1. Really? We are leaving Belle Isle? Really? Of all the areas IndyCar could improve, Belle Isle isn’t one of them. It is the best street circuit in IndyCar, a monumental rise from its previous beleaguered reputation.
IndyCar has a street circuit with prime tire wear that allows a variety of strategies while having a few respectable passing zones, and it is leaving it for what is underwhelming layout in downtown Detroit. I am not sure there isn’t anything more IndyCar than making such a decision.
We cannot deny Belle Isle’s development into a proper racetrack. It isn’t perfect. The main straightaway and the first two corners aren’t the best start for a circuit, but it did lead to a great drive into turn three, one of the best corners in IndyCar, not to forget mentioning a battle can continue into turn four where a pass could be completed or countered.
Turn seven was another action spot at the end of a not-so-straight straightaway, adding difficulty to passes but not making overtaking impossible.
Of the street courses, Belle Isle is the clear number one in IndyCar. St. Petersburg has always been flat, never spectacular but never lackluster. Long Beach is good, but we don’t see the same consistent tire wear like we have at Belle Isle. Toronto has been fading for over a decade. It is getting squeezed out of the city. The pit lane configuration is ridiculous and hurts the actual track layout. Nashville is still young, but outside of two corners at the end of long straightaways, it is narrower than desired.
Belle Isle was in the sweet spot for every aspect of a street circuit. I understand why the race is moving downtown. I spent the weekend in Detroit and stayed downtown. In terms of location, the 2023 circuit is in a phenomenal spot, but IndyCar is trading what is actually a great race for an unknown that will have a high bar to clear.
2. It is late. I spent all day at the track, this will be a quick first impressions but we will not forget Will Power’s performance, one that has to be considered the best of his career. Power won from 16th in what was effectively a caution-free race. You have to work to do that and Power and crew deserve credit.
I joked Scott Dixon would fine a way to win from ninth by starting on the primary tire. It was actually Power from 16th. With many cars in front of him on the alternate, Power was on a passing spree. Some spots were gifted because some teams committed to the three-stop strategy immediately. Others were easy because Power had better pace in the middle of the stint.
Where this race turned was Power deciding to go primary-primary-alternate, gambling he could build a large enough of a gap to suffer during the final stint and still hold on to win. He held on by a second. Even if Power didn’t win, he wasn’t going to finish worse than second today and the strategy would still be a success. But Power had to make those passes early, including passing Scott Dixon to win this race. If Power never got ahead of Dixon, he might have led the middle portion while Dixon struggled on the alternates, but he would have been passed in the final stint as his gap would not have been as great.
This was as close to a perfect driver as Power has ever had in his IndyCar career. After having the first race of last year’s Belle Isle doubleheader slip away from him, Power deserves to close out the Belle Isle-era on top and earn Chevrolet’s 100th victory since returning to IndyCar in 2012 to boot.
3. Alexander Rossi was one of the earliest commitments to the three-stop strategy and it always looked set to be a winning strategy for Rossi. He caught just a little more traffic than Power and could only come within a second of Power when crossing the finish line.
Rossi didn’t need an extra two or three laps. He needed two or three better corners over these 70 laps. In the final stint alone, Dalton Kellett did Rossi no favors, neither did Jimmie Johnson nor Santino Ferrucci. A little more respect from all these lapped drivers and Rossi would have at least had an attempt on Power. Power might have been able to hold Rossi, but Rossi wasn’t going down without a fight.
4. Scott Dixon went primary-alternate-primary. Since Power got ahead of him, he had to do something different. I thought it was smart to end on the primary tires. Last year, late cautions cost Josef Newgarden as Newgarden had a hand tied behind his back on the alternate tires. The primary tires gave Dixon a punchers chances, but he lost too much time, fell behind Rossi and Power deserves credit because Power was flawless over his second stint.
Not a victory for Dixon, but the podium finishers started 16th, 11th and ninth. They nailed it today.
5. Josef Newgarden was on a two-stopper and started on the alternate tires. That killed his race immediately. He lost too much time in the opening stint. It was an understandable strategy. We rarely see the pole-sitter go aggressive and commit early to the three-stopper because they don’t have to. The pole-sitter has the track position. No one is going to trade that, but everyone knew the alternates were trouble.
It was a damned if you do, damned if you don’t day for Newgarden. If there is any bright side, at least it wasn’t feast or famine as has been the trend through the first six races for Newgarden. He needed a fourth-place finish.
6. Patricio O’Ward started fifth and finished fifth. Yeah, that matches. O’Ward didn’t do anything flashy but did nothing wrong either.
7. Álex Palou ran a similar strategy to Dixon and he went from 18th to sixth. He couldn’t get the track position and was always caught behind someone. It was still the kind of day Palou should pull out even though he was starting in a poor position.
8. Quiet days from Marcus Ericsson and Colton Herta see them finish seventh and eighth. It felt like these two were around nobody all race and yet still finished in the top ten. Simon Pagenaud went backward in the opening stint on the alternate tires. Pagenaud also had a notable lock up cost him time. Ninth is disappointing when you start third. Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the top ten in a solid run on a three-stop strategy.
9. We are going to quickly cover the rest of the field. And I mean quickly.
David Malukas committed late to the three-stop strategy. Malukas also didn’t have a great start and he dropped out of top ten contention. He is still looking for this first top ten result but this was a good weekend.
Conor Daly was 12th doing nothing flashy.
Takuma Sato lost spots at the start and struggled mightily on the alternates. Sato was always chasing the race but losing ground, falling to 13th.
I am not sure how Christian Lundgaard and Jack Harvey finished 14th and 15th respectively. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was off all weekend. Lundgaard had a slow first stop. Harvey never looked all that competitive, and yet these are the final two cars on the lead lap. Go figure.
Rinus VeeKay technically brought out a caution for his incident on the final lap. It cost him a few spots. He was ok today, nothing special, but that was a rough end to his day.
Romain Grosjean was setback with the qualifying accident. After seeing how Rossi ran, I think Grosjean would have been a factor in his primary car.
Devlin DeFrancesco was 18th. That is all.
Scott McLaughlin threw away his race with a lock up into turn three and then screwing up getting out of the runoff area putting the car into the barrier.
10. As I said before, Kellett, Ferrucci and Johnson did not favors to Rossi. They were all only slightly better to Power. Ferrucci and Johnson were both two laps down. There is no reason for them to be that difficult in the closing laps. They aren’t getting the wave around anyway. The leaders aren’t going to pit if there is a caution in the final ten laps. They are still going to be a lap down. Accept being two laps down and get out of the way!
Tatiana Calderón had her hands full this weekend. Belle Isle is a ruthless circuit. Many rookies struggle in their first visit.
Kyle Kirkwood had a fantastic race going and then hit the wall on an out lap end his race. After his practice accident Saturday morning, he had ice on his right hand nearly the entire time he was out of the car. Kirkwood had a breakout weekend considering the pace he showed in an IndyCar and the drive he put on in the Lexus to win IMSA’s GTD class on Saturday. The only wish he could ask for, besides not being injured, is closing out the weekend with an representative IndyCar result. It didn’t come but this weekend will not be soon forgotten.
Hélio Castroneves retired with an electrical issue and Graham Rahal banged the wall early trying to make a horrible situation good. Not the kind of exits these drivers would have wanted.
11. A few observations from around Belle Isle:
It is a beautiful facility. It is a shame IndyCar is leaving it for that reason alone.
I am not sure I have been to a cleaner racetrack. I am used to seeing the overflowing or overturned trash cans. I never saw that. I rarely saw a trash bin close to overflowing. It was immaculate. The entire staff deserves praise. They were incredible the entire weekend.
This was my first street course event, but considering it was in a park, it felt like a normal road course. You could walk all over, there was plenty of open space between corners, the paddock area was an actual paddock area. It was tight but all the teams were together and parked on a solid surface.
While the grandstands were full, fans took the picnic tables from under the pavilions, carried those over to the fence and then stood or sat on top of those to watch the race. You have to love the ingenuity of the race fans. And everyone was respectful to the picnic tables. From what I saw, no golf balls were turning them over or jumping on them to break them. They just wanted a better view of the track.
There wasn’t a video board at the turn three area, which is odd considering a grandstand was there. I can see how it would be difficult to put one on the outside of that corner for that grandstand to see. There were many big trees and a lamppost just on the outside of the corner. It could just be down to space, but that was the only downside about that area.
12. I will go back and watch the broadcast tomorrow. I am sure that will answer many questions, but we also have to turn our attention to Road America. That is now under a week away.
