 |
| The 2019 season began a very uncertain period for James Hinchcliffe |
The 2019 season was one where Hinchcliffe could not find that next gear. He had good days but only good days. He did not have a top five finish through the first 11 races and with another tough end to the season the Canadian again found himself outside the top ten in the championship.
What objectively was his best race?
A third place finish at Iowa. Hinchcliffe spent majority of the race in the top five and this was his first top five finish of the season.
What subjectively was his best race?
It is Iowa. Hinchcliffe did not have many great races in 2019. He had a lot of races where he started near the front and dropped down the order. Iowa was the one race where Hinchcliffe started at the front and stayed at the front. Hinchcliffe started in the top ten in nine races, in those nine races he finished outside the top ten on five occasions.
The only other races worth mentioning are Barber, where Hinchcliffe started fourth and finished sixth, and Indianapolis, where he started 32nd and climbed up to 11th.
What objectively was his worst race?
Mid-Ohio, where Hinchcliffe was hit on lap one in the first corner of the race. Worst of all, it was his teammate Marcus Ericsson that made the contact. Now, Ericsson was hit at start by Takuma Sato and that forced him into Hinchcliffe but it was a tough blow for SPM and a race the team lost before it had even really started.
What subjectively was his worst race?
Can we say Pocono and Portland because in both races he was involved in a first lap incident for a second consecutive year? Add to it, Hinchcliffe again had another end of season slump and both these results didn't help. He was starting eighth at Portland. It could have been a momentum swing for him in the right direction.
The other race to mention is the second Belle Isle race. Hinchcliffe started fifth and he was in a tough battle with Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi for a top five finish. When Hinchcliffe exited pit lane he was in front of both Newgarden and Rossi but both cars had more speed and warmer tires. Hinchcliffe took the inside and Newgarden made a late move to the outside. Newgarden ended up in the tires, Hinchcliffe ended up running into the side of Newgarden and that took away a positive result for the Canadian.
James Hinchcliffe's 2019 Statistics
Championship Position: 12th (370 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 8
Laps Led: 22
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 2
Fast Twelves: 6
Average Start: 10.938
Average Finish: 12.294
 |
| Marcus Ericsson did well in his first IndyCar season but left room for improvement |
After five seasons in Formula One, Ericsson came into IndyCar and showed promise. Some days it produced results but the Swede had growing pains and lost good results because of minor errors. His season was far from a travesty but he was a distant fourth among the four regular rookies.
What objectively was his best race?
On his teammate's worse day, Ericsson had his best day and finished second in the Sunday race from Belle Isle. It was a clean day from Ericsson. He avoided incidents and he had clean pit stops that put him in position to stand on the podium.
What subjectively was his best race?
Belle Isle will probably be top but I think Ericsson had a strong showing at Texas. Once again, Ericsson was clean for the entire race and he made up positions to get a seventh place finish. It was a performance he needed in his second oval start because in his first oval start at Indianapolis Ericsson was running well before he spun entering pit lane and undid his entire race.
This was a nice bounce back for Ericsson and to have it follow his podium finish at Belle Isle was a good sign for him.
I will also mention Laguna Seca because the team went to the three-stop strategy early and it got him ground early, placing him in the middle of the top ten. Unfortunately, at the end of his final stint his tires were gone and he fell to 11th, exactly where he started.
What objectively was his worst race?
It is the Grand Prix of Indianapolis where Ericsson spun in the final corner, hit the barrier on the exit of oval turn one and he finished 24th after completing only nine laps after he started ninth.
What subjectively was his worst race?
I think there are five candidates.
First is Austin because he was in the top ten for majority of that race after starting 16th and he lost it all because of a pit lane violation for unsafe release ahead of Spencer Pigot.
Second is the Grand Prix of Indianapolis because it was a wasted starting position.
Third is the Indianapolis 500 because he was running really well and he lost it entering pit lane. He may have finished in the top ten and may have been Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year had it not been because of this incident.
Fourth is Iowa because he was going to get a top ten finish if he did not get a penalty for improper pit lane entry.
Fifth is Mid-Ohio because he was taken out and only completed two laps.
Ericsson had a good season. He showed spurts of potential but he had these mistakes that cost him. He can learn from these mishaps. If he gets a second season I think Ericsson could make a significant improvement but that improvement will also depend on where he is driving.
Marcus Ericsson's 2019 Statistics
Championship Position: 17th (290 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 3
Laps Led: 6
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 3
Average Start: 14.667
Average Finish: 14.813
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports will have a partnership with McLaren and switch to Chevrolet for the 2020 season and this marriage has surprised most of us and we are still unsure what the team will look like.
Ericsson is already gone, he is going to Chip Ganassi Racing, talk about an upgrade, but will Hinchcliffe stay? Who else will the team bring in?
It has been 50/50 on Hinchcliffe. Some people say he is staying. It seems like he staying. It sounds like he is staying from what McLaren CEO Zak Brown and team owner Sam Schmidt have said and Hinchcliffe himself has made it sound like he is moving with the team to Chevrolet and leaving his long-time partner Honda behind.
Like most things McLaren gets involved in nothing is clear.
What will this team look like in 2020?
The second driver is not going to be Fernando Alonso. Alonso has not shown an interest in anything in Indianapolis. We will see Alonso come May.
It would make sense to have a veteran and Hinchcliffe has the experience to fill the role. If the team keeps Hinchcliffe, who partners with him? It seems like the team is going an entirely different route than first expected. Instead of getting another IndyCar-experienced driver, such as Conor Daly, or pulling off a coup for Hélio Castroneves or Juan Pablo Montoya, or plucking a driver out of Europe and bringing him across the Atlantic, the leading driver to become the second driver is Indy Lights champion Oliver Askew.
Askew is a young driver and while he has been successful in the Road to Indy no one has been proclaiming him as the next great star. It is a low-risk move for this team to hire Askew. One, low salary, Askew will be happy just to be there. Two, if it works out then great. Three, if it doesn't work out the team can cut ties and not feel bad about it. If Askew is the driver it is a significant shift from the waves McLaren made over the last few seasons.
McLaren's entrance in IndyCar is taking a stoic approach and more than we anticipated over a year ago. In 2018, we thought McLaren would make a splash and could sign Scott Dixon away from Chip Ganassi Racing. That type of shakeup is unthinkable in the final quarter of 2019. The team has gone from having the ability to take whatever driver it wants to IndyCar to having drivers not even consider accepting the offer. All credibility was lost in Indianapolis. This isn't a giant entering the fray. The IndyCar teams are not scared of McLaren.
The team needs experience and preferably someone who knows the team to get the most out of 2020. It needs at least one driver that knows the circuits. Hinchcliffe is what the team has even if it seems like the team is not fully behind him. The 2020 season is the final year of Hinchcliffe's contract and I think he is going to have to accomplish quite a bit to save his ride. I honestly think unless Hinchcliffe wins the Indianapolis 500, wins the championship and/or at least finishes in the top five of the championship he is going to be a goner.
After watching SPM struggle for results in 2019 and fall massively short of its announced goal of forming a "Big Four" in IndyCar, the team partners with McLaren and will be expected to improve in competitiveness immediately.
There is nothing to suggest the inclusion of the McLaren name on the uniforms and transporters is going to somehow raise this team up the order and I fear after SPM was a disappointment in 2019 Arrow McLaren SP will be another disappointment in 2020.
