IndyCar drivers count on to see modifications to the principles following the controversial conclusion to final yr’s Indianapolis 500.
Josef Newgarden handed Marcus Ericsson to win the race after an unprecedented final-lap restart. The sequence’ dealing with of a sequence of late pink flags in the course of the race got here below scrutiny afterwards, as did the more and more sturdy defensive strikes made by a number of drivers at excessive velocity.
Ericsson, who referred to as the end “harmful and unfair” on the time, stated this week he expects new guidelines to police the latter. Concern particularly surrounds the so-called “dragon transfer” defence utilized by drivers on the exit of flip 4, at speeds of over 350kph, the place they method the barrier which divides the circuit from the pit lane. If drivers collided or misplaced management at that time on the observe, they’d danger a particularly heavy affect with that barrier or spinning into the pit lane.
On the ultimate restart Ericsson swerved sharply in the direction of the barrier in an try to hold Newgarden behind him. The Penske driver pushed the transfer to extremes after taking the lead, driving nicely into the pit lane entrance earlier than swerving again out once more.
Though Ericsson believes strikes like this might be tough to stamp out solely – particularly on the ultimate lap with victory in IndyCar’s largest race on the road – he expects the sequence will take motion on security grounds.
“The swerving goes to be arduous to police,” he stated, “particularly in the long run of the race. Persons are going to do no matter it takes to win that race, it’s the most important race on the earth. So I believe that’s going to be arduous to dam.
“However I believe we will do one thing about that swerving down into pit entry. I don’t suppose that’s an excellent look and it’s been pushed increasingly more annually.
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“Josef took it to new extremes that final yr going very deep into the pit lane and on the market once more. That for me is the most important one as a result of it goes with security as nicely, we don’t need an accident there to occur as a result of that might be dangerous. So I believe one thing about that and I do know that’s within the works as nicely.”
The choice to restart the race with a single lap remaining provoked controversy as IndyCar has dealt with related conditions in a different way within the current previous. Whereas the 2014 race was restarted after a crash on the 191st lap of 200, the 2020 occasion ended below warning following a crash on lap 194.
Drivers had been due to this fact taken without warning when race management restarted final yr’s race regardless of it being red-flagged with three laps to go. “If I’m second with a lap to go I’m hoping it is going to be red-flagged,” Ericsson admitted.
Santino Ferrucci, who completed third, additionally didn’t count on race management’s choice. “The ultimate restart was one thing that we’d by no means finished, to do a one lap out and go,” he stated. “There may be so many various variables.”
Though Ericsson wasn’t in a position to repel Newgarden’s last-lap cost, Ferrucci stated “Marcus caught all of us off guard” and “did a hell of a job restarting that race.”
Helio Castroneves, who has gained 4 of his 23 appearances within the race, says IndyCar wants a strict coverage on how late within the race it should maintain a restart.
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“In my view in case you’re 5 laps to go or three laps to go or one lap to go, we should always draw a line. I’d say final yr was form of sudden. No person desires to grow to be okay. However I keep in mind going by way of the sector, and the inexperienced flag was thrown, and I used to be nonetheless in flip three. It was type of like rushed.
“I really feel if we simply arrange, which provides everybody, not solely the drivers, strategists, the followers, understanding if lap X – two laps to go, one lap to go, no matter it’s – the race is over as a result of that’s the principles. That I want to be extra clarified, that if we’re going to provide you with one thing, we should always simply decide it.”
Nonetheless Castroneves, who will flip 49 earlier than this yr’s race, says he won’t defend any much less vigorously if he has an opportunity to attain a record-breaking fifth win.
“I’ll drive the identical approach as I drove earlier than,” he stated. “If you go, you go all in. You don’t take into consideration that.”
Video: The ultimate lap of the 2023 Indianapolis 500
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