First Impressions: Long Beach 2021

1. It is always difficult to end a season, but we will start with another race winner and Colton Herta put together champion-esque speed and just cracked the top five of the championship. Today was Herta at his best. After getting strategy wrong in qualifying and not advancing from round one, Herta was a man on a mission and he put together one of the best drives we have ever seen at Long Beach, moving up from 14th to first.

He ended the season with two consecutive victories and he led the most laps in each race. While Herta finished with three victories, tied for the most of the season, there were too many errors and too many races that got away. He knows that. But this could have been a year where he won five races, possibly even six. The good news is he looked confident after today and we all expect Herta to be a consistent challenger in 2022.

2. Josef Newgarden started the race the way he had to, leading laps and staying at the front, but the early cautions kept the field together and Newgarden had nothing for Herta. Second in the race and second in the championship, there are many places Newgarden left points on the table.

The biggest in my mind is Road America. He was leading at the restart with two laps to go, directly ahead of Álex Palou, set for a +14 day on the Spaniard. Then the gearbox glitched. Palou took the lead and the victory. Newgarden fell to 21st. It went from +14 Newgarden to +38 Palou in that one moment, a 52-point swing. Newgarden lost the title 38 points.

Every race counts toward the championship, and many love to point at the double points in the Indianapolis 500 as the reason Newgarden finished so far behind Palou, but Road America played a bigger role than the Indianapolis 500 in this case.

3. Scott Dixon at least gets to end the season as the top Chip Ganassi Racing finisher in the season finale. It is a consolation prize for what was a good season, but no greater than that. It was a good season for Dixon. He can't win the championship every year. Ninety-five percent of the grid would take Dixon's season.

It was an odd year. Dixon did not look dominant as we are used to this season. And yet he led the most laps and was fourth in the championship. Over the last few races, I wondered if we have seen the last of the dominant Dixon, especially with the youthful surge we saw in 2021. I don't think Dixon is done quite yet, but Father Time is undefeated. That day is coming.

4. And now our champion. Álex Palou deserved this championship. He showed it today with a drive that did not look like someone playing it conservative while ahead. Palou had all the room in the world to feel he could live with a 13th-place finish and win the championship. Instead, Palou went forward and got himself into the top five. 

It is an impressive story. Palou was in the Formula One ladder system, won in the GP3 Series while driving for one of the worst teams on the grid, and then struggled in his second GP3 season. I remember the surprise when he won that race in Abu Dhabi, and I watched as his career headed to Japan. Palou was never high up any Formula One team's wish list. Japan is a place where a driver can catch the eye of a manufacturer and be set for the next 15 years. 

Then Palou nearly won the Super Formula championship. He jumped on the IndyCar radar and through former IndyCar driver Roger Yasukawa he ended up testing for Dale Coyne. Coyne takes chances on drivers. Some are nothing but a paycheck. But every so often he finds a gem. Coyne doesn't make a fortune on these drivers. They move on to larger operations and the success comes there for the driver. Palou is no different. 

But Coyne's loss is IndyCar's gain and it is a gain for Coyne as well. IndyCar has a young champion, someone who does not appear to have his eyes on Formula One. After decades of being seen as a last resort, IndyCar is gaining traction. Drivers are seeing they cannot only make a living but find happiness in IndyCar. Some are finding that out at an older age and may regret not making the move sooner. Palou has done it in his mid-20s.

It feels like 2021 is a watershed moment for IndyCar. The age and experience is clashing with the newer, young talent. The grid is growing at a breathtaking pace. IndyCar is becoming more international. It will be another ten years before we really know where 2021 stands in shaping the IndyCar landscape, but it feels like Palou's championship will be a point we all consider crucial to guiding IndyCar for the remainder of this decade.

5. Simon Pagenaud likely made his final start with Team Penske and he drove hard to finish fifth. The last two years were not Pagenaud's strongest seasons. Something felt off. He had speed, but not quite at the same level as before. He was still getting top ten results, but this year in particular the top five results were not occurring. He got one today, and now he begins this next chapter of his career, shifting from IndyCar's most storied teams to likely one of IndyCar's newest teams.

6. Alexander Rossi was sixth. He wasn't quite as good as Herta and for the second consecutive season Rossi did not have a victory. Something has to change. He only led two laps. He did make the top ten in the championship, but Rossi went from top Andretti driver and championship hopeful to second in the team and a second-tier IndyCar driver in two seasons.

I believe Rossi still has the ability to be champion, but at some point it is no longer bad luck or bad strategy as the reasons why he is not winning races. There comes a point where he and Andretti Autosport just have to figure it out.

7. Jack Harvey ran a slightly alternate strategy and it got him from 25th to seventh. It is odd that we have seen Harvey run so well from deep starting positions and yet not get results when starting at the front.

I am sad to see Harvey leave Meyer Shank Racing. I think Harvey can win races. The speed is there. MSR did make a few questionable strategic gambles this season. They cost Harvey some results. Harvey had a few errors as well. At least they part on a good note.

8. Sébastien Bourdais went from stopped at the end of lap one to eighth finishing position. Bourdais is one of the few drivers to pull this result off. This season was not as good as we hoped for Bourdais and A.J. Foyt Racing. They may stay together for most of next year, though it sounds like sports cars will be Bourdais' first priority and he will miss conflicting IndyCar races. It sounds like 2022 will be it for Bourdais in IndyCar. Let's hope Bourdais ends on a high note.

9. The story of Takuma Sato's season is an unspectacular ninth-place result. It feels like every other race Sato was eighth, ninth or tenth and we have no clue what he did in the race. Today was another example of that. Sato was ninth. What did he do? They are good results. Sato still has it in IndyCar, but he was not running much higher than the backend of the top ten this year.

10. Will Power ends the season with a tenth-place result. Each year gets a little more odd for Power since 2016. He can win races, but more often he will run ninth and not be a factor or he will qualify 14th and be stranded in the middle of the field. It does feel like a second championship will not be in the cards. It could happen but we need to see Power be more consistent. A lot of top IndyCar drivers only have one title. Power should not feel too bad.

11. Scott McLaughlin pulled out rookie of the year with an 11th place finish after Romain Grosjean slapped the barrier in the middle of the race. McLaughlin had his growing pains this year. He still has a few things to work out, but he acquitted himself well to a full season of open-wheel racing. There is room to improve but this was a wonderful start.

As for Grosjean, he struggled on street courses. The speed wasn't missing, but too often he got into the barrier or another car or something went wrong. He was tremendous this season, but street courses will be an area for improvement.

12. Ed Jones finished 12th, but this is where we will cover Patricio O'Ward because Jones spun O'Ward in the hairpin at the end of lap one. Jones got the corner wrong at the worst possible time. He could have hit Palou as well. It just happened to be O'Ward that was his victim.

That was the beginning of the end for O'Ward. He already had to claw his way from the front while hoping Palou would not gain ground. Then O'Ward ground to a halt in the middle of the first pit cycle. The championship was over there. O'Ward's impressive run of always having consecutive top five finishes is over. O'Ward has not had many bad days in his IndyCar career and he failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. Today was worse than that even though his championship hopes were slim. O'Ward had things go wrong today, all of which were out of his control. McLaren had a day from hell on two different sides of the world.

13. Let's quickly go through some of these: Felix Rosenqivst was caught out when O'Ward stopped on circuit and he couldn't really fight back into the top ten. James Hinchcliffe was strong for the first half of the race and was running up in fourth. After Hinchcliffe's second pit stop, he fell off the edge of the Earth and finished 14th. I think Hinchcliffe still has a place in IndyCar. IndyCar might disagree. I actually wouldn't mind if Hinchcliffe tried NASCAR. What does he have to lose?

14. Max Chilton was 15th. That's as good as we can ask for. Graham Rahal appeared to have the O'Ward caution fall at the right time and he ended up leading all the cars that made a pit stop prior to the caution, but Rahal stopped on lap three. Then the cautions didn't fall for Rahal and he was shuffled back. It probably should have been a top ten result today for Rahal. Jimmie Johnson matched his career best finish in 17th. At least Johnson isn't spinning in every race. Charlie Kimball had a good run and then dropped back to 18th. Dalton Kellett somehow finished on the lead lap in 19th. Hélio Castroneves was caught out when O'Ward stopped on track. Then Castroneves kept going, didn't pit under the Marcus Erisson caution and then had to stop under green at lap 34. That ruined his day and destined him for 20th.

15. Damn these 28-car fields are huge!

16. What has happened Ed Carpenter Racing? Both cars were out of the top twenty. Conor Daly ended up 21st and had zero top ten finishes this season. How the hell is the United States Air Force going to justify continuing to sponsor him? Did we not learn anything from the last decade of military sponsorship? Rinus VeeKay broke down and finished 25th, his eighth consecutive finish outside the top 15. This was a strange collapse for this team.

17. Oliver Askew didn't have a great audition in the #45 Honda. Askew had slight contact with Daly put him in the barrier late. It wasn't a bad three-race stretch, but of the three drivers to run that car, Askew was third. Once again, he wasn't bad, but he wasn't the best to drive that car. That says more about Santino Ferrucci and Christian Lundgaard.

18. Of all the endings for Ryan Hunter-Reay, having contact with Colton Herta cut his tire at the start is the worst way for Hunter-Reay to end his time with Andretti Autosport. Couldn't Hunter-Reay at least get a fond farewell? It was incidental, but couldn't Hunter-Reay one final race to showcase his talent without it being tarnished from the drop? Damn! And yet, why would Hunter-Reay's time with Andretti end any differently?

19. Callum Ilott broke down after 47 laps. Ilott described these three races as a test period for him as he got used to the IndyCar. It better be a test and Juncos Hollinger Racing better work out its kinks.

20. Oh yeah, Marcus Ericsson was in this race and ended up in the turn one tire barrier not long after the restart after the O'Ward caution. Unfortunately, Ericsson's worst day came at the worst time. It cost him fifth in the championship by 20 points to Herta, he lost his nine-race top ten finish streak and he hurt his wrist in the process. Hell of a way to end a season.

21. And that will do it for 2021. It was odd ending at Long Beach. Kind of like IMSA ending with the 12 Hours of Sebring last year, this should be a one-time thing. Just because we made it work this year doesn't mean it should become the norm.

Anyway, there will be plenty of reviews coming over the next few days and weeks. Stay tuned.