Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
George Russell was the surprise winner of the Austrian Grand Prix after Max Verstappen and Lando Norris came together in the closing laps. An injury sidelined Joe Roberts. An unfortunate set of circumstances on pit lane cost Ferrari, but it allowed a triumph we have not seen since 1948! It rained and a race would not end in Nashville, the crowd was rowdy in Poland, and the Kazakhstan MotoGP round will likely never happen. What appears will happen is IndyCar’s introduction of the hybrid system, an era change midseason. It does bring a question to mind.
Should IndyCar Have Two Champions For 2024?
The answer is no, but with the midseason introduction of the hybrid system, it is a question at least worth entertaining.
Starting at Mid-Ohio this week, IndyCar becomes a hybrid series, an uncommon thing for a series to completely introduce a new component to the race cars when eight of 17 races have already been completely, let alone one as significant as this one.
Originally intended to debut at the start of the 2024 season, the hybrid rollout was delayed due to reliability concerns and majority of the field lacking testing time with the system, IndyCar had four additional months of testing and every team tested with the system at the Milwaukee Mile and Iowa Speedway last month.
Though everyone can say they have had laps with the hybrid, we really do not know what is in store for the final nine races of this season, and it could flip the championship.
IndyCar was weary of introducing the hybrid at the start of the season because it did not want a rash of mechanical issues dampening the competition and it didn’t want teams to be negatively affected due to teething problems.
Teething problems will occur no matter when a new system is introduced. IndyCar might feel more confident than it did in March, but we will still be exploring new territory at each of the remaining race weekends. New problems will crop up that could only be found through trial and error. It might have survived tests, but a three-day race weekend with multiple practice sessions mixing in race runs and qualifying runs before a qualifying session where teams will be thrashing for speed and scrambling to find clear track will stress this system unlike it has been stressed before, and that is before we get to the races themselves. There are also two doubleheader weekends that will push it to the limit.
A front-runner could keep rolling snake eyes over the final nine races and fall out of a prime position due to the hybrid bugs continuously biting. If it happens, we will constantly hear about how the hybrid system took a championship away from a team. We are probably going to hear it no matter what, whether it is fact or fiction. Come Nashville in September, someone will say the introduction of the hybrid system ruined their season
If that is the case, why not split this season in half and have two championship? It is too late for that obviously but it could at least cover some of the issues. IndyCar already has a muddy history with multiple splits, shortened seasons, races dropped midseason, double-point finales and regulation shakeups that a split season championship would not be the craziest thing ever seen.
Obviously, IndyCar wouldn’t have paid out two championship prizes. It couldn’t even pay $1 million for the $1 million exhibition race at Thermal Club. The only practical solution would be to split the championship prizes in half. The top driver from the non-hybrid half of the season gets half the championship prize. The top driver from the hybrid half of the season gets the other 50%. If the same driver is on top for both then he gets the full prize anyway.
It wouldn’t have been the greatest option, but it would have at least allowed the teams to get rewarded for results in tried and true conditions while not allowing the unknown of a new system entirely cost the teams. They would at least have something to show for this season while the teams who were on top with the hybrid system would also be recognized for adapting and succeeding with the new system.
At the very least, the championship could have been based on average, the position after Laguna Seca pre-hybrid, and then a reset and the championship position from the hybrid portion of the schedule could be combined to determine who is the 2024 champion.
It could only be a one-season thing for this unprecedented midseason regulation shakeup, and who says a champion must be determined on a full season aggregate? Remember when Formula One dropped results?
None of that is happening, and that is fine. Sometimes the best option is not to change a thing even if everything else is changing around it.
We have accepted this is what the 2024 season will be. The hybrid system will come in and there will likely be failures, issues, and someone who has a bad day that otherwise wouldn’t if it wasn’t for the hybrid system. That’s part of motorsports.
There was once a time when mechanical issues were a common issue. Each race a team could have a car crap out from a promising position. A car could be 45 seconds up the road having led 75 of 80 laps only for the turbo to go with ten laps remaining or to drop a cylinder or a gearbox to jam. The 20th century was a time of pending mechanical doom, and when it occurred and shook up a race, we accepted it for what it was.
We have become accustomed to nothing failing. The expectation is for these cars to be bulletproof. If a race is lost now, it is more due to a team screwing up strategy and going long on a stint when they should have gone short or a team botching a pit stop or a team running the alternate tires for a stint when it should have run the primary tires. We no longer accept the mechanical downfall for a team and believe it must be human error that costs a result. The car can no longer be blamed, but the driver, strategist or engineer are fair game.
In a way, motorsports has swung too much into the human element deciding races. It was always meant to be a test of the mechanical ingenuity. A driver could have all the ability in the world, but the vehicle had to do its part. It is assumed the car will be good enough to get you there in the 21st century. If a driver doesn’t win, it is on him or her.
Perhaps for nine races we will see IndyCar return to a wild time where driver ability might not be enough and it is not because the car is bad but because things go wrong. The car lets a team down when everything else was going well. It is cruel. It is crushing. It is the way it is supposed to be. We will see if it swings the championship. If it does, for good or for bad, we will remember it.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about George Russell, but did you know…
Francesco Bagnaia won MotoGP's Dutch TT, his third consecutive victory and his fifth of the season Bagnaia also won the sprint race. Ai Ogura won the Moto2 race, his second victory of the season. Iván Ortolá won the Moto3 race. Héctor Garzó and Alessandro Zaccone split the MotoE races.
Joey Logano won the NASCAR Cup race from Nashville. John Hunter Nemechek won the Grand National Series race, his second victory of the season. Christian Eckes led every lap on his way to victory in the Truck race, his third victory of the season.
António Félix da Costa swept the Portland ePrix.
The #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin of Nicki Thiim, Marco Sorensen and Mattia Druid won the 24 Hours of Spa.
Kalle Rovanperä won Rally Poland, his second victory of the season.
Oliver Bearman (sprint) and Gabriel Bortoleto (feature) split the Formula Two races. Nikola Tsolov (sprint) and Luke Browning (feature) split the Formula Three races.
Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar's first hybrid race at Mid-Ohio.
Formula One is in action for the third consecutive weekend at Silverstone.
MotoGP runs in Germany before starting its summer break.
NASCAR hopes for sunny weather in Chicago.
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters has a street race of its own at the Norisring.
The European Le Mans Series finally races at Imola.
Supercars are in Townsville.
