Five Takeaways From Mid-Ohio

McLaughlin Regains Form

After Texas, Scott McLaughlin was considered a championship favorite. Points leader after two races, most laps led, a win and P2, and strong performance across Team Penske all lined up in his favor. But from Long Beach on, McLaughlin seemed to suffer, with issues hitting him at every turn. He was unable to finish in the top five, as his teammates racked up wins and podiums, pulling away in the points. Last race at Road America, McLaughlin said he needed a clean, calm race to get back on track, and it appears to have helped him. A quiet day in Wisconsin looks to have helped him capture victory in Ohio, as he becomes the second driver to win more than one race.

Driving Standards

Things are not looking very clean in the NTT IndyCar Series, as a messy race at Road America was followed by a chaotic and contact heavy day at Mid-Ohio. The list of contact and aggrieved drivers is a long one, but I’ll try to summarize. Grosjean and Rossi had a big issue, Grosjean hit Herta, Pagenaud hit Rossi, and Veekay complained about Power driving him into the grass. Those are at least the major ones, and I’m sure I missed at least one. Scott Dixon compared the driving to an IMSA race on NBC’s post-race coverage (and based on the following race at CTMP, he was right), and there were some comments from a couple other drivers and engineers throughout the race. Aggressive driving from the IndyCar field isn’t particularly surprising, and it’s part of the series, to a degree, but this is several degrees too far. Especially from the Andretti crew, which segues nicely into the next takeaway…

Andretti

Uh. Ok. That was certainly…eventful? The exact opposite of what Michael Andretti needs? Colton Herta was the highest finishing Andretti car in P15, after a monumental strategy screw up, and losing what looked like an almost guaranteed podium. Then Grosjean ran him off the road, which he fessed up to afterwards, and had two separate collisions with Rossi, which ended in Grosjean stuck in the grass, and several profanities. And then, because there was still a clean Andretti car, Rossi ran into DeFrancesco. All three of Herta, Rossi, and Grosjean are good enough to finish in the top 10, and Andretti only have themselves to blame for the poor showing Sunday. The unfortunate reality is that Andretti has not been a cohesive team, instead there’s 4 distinct drivers, with strong and let’s call it “fiery” personalities, with a team owner who isn’t exactly known for his calming leadership. Someone has got to step up and take charge, or the arc Rossi traveled will be traveled by Herta and Grosjean. And maybe, just maybe, you don’t need a fourth car? Or a LMP3 program, and a possible F1 team, and a Formula E team, and who knows what else. Look to Penske, who cut out the fourth team, and now have established themselves as the best team in the series. Whatever the solution, and I don’t pretend to know it, something has to happen.

Chevy Issues? McLaren Issues?

A strange day for Chevy. Almost immediately, Felix Rosenqvist was out of the race with some sort of electrical problem, and later on his teammate O’Ward had what was later termed by Chevy as a “fuel supply issue.” Calderon had a gearbox failure, and then Ilott, in his own words, “caught on fire.” According to various crew members throughout the paddock, the issues are different across all teams, and some were team related, not Chevy. Which is a relief for all the Chevy teams, and certainly a relief for Ilmor, since on the face of it, the race at Mid-Ohio looked like a disaster. Although, McLaren is certainly concerned, after both cars suffered race ending mechanical issues. Both cars made the Fast 6, and O’Ward won the pole. The total points between both cars? 13. Add O’Ward’s failure at Road America, and Felix at Texas, plus the combined incident at the Indy RC, and McLaren has been making a lot of mistakes. Also, can we talk about how Rosenqvist may be the new unluckiest driver in IndyCar? Cautions, mechanical failures, spotting issues in Detroit that buried him, his teammate spun in front of him at IMS. And with all this, he was starting to actually still move his way up the standings, poised for a big race in Ohio, and ka-blow. His contract is somewhat secure, with a seat in either FE or IndyCar, but this is still unfortunate.

Points

IndyCar refuses to let the points battle open up and I love it. With O’Ward’s DNF, and McLaughlin’s win, the points have only narrowed. The top 7 remain within 69 points, as McLaughlin brought himself up, and that appears to be the cutoff. Rossi is 8th, but 92 points back and hasn’t shown that he can consistently win. Ericsson maintains his points lead, and is 20 points clear of Power, thanks to 3 consecutive top 10’s after his Indy 500 win, including the RA podium. Newgarden sits 34 points behind, as arguably the best driver this year, with the defending champion Palou only 1 point behind him. Then 30 points behind Palou is Scott Dixon, with Pato and Scotty Mac each separated by 2 points. The top 4 seem to have separated themselves, but with 8 races still to go, there is ample time for 3 of the best drivers in the series to catch up.