Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
Johann Zarco took a long-awaited first career MotoGP victory, as Pramac Racing
teammate Jorge Martín ran out of tires after dominating the first 26 of 27
laps. Weather moved MotoGP's Australian Grand Prix up to Saturday and pushed
the sprint back to Sunday afternoon, which was eventually cancelled due to
rain and high winds. European Le Mans Series had a race on Friday, and then
another on Saturday. Formula One teams pandered to the American audience, and Max Verstappen won his 50th grand prix along with his sixth sprint race victory. Kyle Larson got to play in the sand. Ticket prices were announced IndyCar's exhibition race at Thermal Club, and
people were accepting of the cost, but ticket prices are not my concern
today.
IndyCar Officiating
Six weeks have passed since the final race of the 2023 IndyCar Series season,
and in the aftermath of the season, especially the Laguna Seca finale, there
was a sense of dissatisfaction with some officiating calls during this season.
The final few races had notable moments that puzzled and even angered viewers
and competitors.
Officiating any sport is not easy, and motorsports is no different. However, I
was wondering if something was off this year in IndyCar this year. Did
anything stick out as off from previous years?
There is raw data we can look at and then there is actual experiences. The
numbers do not look off.
Through 17 races this season, IndyCar had 55 caution periods for 308 of 2,260
laps, 13.628% of the laps run this season were under caution. That was down
from 13.729% of the total laps being under caution in 2022 (310 out of 2,258),
and there were five fewer caution periods in 2023.
Compared to the last decade, last season was pretty much in line with what has
been normal for IndyCar.
Since 2014, an average percentage of caution laps over the entire season is
13.5083%. This season was slightly above average, but leveling out from the outliers. The 2015
season had 19.086% of all lap run under caution while only 10.6842% of the
laps run in the 2020 season were under caution.
There were complaints this year about caution lengths, and some caution
periods stand out. Breaking down caution periods into four groups, 1-4 laps,
5-8 laps, 9-12 laps and 13 laps or more, there were fewer 1-4 lap caution
periods this year (29) compared to 2022 (37) but more 5-8 lap caution periods
(17 in 2023 to 13 in 2022). In the 9-12 lap category, there were only four
this year compared to six last year, and in 2022 there were four cautions
periods that lasted 13 laps or more compared to five this year.
Any for anyone wondering about average length of caution, again, 2023 is not
out of line with any season in the last decade.
| Year | Average Length |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 5.6 |
| 2022 | 5.1667 |
| 2021 | 5.0408 |
| 2020 | 6.34375 |
| 2019 | 6.1363 |
| 2018 | 5.2978 |
| 2017 | 5.9807 |
| 2016 | 6.5652 |
| 2015 | 6.3582 |
| 2014 | 4.893 |
| Ten-Year Average | 5.69305 |
Any thought that IndyCar was being less inefficient this year clearing
cautions or restarting races doesn't add up. That doesn't mean there weren't
cautions that went on for an excessive length in time. The six-lap caution at
the start of the August Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course race comes to
mind. Each season there is going to be a few caution periods that feel
excessively long, but we should remember excessively long when it comes to
caution periods could be only two or three laps. That is all it takes.
Mid-Ohio this year had an opening lap incident. That was only a four-lap
caution and then the final 76 laps went caution-free. No one mentions that
race, but the summer IMS road course event is remembered for the first six
laps of caution and not the 79 consecutive green flag laps that ended the
race.
Any caution is going to take time. There is the initial lap when the incident
happens, a lap to group the field together and then whatever time it takes to
open the pit lane and allow pit stops to happen. In IndyCar's case, it is pretty much five to six laps, and there is a decade of data to support that.
But it isn't as simple as caution periods and their length. There were obviously a few incidents and inconsistencies that caught our attention this year.
The decision to hold the caution at Portland for Agustín Canapino's spin allowing the pit cycle to play out and effectively giving Felix Rosenqvist second position comes to mind. It is a decision that is not unheard of. We likely see the officials make such a decision two or three times a season. The officials did it at Road America a few months prior when Romain Grosjean spun and stalled off course.
As much as we want it to be black and white, it never will be, and I am not sure anyone wants it to be. Race control can keep its finger on the trigger and throw a caution every time there is a spin or an incident, and we will all still be unhappy with such a choice.
There have been plenty of times a car goes off in a runoff area and spins the car around to resume the race or a car spins and gets back going but must first let traffic pass through. At Long Beach this year, Benjamin Pedersen went off and needed to be restarted. IndyCar showed a local yellow as the corner workers restarted his car. A caution would have changed that race, but IndyCar found a way to clear the danger and let the race continue.
Cautions in those circumstances would flip a race just as much if not more than holding a caution and allowing a few cars to make their stops during that pit cycle and not have a caution cost a driver ten or 15 positions because of timing.
There are always going to be cautions that bite some drivers, but not every caution has to be that way.
There could be an alternative solution. Leaving the pit lane open the entire time is always mentioned as an option. It would still benefit some drivers. At Portland, leaving the pit lane open likely would have meant Rosenqvist would still benefitted and Scott Dixon would have lost out. That is just how it goes some times. It is 2023 going on 2024. Should IndyCar adopt virtual safety car already? It feels like more than enough time has passed for IndyCar to have a virtual safety car procedure in place.
There could be a different alternative where there is a countdown to the pit lane closing. For any caution, the pit lane remains open until 30 seconds or 60 seconds after the caution is displayed and allow drivers to make a pit stop. Of course, at certain tracks, drivers could end up in no man's land. If a driver is entering turn five at Road America and the caution comes with a minute-delay before the pit lane closes, that driver is likely still not going to make it.
Again, there is no perfect solution, only hopefully better options.
Something always needs to be addressed. We probably should have been discussing weaving at Indianapolis after the 2022 race, and after the 2023 race, something is probably going to be implemented before the 2024 race. After a season with 27 full-time cars, road and street course qualifying might need some tweaking due to track space. Restart procedures and restart zone placement could be adjusted at a number of tracks. This offseason also has the additional work in the developing hybrid system and another set of regulations that come along with that.
There are a lot of balls hanging in the air and not everything will be handled this offseason. There are also things that could be adjusted but don't necessarily need to be adjusted.
This is IndyCar. It doesn't make wholesale changes ever. It barely makes incremental changes. Race control isn't going to flip a switch and be completely different next season. We know what it is and, for all the rough spots, it is not incapable of running a race. Not everything is the worst thing ever, and there are no reasons for excessive bell ringing.
Champions From the Weekend
The #25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca-Gibson of James Allen, Alex Lynn and Kyffin Simpson clinched the European Le Mans Series LMP2 championship with a runner-up finish in the 4 Hours of Algarve on Sunday.
The #17 Cool Racing Ligier-Nissan of Adrien Chila, Alex García and Marcos
Siebert clinched the European Le Mans Series LMP3 championship with a
fourth-place finish in the 4 Hours of Portimão on Friday.
The #16 Proton Competition Porsche of Ryan Hardwick, Alessio Picariello and Zacharie Robichon clinched the European Le Mans Series GTE championship with a victory in the 4 Hours of Algarve on Sunday.
Thomas Preining clinched the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters championship by sweeping the Hockenheim weekend.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Johann Zarco, Max Verstappen and Thomas Preining, but did you know...
Tony Arbolino won the weather-shortened Moto2
race from Phillip Island, his third victory of the season. Deniz Öncü won the Moto3 race, his third victory of the season.
Christopher Bell won the NASCAR Cup race from Homestead, his second victory of the season. Sam Mayer won the Grand National Series race,
his fourth victory of the season. Carson Hocevar won the Truck race, his fourth victory of the season.
The #22 United Autosport Oreca-Gibson of Philip Hanson, Oliver Jarvis and
Marino Sato won the 4 Hours of Portimão on Friday. The #12 WTM by Rinaldi
Racing Duqueine-Nissan of Óscsr Tunjo, Torsten Kratz and Leonard Weiss won in
LMP3. The #77 Proton Competition Porsche of Christian Ried, Giammarco Levorato
and Julien Andlauer won in GTE.
The #22 United Autosport Oreca-Gibson of Philip Hanson, Oliver Jarvis and Marino Sato won the 4 Hours of Algarve on Sunday. The #11 Eurointernational Ligier-Nissan LMP3 of Adam Ali and Matthew Richard Bell.
Coming Up This Weekend
Formula One starts to head south to Mexico.
MotoGP starts to head north to Thailand.
World Superbike closes its season in Jerez.
Super Formula closes its season with a doubleheader in Suzuka.
NASCAR has a penultimate round in Martinsville.
The World Rally Championship will compete in three countries during the
Central European Rally.
Supercars has its penultimate round at Surfers Paradise.
