Andretti Global should have scored a victory by now. Herta likely should have won Detroit. One slightly slow pit stop cost him at Iowa. An argument could be made he could have won Long Beach as well. Considering Herta had finished outside the top ten in his last three starts from pole position, he was more than due for a good result let alone a victory. He ended up on top, and the outside chance of a championship remains alive.
2. Colton Herta won and Kyle Kirkwood made it an Andretti Global 1-2 finish. These two led the field the entire race. If qualifying had green slightly different, it could have been Kirkwood leading 81 of 85 laps and taking the victory. This has been quietly a good season for Kirkwood. He hasn’t made a mistake. His worst finish was because he spun to avoid Alexander Rossi spinning and Sting Ray Robb flying through the air. Kirkwood could have arguably won at Detroit as well. This has been a much better season for Andretti Global, and though it only has one victory, it is likely the third-best team this year, though still significantly behind the top two.
3. Speaking of the top two, Chip Ganassi Racing had one of its worst qualifying performances in recent memory this weekend. Scott Dixon turned that around from 15th starting position, the first time Dixon failed to start in the top ten at Toronto in 18 appearances, and he finished third in a race where it felt natural to see him make up 12 positions.
This has been a good season for Dixon, but he has had a few too many bad results. There is work to do to win the championship. It isn’t inconceivable for Dixon to go on a run, he won three of the final four races last year, but he will likely need to be better than that to even have a prayer at the 2024 title.
4. Scott Dixon’s problem, and really the problem for the entire field, is Álex Palou ended finishing fourth as a dozen cars did not see the checkered flag today, and another two cars threw away positions late when they were ahead of Palou. With how this race was going, Palou was going to finish in the top ten, the damage would not have been bad. He would not have finished fourth though, and today went from slowing the bleeding to extending his advantage. That is becoming Palou’s signature move and the field does not know how to counter it.
5. Marcus Armstrong made it three Chip Ganassi Racing cars in the top five. Again, a little more survival than anything else. He made up four spots in the final 13 laps alone, of which only one was a legitimate pass on track and not because a Team Penske car was put in the wall by another Team Penske car, which than have to serve a penalty while another Team Penske blew a turn on worn tires. Good day for Armstrong. Not a good day for Team Penske. More on them later. Armstrong might have finished in the top ten without all the chaos. He wouldn’t have finished fifth though.
6. David Malukas got sixth but he was struggling over the middle of this race. For a good while this looked like another good starting position bound for a 13th-place finish. However, Malukas missed the mayhem and he got sixth, exactly where he started, but this day was nowhere as near boring as the box score will suggest.
7. It wasn’t a race victory for Christian Lundgaard, but Lundgaard made it seven Hondas in the top seven positions. This finish was going to be just on the outside of the top ten if it wasn’t for the accidents late. It must be a bittersweet feeling to go from dominating this race last year for your first career victory to not being a factor today. What looked to be a launching pad for more with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is a distant memory. Lundgaard will be with Arrow McLaren next year, exhausted after expelling so much effort at RLLR.
8. Rinus VeeKay’s top ten streak remains alive as he ended up eighth. Not much to promote for VeeKay. He missed the chaos and was eighth, which is funny because of the two drivers that finished behind him. If you keep your nose clean on days like these, a good result will come your way. It doesn’t make up for running 15th most of the race, but there is nothing wrong with robbery in this case.
9. In ninth was Romain Grosjean. This was a little bit of a missed opportunity after Grosjean started fifth. The expectations cannot be more than a top ten finish for the likes of Grosjean and Juncos Hollinger Racing. It doesn’t have the resources to expect to go from fifth to first. He lost three spots on the first pit cycle. When you are running sixth, that is pushing into the clutches of a disappointing day. This group got a break, though it is hard to celebrate merely surviving.
10. Graham Rahal caught a break to finish in the top ten today as all three Team Penske cars tripped over one another or themselves in the closing laps. Rahal had nothing to lose taking tires late as only 12 cars were running on the lead lap. The tires didn’t get him the top ten finish, but he will take it however it comes.
It should be noted VeeKay, Grosjean and Rahal entered this weekend tied on 177 points and these three occupied eighth, ninth and tenth last week in the second Iowa race. They took eighth, ninth and tenth again this week.
11. Team Penske had two cars in the top five and three cars in the top seven with ten laps to go. Team Penske ended with zero cars in the top ten. The early issue was Josef Newgarden was setback with a botched final pit stop. Newgarden lost a lot of time and was stuck on used primary tires for that stint. He was skating in those closing laps and was vulnerable with those late restarts. Then he put on used alternate tires.
Will Power punched Scott McLaughlin into the turn five wall with nine laps to go. McLaughlin was done and Power was penalized. Newgarden blew a corner making an ambitious attempt at a pass late to get something more out of this race. That didn’t work out. Newgarden took 11th, Power was 12th and McLaughlin got 16th. For a team that has arguably been the best this season, it has more unforced errors than most teams on the grid.
This has surely been an unforgettable season for all the wrong reasons at Team Penske.
12. We should honor the other three drivers that finished this race because only 15 guys saw the checkered flag. Linus Lundqvist and Théo Pourchaire had a moment together in turn three that cost each other time and trapped them a lap down. This was a better day than either actually ran. Pourchaire was behind as a late substitute for Alexander Rossi. It could have been worse.
Toby Sowery had a nice save in turn eight that he can put on the highlight reel. He also caught a piece in the lap 73 accident that brought out a red flag. We will touch upon that in a moment. Sowery wasn’t going to finish in the top 20 without all the issues ahead of him. He gets a 15th-place finish to brag about.
16. The pivotal accident was on lap 73. Patricio O’Ward spun in turn one, hoping to hold off Álex Palou. O’Ward’s car left no room for Marcus Ericsson, who parked into the side of O’Ward. Both were fine but in a precarious position. Sadly, the field didn’t get the memo of stopped cars in turn one. Pietro Fittipaldi clipped O’Ward’s front wing then Santino Ferrucci came flying in and launched over O’Ward’s car. Ferrucci flipped, grazing into the catchfence before landing on his side. Nolan Siegel had nowhere to go but be collected in the accident. Sowery had Siegel slide into his path.
Fortunately, all drivers walked away. Sowery was able to continue.
O’Ward spun late in the race on old tires. It happens. Ericsson was caught in a bad spot. The disappointing thing is the next three cars all had time to slow and none of them did. Things happen quick, but they had a moment to lift. I know there are the lights on the steering wheel for full-course cautions, but if IndyCar is going to hold cautions because the cars can restart on their own with the hybrid system, then there might need to be a local yellow light, something to alert a driver to slow down.
With an incident like we saw with O’Ward, there should be a way a driver is alerted and must lay off the throttle. Just have them roll through the trouble area. O’Ward was parked at a point where drivers are returning to the throttle on corner exit. That is a point where a car rolling through the corner off the throttle would be more likely to avoid the stationary car.
If IndyCar wants to hold cautions, introduce a Virtual Safety Car system. O’Ward could spin and then a Virtual Safety Car could be called. Everyone would lift and slow down. If O’Ward were to restart his car and continue then there could be a countdown and the race could resume at full throttle after a 30-second pause. No need for a safety car. No need for bunching the field. If he couldn’t restart, then it becomes a full-course yellow. This is something IndyCar must investigate. It is already about six years behind on VSC. The technology is there. It is time to adopt it.
Another concerns is the lack of marshals as flagman at these races. Compare Formula One to IndyCar. There are plenty of flagmen at every Formula One race. IndyCar lacks in some areas. It is better than NASCAR on a road course, but on a street course like this, with the number of blind corners, you cannot skimp on flagmen. I don’t know how you get more. These are volunteers. Unless the series is paying, it is hard to find people willing to sacrifice their weekends.
It is just another area where IndyCar can improve. Will it be willing to pay for such improvements?
17. This lap 73 restart was set up when Kyffin Simpson hit the wall in turn eight only four laps prior. Tough track, first time on the circuit for Simpson, many drivers get into that wall. It happens, rookie.
18. Felix Rosenqvist has an hybrid issue end his race. Rosenqvist had already lost many positions after a long second pit stop and then going off into the turn three runoff after a battle with Marcus Ericsson. Too many times does Rosenqvist have a top five starting spot end in a race where he wasn’t close to a top five finish. The hybrid issue isn’t on him, but the dominos had already fallen against him and he was going to be clinging to a top ten result. Meyer Shank Racing is much more competitive this season. That is for certain, but it must start scoring results that match the qualifying pace.
19. Hunter McElrea, Sting Ray Robb, Agustín Canapino and Christian Rasmussen were early retirements. Canapino lost out running side-by-side with Scott Dixon into turn four. Canapino was in a lose-lose position and backing out would have been wise. Rasmussen was caught on the outside of turn one on the opening lap and was checked into the barrier.
Outside of the first five laps and the final 15 laps, it was actually a pretty clean race.
20. At least this wasn’t boring. After the last three races where the big complaint was the lack of anything interesting happening, we almost made up for it today. These type of street races happen. I would say we had two of them this season. Last year, St. Petersburg was messy. Toronto is an old street course. It is tight and rough. There is no margin for error. It is bound to happen once in a while.
21. Toronto needs a double-sided pit lane like Detroit. This pit lane had been an abomination for closing in on a decade. This should never have been the permanent solution. Move the double-sided pit lane next to BMO Field, on the inside of the track. There is a parking lot there that could work. Move that grandstand to the other side and move the suites to along side the stadium. Move the paddock back out into the parking lot and out of the convention center. It would make the track better. It would open up the final corner and allow more speed into turn one, increasing the likelihood of passing.
These are changes that are easy on paper and should be easy in practice. IndyCar is outgrowing Toronto. A minor change like this one would be beneficial for a race that could soon been squeezed out of the city.
22. And now break! Go enjoy the Olympics. We all need some time off until Gateway.
