After Ferrari botched Silverstone and Austria's sprint race, Charles Leclerc finally got another victory. Carlos Sainz, Jr., on the other hand, had a barbecue. Peugeot made its FIA World Endurance Championship debut. There were plenty of contact and incidents at Monza. Americans are winning in many different ways in the European junior series. Past Road to Indy drivers are doing well in Formula Three, which says something. Colton Herta is testing a McLaren at Portimão. There was a popular winner in Ohio. There was a popular winner in Georgia, some might even say two. Josef Newgarden raced something with fenders for the first time. I learned Scott McLaughlin and his sister babysat Hunter McElrea when they were younger and look at them now! Unfortunately, this world isn't all roses. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
Just More Existential Dread
At least once a year, but most times at least twice a year, I have an existential crisis. During these periods, the angst and self-loathing spreads to other things in my life, and it is only natural it ends up mixing with my motorsports passion, and IndyCar in particular. Instead of keeping it inside, here is where my mind went.
Marcus Ericsson's success is hurting IndyCar. It isn't due to his nationality and that he is preventing some American driver form being the poster boy for a series that desperately needs someone who the average person identifies with IndyCar. Formula One is proving American drivers are not necessary for American success. Sadly, IndyCar couldn't figure that out and America is its own backyard. The problem is Formula One and what Ericsson achieved over there or rather what he did not achieve.
With Formula One the second biggest motorsports series in the United States, the new Formula One fans know of Marcus Ericsson. They know he didn't do much in Formula One, and the transitive property does not work in IndyCar's favor.
Ericsson wasn't good in Formula One. Ericsson is now good in IndyCar. Therefore, IndyCar isn't that good of a series. If a driver who was rarely scoring points in Formula One is leading the IndyCar championship then practically anyone in Formula One would do the same thing.
We know it doesn't work out that way. It isn't neat and tidy as that line of thinking. There is a world beyond Formula One and Marcus Ericsson is getting to excel as a driver somewhere else. Ericsson is as happy as we have ever seen, but that is not how perception will be.
Of course, that line of thinking ignores Romain Grosjean's season, and while Grosjean never won a Formula One race, he did stand on ten podiums, scored many points and had an admirable career. Grosjean alway finished ahead of Ericsson in the championship when they raced together in Formula One. With that logic, Grosjean should be leading IndyCar handily, but in his second IndyCar season driving for a better team than he was with in his rookie season, Grosjean is 14th in the championship, hasn't won race, has finished outside the top fifteen in five of nine races and has only led one lap.
Critical thinking skills do not go that deep to realize motorsports is greater than a one size fits all mindset. Success in one series does not guarantee success in another. We all remember how well Fernando Alonso did in 2017 at the Indianapolis 500 driving for Andretti Autosport before an engine failure ended his race. We also must remember how Alonso failed to qualify two years later and wasn't a factor when he made the race in 2020.
But again, it isn't that thought out. The new wave Formula One fan is very black and white. Good and bad. Formula One good. Everything else... well, everything else is really unknown to them. They aren't studying the world of motorsports for appreciation. They are learning about it in passing, word of mouth from others. If someone in the Formula One sphere says it is good, then it is good. If they hear negative things, it must be bad and they will not respect it.
IndyCar might receive admiration from Formula One counterparts, but that is not how it is professed, and Formula One would not get anything from blowing sunshine up IndyCar's backside. It is competition. Just because a rising tide lifts all boats doesn't mean you cannot torpedo a ship on the horizon. If Formula One can put IndyCar down and continue to grow, it will and IndyCar cannot counter it.
Nobody cares about the level of racing. They don't care about passing and lead changes and number of different winners and different teams winning and cars winning from 16th in caution-free races at Belle Isle. They care about people. Formula One has given the masses a selection of individuals people can connected with and pull for. Once that personal connection is established, those people are hooked and are going to stick around to follow their driver.
IndyCar doesn't seem to have picked up on that. The racing is secondary. If it is great then wonderful for IndyCar, but they need to give people a reason to care about those in the series, not care about the series itself. IndyCar either doesn't understand that or it is too incompetent to come up with an effective strategy to implement that will lift the series.
It also doesn't help that no matter what IndyCar does it will never be as glamorous as Formula One, and part of the appeal of Formula One is the international extravagance.
IndyCar could try. There is enough there and it could present itself in a different fashion than Drive to Survive while still presenting authentic looks at those competing, but that is banking on there being an audience for something similar but different enough from Drive to Survive to know there is a difference. Again, IndyCar doesn't seem interested in that. It doesn't really have a plan at all other than hoping something happens.
And it can only get worse for IndyCar. Do you really think people are going to respect IndyCar if Nicholas Latifi joins the series? That is terrible to say because we know it isn't that cut and dry, but it is the reality about perception. If Latifi joins IndyCar and succeeds it will only hurts the series credibility. IndyCar can bill itself as a "drivers' series" all it wants, people have already made up their minds on Latifi, and they aren't going to change it for the better. It is unfair, but it is reality.
Even Sebastian Vettel joining IndyCar would be a bad thing, and I would love to see it. Vettel would enjoy the differences and the circuits. But Vettel is seen as washed up. The new wave doesn't respect him. People wouldn't tune into IndyCar to watch Vettel if he joined. They would sneer at it, putting IndyCar down as a retirement series or a "b-level" series.
It feels like IndyCar has lost. The game is over. Result is final. Headlines printed. Ink dried.
There is nothing that can be done to change what has happened. There is nothing that can be done to change the immediate future. There will be another matchup, another chance for success, but that moment has not presented itself yet and it is on IndyCar to prepare for when it should arise. It knows what it has to do better. Can it make the necessary changes to accomplish its desired goal?
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Charles Leclerc, but did you know...
The #36 Alpine-Gibson of Nicolas Lapierre, André Negrão and Matthieu Vaxivière won the 6 Hours of Monza. The #41 RealTeam by WRT Oreca-Gibson of Rui Andrade, Ferdinand Habsburg and Norman Nato won in LMP2. The #64 Corvette of Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy won in GTE-Pro. The #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche of Sebastian Priaulx, Christian Ried and Harry Tincknell won in GTE-Am.
Marcus Armstrong and Logan Sargeant split the Formula Two races from the Red Bull Ring. Sargeant was elevated to first after first across the line Richard Verschoor was disqualified after his car was unable to provide a sufficient fuel sample in post-race inspection. Second on the road Jehan Daruvala was issued a 20-second penalty after his team attempted to dry the track surface at his gird position prior to the race start. Jak Crawford an Isaac Hadjak split the Formula Three races.
Chase Elliott won the NASCAR Cup race at Atlanta, his third victory of the season. Austin Hill won the Grand National Series race, his second victory of the season. Parker Kligerman won the Truck Series race at Mid-Ohio, his first victory since the 2017 Talladega race.
Shane van Gisbergen swept the Supercars races at Townsville and now has 11 victories this season.
Bobby Labonte won the SRX race from Nashville.
Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar's return to Toronto.
Formula E makes what could be its final trip to Brooklyn for a doubleheader.
NASCAR is in Loudon.
IMSA is also in New England but at Lime Rock Park.
World Superbike will be at Donington Park.
Super Formula has its second visit to Fuji.
Rally Estonia takes place.
SRX's penultimate round is at I-55 Speedway, its first of two dirt races this season.
