Q: No new pavement to use as an excuse, and we get a fastest race lap slightly quicker than last year, average race laps on par with last year’s average, and nearly half the field matched or defeated the race lap record in qualifying (which has been incredibly rare across the board as of late). It is very apparent that the cars are at worst as quick as they were last year, and even if someone wants to find something to nitpick, it is undeniable that they were nowhere near the second-plus down that so many who can’t account for all variables insisted they would be. As the teams figure out setups, and drivers get better at harvesting and deployment, they’re only going to get faster — even before future power upgrades come in.
Sure, being on par with the non-hybrid speeds isn’t some awesomely amazing achievement, but it is the first hurdle to overcome to make sure a system will actually provide a visually discernible benefit.
So, how many letters did you receive this week still trying to claim that Toronto proved the hybrids slower? (And what’s your favorite reasoning)?
FormulaFox
MP: I’ll have to keep scrolling and see if any pop up. Folks tend to glorify their dunks, not the misses, so I’m sure the next wave of complaints will come after Gateway and Milwaukee, where race- and championship-winning race engineers have already told me they expect repeats of Iowa, and due to tires that they say are too hard, just like at Iowa.
Q: I am sure a lot of corner workers and former corner workers (I am in the latter category) have written in regarding the absence of a local yellow for the O’Ward, Ericsson, Fittipaldi, Ferrucci, Siegel crash at Toronto. Have the EM Marshaling panels completely replaced waving yellow flags in the corners? Who activates the EM Marshaling panels for a local yellow at a given corner? Turn 1 at Toronto is quite a canyon. Those responsible for activating the EM panels there would need to be situated where they can see the exit of the corner.
Tom Hinshaw, Santa Barbara, CA
MP: The panels do not replace the amazing volunteer corner workers, who do wave flags. As I was told when the system came online, race control activates full-course cautions and each flagging station with a panel can activate it locally.
Q: I’m sure others will comment on the failure to throw a yellow for Pato’s spin. Post-race, do we know for sure that they really didn’t? My suggestion is that IndyCar use a very large, blindingly bright LED board located before turn-in at corners at the end of a straight where speeds and braking levels are high, cars expect to track out all the way to the wall and sightlines are compromised. And when a car spins mid-corner, turn it on! Aeroscreen or not, Pato had to be terrified.
2024 sure has been an uneven year for Penske on a few fronts. I don’t think we’ll ever know all the details of the P2P scandal, but taking a win away and sitting team principals for the 500 lets you know it was serious, and I believe other teams to this day don’t believe Penske’s story and resent them. That has to be bad for team morale.
So I wonder if it’s a Penske team morale problem or something else that has resulted in the several weirdly unprofessional on-track actions by Newgarden and Power this year? Examples are Newgarden at Laguna and Power at Toronto, but there have been others. They did things that make no sense and are embarrassing to the whole team. How much of it is “stuff rolls downhill”?
Finally, did Georgia Hennebrenner have an excused absence from Sunday’s race? I missed the enthusiasm she brings to the telecast.
Chris
MP: Georgia’s been used sparingly this year on NBC broadcasts as an extra resource when it’s airing multiple races on the same weekend, so her unfortunate absences are the norm. Race control did trigger a full-course caution. It just happened later than expected.
We can safely say Power wasn’t thinking about team morale when he thought he could pass McLaughlin in Turn 5. Poor judgment on Power’s part. Newgarden’s year has been the strangest one with the up-and-down results.
Before the string of events Power initiated, Penske had him in P2 and McLaughlin in P5 in the standings. Afterwards, his mistake didn’t surrender P2 but increased the gap to Palou and dropped McLaughlin to P6.
After the same number of races last year, Penske drivers were P2, P5, and P7 in the championship. Leaving Toronto, they’re P2, P6, and P8, with McLaughlin and Newgarden lacking points for the St. Pete race. If the P2P ordeal is affecting their overall performance, I can’t find it.
Q: I had a paddock pass for the Toronto IndyCar race and was struck, from a close up views, how ugly the shade of orange — well, random patches of orange — were on the Arrow McLaren team cars — a dark orange but in matte finish, making it both it both lurid and dull.
I’m old enough to remember the gorgeous all-papaya orange Can-Am and Indy McLarens. What is your opinion of the current livery (it continues in F1 as well) and has anyone asked why it changed from the traditional McLaren color to the current orange-and-black dog’s breakfast?
Anthony Jenkins, Brockville, Canada
MP: I can’t say their cars are my favorites to behold. I don’t keep track of which questions get asked to Arrow McLaren, so I can’t answer.
Q: As I read your article about the non-yellow at the end of the Toronto race, I could not help but think back to the F1 race a while back when Mr. Horner and company publicly called out the marshals for displaying a yellow flag and suggesting the marshal did not know how to do their job. As it turned out the Red Bull team was incorrect, and the flagging was spot-on.
Fast-forward to the incident at Turn 1 in Toronto. In the article both Ward and O’Ward are quoted as questioning the timing of the yellow. My concern is that they seem to be questioning the timing of a full course caution and publicly calling out IndyCar.
Does this mean that the only information the drivers now pay attention to is the yellow lights in the driver compartment or the lights on the car ahead? If that is the case, the corner marshals might as well pack up our flags and go home. In a normal sequence of events, the flag station at the incident will display a waving yellow flag. They also activate the waving yellow indication on the station light board. When that activation occurs it automatically sets the light board of the station before to a steady yellow display. As that is occurring, the communicator is calling into “control” to verbally advise them.
I will add that the when the light boards activate it also displays in “control,” which starts activity in that room. Generally the call for a full course caution happens after these first steps because in many times the incident can effectively be covered by the local yellow.
So, going back to the incident at Turn 1. It is a corner known for having incidents and cars stopping — and in many cases proceeding — after driver mistakes. All of the flagging actions occurred when the first car made its mistake and spun into the wall. The second impacts began after the warning flag and light board actions had started. That would strongly suggest the incoming drivers ignored both the actual waving yellow flag and the light boards.
By publicly calling out IndyCar it can also be taken that they are calling out the actions of those marshals on the corner. As one of the corner marshals working that event, I would be very disappointed if that was the intent of that public call-out. If Mr. Ward or Mr. O’Ward wants to come down to a corner, I am sure they can be set up with a communication set and some flags, unless, they only want onboard lights.
Mike
MP: In a packed restart situation, you’d expect the drivers at the front of the restart to be focused forward. The caution lights on the steering wheel are indeed the first thing drivers would notice when they’re funneling into Turn 1. Those who weren’t in the initial funnel would be expected to see waving yellow flags and lit yellow panels.
From the comments made by O’Ward and Ward, they were aimed at IndyCar.
O’Ward: “I am so surprised that they did not call a yellow, as you are just calling for a massive shunt. There was a solid five seconds of waiting before telling everyone what was coming. I am glad that everybody that was involved in it is okay. I am sorry for the team.”
Ward: “I’m just glad we don’t have any more injured drivers at the end of the day. I think IndyCar needs to take a deep dive into the delay in going yellow. That incident started off with Pato having a spin, and not going to a full course yellow until there’s a car in the catch fence, and we’ve totally crashed two good race cars. It’s just not good enough.”
I didn’t take what they said as shots at corner workers, but I’m not a corner worker.