage in a bizarre crash during practice at Long Beach on Saturday morning, and team co-owner Ricardo Juncos is looking for an explanation as to how the incident was able to happen in the first place.
Ilott was launched into the wall at the outside of Turn 5 in the opening minutes of the session when his car bottomed out hard on a piece of curb. While the curb had been in place when teams did their track walk on Thursday, it was damaged during an IMSA session on Friday and removed before IndyCar’s opening practice session later that afternoon.
The curb was put back in place overnight, but according to IndyCar the repair was not communicated to the teams or series prior to Saturday’s session, meaning that most teams were alerted to its existence by seeing Ilott and then ECR’s Rinus VeeKay hit it and crash.
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“The damage [to Ilott’s car] is all the front-left corner, the nose is completely (destroyed)… it’s a shame. It’s something that we cannot believe happened,” Juncos told RACER.
“They just have a piece of curb that was not there for practice yesterday, and no one knew about it. It’s hard for the driver to see it from inside the car. So (Callum) did exactly the same line as yesterday, and suddenly he has a springboard into the wall. And then we talk about safety. It’s not right.”
With a broken car and virtually no running on the alternate tires, the incident is a massive blow to JHR’s preparations for qualifying, but Juncos is even more frustrated by what he considers to be a lack of accountability.
“The problem, the frustration, is that it was clearly it was not our fault,” he said. “We could have had a driver injured. We lost a lot of money. And nobody has even come to apologize. Nobody has come to give us an explanation. That’s not right. And there’s nothing I can do about it.
“At this level, it’s unacceptable. Everybody makes mistakes; you should admit it. It’s that simple, and that’s what I was expecting. When we make a mistake, we pay for it — we get penalized, we get DQ’d… every time the team or the driver makes a mistake, we pay for it. This time, whether it’s a mistake by IndyCar or by the track… it’s not a mistake by us, that’s for sure. Maybe it is miscommunication. Whatever. I would like to have someone here to explain it, and we haven’t had that yet.”
Penske Entertainment President and CEO Mark Miles was seen entering the JHR hauler shortly after Juncos’s conversation with RACER.
Ilott’s teammate Canapino showed encouraging speed for Juncos Hollinger Racing in practice. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images
While he waits for answers, Juncos’s focus is switching to turning the team’s weekend around.
“We made some changes from yesterday on both cars, and unfortunately with Callum, he couldn’t try it,” he said. “But Agustin (Capanino) said the car is really, really nice now. He was 0.6s off P1 with the blacks, and then with the greens we couldn’t even make one lap because of traffic. So today he needs to learn two things — one is the traffic and making the proper gap, and the other one is maximizing the grip on the greens. We had everybody improve by six or seven tenths, so if we put that into consideration we can be P8, P10 with him. So that’s good.”
Callum Ilott wasn’t sure about the new form of racing he was having to learn. At this time last year, the lifelong road racer – part of Scuderia Ferrari’s Formula 1 testing and development program prior to joining the Juncos Hollinger Racing team …
Callum Ilott wasn’t sure about the new form of racing he was having to learn.
At this time last year, the lifelong road racer — part of Scuderia Ferrari’s Formula 1 testing and development program prior to joining the Juncos Hollinger Racing team for his rookie IndyCar campaign — was preparing to venture out onto the steep banking at Texas Motor Speedway and wind his No. 77 Chevy up to 220mph with 27 other crazies.
Among the shocks to the Briton’s system was the sheer speed at TMS; laps around the 1.5-mile oval were being completed every 23 to 24 seconds—relentless whipping around the oval—while jockeying for position entering and exiting the corners in a flash.
Despite being no stranger to high speeds and high-commitment turns during his distinguished junior open-wheel career and his F1 testing days, American oval racing threw Ilott for a loop at TMS and once more as he struggled during his first Indianapolis 500. With five oval races completed by the end of the season, the 24-year-old gained enough knowledge and experience to enter his sophomore year with JHR holding a different outlook on ovals.
IndyCar’s first oval of the year is always Texas Motor Speedway – throwing oval rookies to the wolves. By the time Callum Ilott made it to Iowa Speedway in 2022, he was gaining confidence and seemed much happier. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images
A strong weekend on the 0.875-mile Iowa bullring is where Ilott found his oval groove, finishing 12th in the first race of the doubleheader event and 11th the next day in the No. 77 Chevy. Coming off a strong start to the new season where he crossed the St. Petersburg finish line in fifth, Ilott will need to demonstrate his new oval skills on Sunday during the 250-lap PPG 375 at TMS if he wants to remain at the sharp end of the championship standings.
Compared to 12 months ago, it’s a challenge that seems reasonable for Ilott to meet.
“From my side of it, I’m a lot happier to go to Texas than I was last year because I know a lot more about what to expect,” Ilott told RACER. “I think also with the little downforce changes and the options to run more than we had last year, that’s hopefully going to make it a bit more comfortable as well to drive in the race.
“I don’t like going into the unknown, so last year it was all very unknown, even with the rookie test day. I thought the test went really well, and then I come to the race weekend with 27 other cars on the track and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, what’s this?’ I just couldn’t get my head around it. It was really crazy.”
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Given the chance to reorder the sequence of ovals on the IndyCar calendar as a rookie, Ilott has ideas on the perfect educational order.
“If I could shape the series to the best way possible for me last year, it would have been to do Iowa first, do Gateway, then Texas, then the Indy 500,” he said. “I’d build it up like that so you don’t get thrown into Texas, which is the steepest banking probably and most aggressive oval, to start.”
Ilott will start 17th on Sunday and is thankful for the newfound confidence he’ll rely upon as he battles wheel-to-wheel throughout the afternoon.
“It really came up at Iowa,” he said. “That was where I started to understand completely what you need to be doing and how you can work the car and work the track to get the best out of your car. Last year at Texas, I spent a good half of the race doing all the wrong things, all the wrong ways with setting up passes, not understanding why it wasn’t working until I kept repeating the mistakes and then realized what I was doing to myself.
“Going 220 miles an hour and contemplating why the things you’re doing are not working is quite tough. And we had a downforce issue with our front wing in the race that was unfortunate, so this is going to be a different style of racing to what I had last year, because I wasn’t competitive at all. But then on the other side, knowing the progress that we made as a team in the winter with all the important stuff like strategy, pitstops, all those things, will make a massive difference, even if your car’s not the quickest. I think we should be in a much better place and my life will be a lot easier by the end of this year’s race.”
