Q: Like Tom Hiett last week, I’m very unhappy with Road America allowing the southern third of IndyCar team transporters to block the paddock walk public access. I hated it last year and more so this year. It’s a Road America issue for sure and not IndyCar, since it also happened for the IMSA race in 2023. For 40 years the entire fence row at the pits has been open. No longer.
I complained to track management after the 2023 races and received no reply. When I asked at the start of this year if would happen again, I was simply told “yes.” I complained again via this year’s IndyCar post-race survey about this. Crickets.
John Ewert or Mike Kertscher are free to clear this up. They seem to not want to clarify what the reasons are. What I’ve made clear to them is that I will no longer attend these races in person. It’s that much of a thing to me. Maybe they don’t care about my group of tickets. If they don’t, why should I?
Mike DeQuardo, Elkhart Lake
MP: This is the first instance I know of with someone refusing to attend a race due to how transporters are parked. Hopefully they listen.
Q: With the (rumored) increased TV money from FOX, has the series privately outlined where they plan to invest the extra cash? If I were a team owner I’d be absolutely over the moon about the full network slate, but then my first question would be asking how the series plans on utilizing the extra money that FOX is paying.
Joe
MP: Penske Entertainment hasn’t acknowledged the amount they’ll be paid, much less what they plan to do with the money. You won’t find a more secretive group in racing, so I wouldn’t hold your breath.
Q: While something is better than nothing, I wish that another network would be covering IMSA instead of NBC. While they say that there will be great coverage this weekend, that should be an indication of where the coverage will exist. It won’t be on NBC but on Peacock. The Six Hours at Watkins Glen has the first half of the race, but if you want to see the finish it appears that you must pay to see it on the Turkey — sorry, Peacock. Any thoughts from your perspective?
Craig
MP: It was on USA for the first three hours and the second three were on Peacock, as noted. IndyCar also raced on Sunday, and took over on USA. I wish we could go back in time to when SPEED existed and we could get full endurance races on a single cable channel, but that reality disappeared more than a decade ago. Motor Trend does all 24 hours of Le Mans, which is awesome, but it’s a huge exception.
Streaming has been the absolute norm to consume endurance racing for quite a long time. The last time it wasn’t, George W. Bush was president. Nothing new here. Same for IndyCar for every session prior to the races since NBC took over. If you love IMSA, get Peacock.
Q: How about IndyCar/Dallara pay Adrian Newey a big chunk of change to design a new chassis before he jets off to Aston Martin or wherever he’s going?
Pete, Milwaukee WI
MP: Asking Newey to design a spec car is like asking Picasso to do finger painting.
Q: Carlos Sainz should sign a one- or two-year contract and then decide where he should go. There may be openings at top teams in the next year or two. If Hamilton decides to quit after two years at Ferrari, Carlos would be the best choice for them. If Kimi Antonelli doesn’t work out, if Red Bull loses faith in Perez, if Alonso retires or Lance Stroll leaves F1… lots of possibilities in the next two years.
Bruce
CHRIS MEDLAND: Sainz told Mercedes he wasn’t interested in a one-year deal when that was mooted as a potential option while they waited for either Verstappen or Antonelli, and I don’t see it making a huge amount of sense elsewhere. There’s so much movement this year that there’s hardly any seats available for 2026, so he has to do at least a two-year deal.
To achieve what you’re suggesting, he needs to ensure he has a break clause in his contract if a race-winning team comes knocking, which after this season could be any one of four (assuming Mercedes does pick up a win).
The Red Bull seat was one Sainz was really hoping would become available and he’d have been a great fit if the defending champions needed someone, but the options he’s left with are all unlikely to be particularly strong next year so his reputation isn’t expected to get much a boost from the machinery.
That means a longer-term deal with a project that is growing is likely to be his next move, but he’s definitely unfortunate to be losing a Ferrari seat when he’s regularly so close to Leclerc and not have anything available at any of the top five teams.
Q: With so many looking at ways to improve the racing/passing at Monaco, why not think out of the box and kind of lean into the no passing? Make the Monaco GP a TT!
Hear me out. Practice in groups on Friday. Then Saturday, with much festivity, Prince Albert draws the single-car qualifying order. Each car gets three laps. On Sunday the “grid” is set with the slowest qualifier going first and the fastest last. Each car gets four laps, and the fastest accumulated time wins!
A point on track could be chosen so as one car is close to entering the pits, the next could be leaving, so the fans are not without a car on track. All the cars would have in-car cameras, too!
I think it could make for a great event, and the course and the cars could remain unchanged! With how cool the Isle of Man is, I thought I’d throw that idea out there.
Bill V. Sr.
CM: You’re not the first person to advocate for a total rethink of the format of the event in Monaco, to suit the track itself. And I’m not totally against trying to find a solution that is a test of skill and still rewards the best driver and car package but through a different way.
The issue with your idea is you’re not getting equal track conditions, and if it rains halfway through the time trial then the bottom 10 are the only ones able to “win” compared to anyone in the top 10. And I also fear that there would be a lack of general interest until the final few runners, too.
It would make for a more entertaining event, though, and we’re guaranteed more boring ones (without rain) until F1 can significantly address the size of the cars. F2 to some extent but F3 in particular showed that the size of the machinery is the key thing — Leclerc could never have driven so slowly in the F1 race with a smaller car because he’d be far more likely to be overtaken.