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| Things looked promising but the results didn't improve for James Hinchcliffe |
The Canadian's season started off promising. He found himself in the lead on lap six at St. Petersburg after a pass on Will Power on the first restart of the season. He was running away with it before the second caution of the season caught him out and he had to stop under caution, shuffling him to the back of the top ten. He did manage to finish ninth. In race two of the season, he used a two-stop strategy at Long Beach and came out ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay before a caution. Hunter-Reay lost his engine and Hinchcliffe went on to take the victory. He followed that up with a solid sixth place finish at Barber. Poor fuel mileage left him with a 12th-place finish at Phoenix.
He had a good start in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and he was up to seventh before the first pit stop and then he fell back to a 13th-place finish. Hinchcliffe and the entire Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team did not have the same mojo on the oval this year and he went from Indianapolis 500 pole-sitter to the middle of row six. He was mid-pack all day and was caught in the final accident on the race, ending up classified in 22nd. His race was ruined in turn two of the first Belle Isle race when he had a half-spin all on his own after starting fifth. He was on pit lane when Charlie Kimball spun and it got him back into podium contention and he finished third. His engine expired in race two and he finished 20th. He was probably the most notable victim of the lap 152 accident at Texas.
Contact with Will Power in turn three at Road America cost him a top ten finish. He spent most of the Iowa race in or around the top five but he faded and he had to settle for a tenth place finish. For the second consecutive year he started sixth and finished third in his home race at Toronto. Unlike last year, Hinchcliffe didn't have to stretch it to get third. He wasn't threatened for the podium. He had a good run going at Mid-Ohio but lost a few positions during a pit cycle and finished 11th.
Pocono was going really well for Hinchcliffe. He started 12th but found himself in the top five approaching the halfway point of the race but a botched pit stop put him in the back half of the field. In his rush to get back to the front he made a move to the inside of J.R. Hildebrand and contact took both drivers out of the race. He started tenth and finished eighth at Gateway. His season ended with two gearbox issues at Watkins Glen and Sonoma and the Sonoma issue came after being spun on lap one.
James Hinchcliffe's 2017 Statistics
Championship Positions: 13th (376 points)
Wins: 1
Podiums: 3
Top Fives: 3
Top Tens: 7
Laps Led: 50
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 4
Fast Twelves: 7
Average Start: 9.588
Average Finish: 12.647
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| The Mikhail Aleshin-era came to an end |
His third season in IndyCar started with an uneventful day at St. Petersburg where he started 17th and finished a lap down in 14th. He was running 11th at Long Beach before he ran into J.R. Hildebrand and neither driver got a top ten finish and Aleshin would be penalized for the avoidable contact and was scored with a 12th-place finish. At Barber, the Russian was able to make a late pass for tenth stick and he spun in turn one on lap one at Phoenix, ending a hopeful night after he qualified seventh, the second-best Honda on the grid.
Aleshin's month of May started with an 18th-place finish after starting 17th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. He wasn't able to recreate the magic of his 2016 qualifying run and he started 13th. Despite having a hole in his right side pod, he still finished 13th in the race. After starting 20th in the first Belle Isle because of causing a local yellow in his qualifying group, Aleshin used an early pit stop to get him into contention and he finished sixth. He started sixth for the second race and he went the wrong direction after an improper pit exit penalty and ended up 16th.
He was on the high side for the lap 152 accident at Texas and it cost him a likely top ten finish. Aleshin struggled to re-enter the United States after he contested the 24 Hours of Le Mans but he was able to make it back in time for Road America. He started 19th and through attrition finished tenth. At Iowa, Aleshin started sixth once again and he was running in the top ten until he spun in turn two on lap 57. That accident put him on the bench for Toronto but he returned for the Mid-Ohio race. He did himself no favors by hitting the barrier in the Saturday practice session and then starting dead last on the grid. He finished the race in 14th but it was not enough to salvage his seat and he was let go during the IndyCar summer break.
Mikhail Aleshin's 2017 Statistics
Championship Positions: 19th (237 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 3
Laps Led: 1
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 1
Average Start: 13.083
Average Finish: 13.833
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| For a handful of appearances, Sebastián Saavedra had respectable runs |
The Colombian driver made his IndyCar return after a year and a half sabbatical in the #17 Chevrolet for Juncos Racing. Saavedra started 31st and finished 15th and on the lead lap, his second career lead lap finish on an oval.
He was called in to replace Aleshin after he was sidelined for the Toronto race and thanks to timing of the Tony Kanaan caution Saavedra found himself in position for a top ten finish. He would lose out to Graham Rahal and Scott Dixon and have to settle for 11th in his first street course race in over two years. Saavedra was back in the #7 Honda for Pocono and he brushed the wall, ending his race after 114 laps. He had another solid run at Gateway but could not get a top ten finish and finished 11th after being bested by the returning Sébastien Bourdais.
Sebastián Saavedra's 2017 Statistics
Championship Positions: 26th (80 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 0
Laps Led: 0
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 0
Average Start: 21.75
Average Finish: 14.5
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| Jack Harvey made his IndyCar debut this season and three total starts |
The twice Indy Lights vice-champion made his IndyCar debut at the Indianapolis 500 in a collaboration with Andretti Autosport and Michael Shank Racing. His first outing in IndyCar couldn't have gone much worse. He had a steering column break while in the warm-up lane caused him to drive straight into the turn two wall during practice. Fortunately, it didn't happen at speed. An engine failure on Fast Friday was another blow to him and he qualified 27th. His race ended when he spun to miss the debris from Conor Daly's accident in turn three on lap 65.
After three months on the sidelines, Harvey returned to IndyCar in the #7 Honda for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports for Watkins Glen. His first road course race saw him in the top five after an early pit stop but as the race played out Harvey fell to 14th and on the lead lap. He started 19th and finished 18th in the season finale at Sonoma.
Jack Harvey's 2017 Statistics
Championship Positions: 28th (57 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 0
Laps Led: 0
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 0
Average Start: 21.333
Average Finish: 21.0
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports has not had a driver finish in the top ten of the championship the last three years and that is not good enough. Hinchcliffe missed most of 2015 after his near-fatal accident but consecutive years finishing 13th in the championship isn't good enough. Last year, Hinchcliffe was unfortunate because he was docked points for failing inspection after finishing second at Texas and he ran out of fuel on the last lap at Watkins Glen when he definitely should have finished in the top ten and was in position for a top five. If those two things don't happen, he definitely finishes in the top ten last year. This year was another story.
It started off really well but Hinchcliffe could never find the consistency needed to be in the top ten. He had four top ten finishes in the final 14 races of the season. Two of those were podium finishes but he never could put a string of results together and he really doesn't have many excuses for it. His average starting position was 9.588. He made it out of the first round of road/street course qualifying on the first seven occasions this season and he made it to the Fast Six four times. He was putting the car in a good position but he was not bringing it home in equal to or better than that position.
Hinchcliffe isn't confirmed for 2018 at SPM but it seems likely he is going to return and he seems to want to have input on who his teammate will be next year. It seems to be no secret he wants fellow Canadian Robert Wickens as his teammate but SPM reportedly had a list of 27 drivers it was looking at. SPM wanted Brendon Hartley but the New Zealander seems firmly tied to Ganassi. A few of those likely listed names, André Lotterer and Felipe Nasr to name two, have already confirmed their 2018 plans and Wickens hasn't been confirmed to returning to DTM in 2018 with Mercedes-Benz. It is still a possibility.
SPM tried Aleshin for the better part of three seasons and while he had his moments he also had frequent collisions with the barriers. I wouldn't be surprised to see Aleshin in IndyCar again but for now he will be in sports cars.
It seems Hinchcliffe wants a teammate that can make him better and I think the team wants the same. This team was arguably challenging Andretti Autosport to be the best Honda team at the end of Simon Pagenaud's time with the team and Pagenaud was alive for the title at the 2014 season finale at Fontana. The team has fallen. It isn't in a start of disarray but 2018 can't be another season in the back half of the championship.
