Q: If Grosjean is going to Juncos Hollinger, who is he replacing?
Bill Carsey, North Olmsted, OH
MP: The thought was that he’d be teaming with Ilott since the team had very little confidence it would find the funding to continue with Canapino. Grosjean being a much bigger international name would open more domestic and international doors, but in the last week, I’d heard there was a change for the positive with Agustin.
That could be announced by the time you’re reading this, in which case we’d then be on the clock to have Ilott confirmed as his teammate. If it isn’t going to be JHR, I’m not sure if there are any landing spots left for Grosjean in IndyCar for 2024.
Q: Just reading about the testing of the ERS system at IMS and have several random questions to blurt out.
Will dragging the brakes for regen potentially cause overheated brakes when they are needed for things such as pit stops? Are we going to see excessive pad wear/fade/failures at various tracks?
Will the ERS be something that factors into qualifying — including the Indy 500?
Is a failure of part or all of the ERS system game over for a car during a race, or will the ICE be able to press on?
I know F1 and IMSA both have hybrid technology, but I don’t watch either very often and hence know very little about the tech.
Matt Nuckolls, Iowa
MP: Great questions, Matt, and some of what you’re asking has yet to be decided by the series. Keep in mind that the series is still testing and developing the ERS units, so before they can decide exactly how it will be used in competition, they’ll need to finish testing.
The choice of supercapacitor was made because it charges extremely fast, so dragging the brakes for long periods shouldn’t be needed. With that said, teams have sensors on all four corners of the suspension to measure brake temperatures, so this is something they can and will monitor and set alarms to trigger if a problem occurs.
I’d assume the ERS will be part of all on-track activities, but that’s an item for the series to confirm prior to 2024.
So far, drivers have been instructed to stop the moment they experience an ERS issue out of fear the MGU could be destroyed if the car keeps rolling with it engaged.
We’ll be doing a lot more on IndyCar’s move to hybrids. I have a few videos left to produce from the August test I attended and more to write as we’re getting into the offseason. Having just completed eight weekends/events in 10 weekends, I hope to get caught up before too long.
Q: At the beginning of the year you wrote an article about Bryan Herta’s eagerness to help Robert Wickens get back to IndyCar with the goal of the 2024 Indy 500. Do you have any updates you can share with us on the progress of this initiative between them, Dallara, or IndyCar? It would be very exciting to see all this come together at some point!
Tyler, Noblesville, IN
MP: A desire to make it happen remains, but I thin there’s a stronger chance of first seeing Robby in a GT car with hand controls than an IndyCar. We’ll do a follow-up story when we’re able.
Q: It seems that Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc have both gone off the boil in recent times compared to their teammates. Any insights to share?
Regarding the Perez-Horner-Marko triumvirate, my Spidey-sense suggests to me that they have already made up their minds to replace him. With constructor and driver championships already decided, what is the point of adding to the pressure on Perez at this stage of the season? It doesn’t make much sense other than getting pre-emptive information out into the public domain. While Red Bull has been a technically formidable team for many years, its driver management has been confusing to me. In this regard, the treatment of de Vries, Kyvat and Hartley come to mind at the very least.
Don Hopings, Cathedral City, CA
CHRIS MEDLAND: On Norris, I think that’s slightly harsh, to be honest, Don! It’s in qualifying he’s just made slight mistakes (in Japan) or big ones (in Qatar) and ended up behind Piastri on the grid, but from third he put over 20s on his teammate in the race at Suzuka, and then starting 10th he finished third behind Piastri in Qatar and was only not ahead due to team orders. That said, Piastri was a clear match in the sprint when he outqualified Norris and then won the race.
I think it’s just as sign of Piastri’s talent, and how he’s good enough to beat Norris the odd time his level dips, but Norris is still comfortably ahead in the drivers’ standings and has finished second-second-third in the past three grands prix, so I’m not going to say he’s gone off the boil.
Sainz did seem to find something that worked better with this Ferrari than Leclerc in recent rounds, and Leclerc himself says the unpredictability of the car hasn’t suited his driving style, but even so he had the upper hand at Suzuka and comfortably outqualified Sainz in Qatar (before we didn’t get a comparison in the race as Carlos didn’t start).
Sainz has always been a smart driver in the sense of working hard at weaknesses where perhaps teammates were deemed to have something more raw in terms of their talent, and I think we’ve been seeing the fruits of that towards the latter half of this season. But in both cases, it’s the closely matched pairing that both teams want in order to be a strong constructors’ championship force. Now they just need the cars that can deliver wins.
On Perez, there were whispers of a potential retirement announcement in Mexico this year, that seems premature given the contract he has and the fact that Red Bull doesn’t have certainty over a replacement next year, either. But the fact it doesn’t seem totally unfeasible means I agree with you that I just don’t see the situation setting him up for a future beyond his current contract. It feels like if all goes to plan for Red Bull, Ricciardo will be back in that seat in 2025, with Lawson in the AlphaTauri.
It’s a tough role to play but one thing Perez has proven is that it’s so hard being Verstappen’s teammate, just like it was for Bottas being Hamilton’s. It is a closer field now, and that almost makes the role impossible to fulfill because Red Bull realistically wants a driver good enough to be second all the time, and to do that they will need to be extremely quick rather than just very good, which means they’re unlikely to be happy playing that role.
I suppose in a much more long-winded way I’m agreeing with you about driver handling because I don’t think what Red Bull wants actually exists. So it either needs to take on the trouble of two top level drivers, or accept this is likely to be the trade-off if they go for an experienced and safe pair of hands that lacks that little extra something that the very best have.