– While Alex Palou (Ganassi-Honda) once again impressively secured his sixth win of the season in the IndyCar race last Sunday in Portland, making a big step towards his fifth title, Felix Rosenqvist (Shank-Honda) and Will Power (Andretti-Honda) finished on the other podium places.
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Following the circuit race in the US state of Oregon, the top 3 have different views on how lapped traffic is handled in the IndyCar series and how it should be handled in the future.
Rosenqvist and Power felt massively held up by backmarkers during the race, with Power calling for a rule change in the future. Race winner Palou, on the other hand, sees no reason to change the rules. For him, only one thing matters in connection with lapping.
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While eventual winner Palou started the race from P2 last Sunday, Rosenqvist started from pole for the second time this season. The Swede led the first 30 of the total 110 laps but lost the lead during the first pit stop phase to Palou, who then only briefly gave it up again during the subsequent pit stops.
The reason Rosenqvist lost the lead to Palou during the first pit stop was partly due to a swerve while accelerating, as Mick Schumacher’s (Rahal-Honda) crew performed Schumacher’s pit stop directly in front of Rosenqvist’s car. On the other hand, it was due to Palou’s chosen “overcut” strategy.
Felix Rosenqvist criticizes time loss during lapping
However, Rosenqvist also criticizes the lapped traffic, which he as second and Palou as leader encountered before their respective third and final pit stops in the race. Both lost time behind Louis Foster after the Rahal driver had just come out of the pits on fresh tires.
“From then on, it was just a race with lapping. Sometimes you gain three seconds on a lap, sometimes you lose three seconds,” Rosenqvist said in the post-race press conference.
“I don’t want to sound bitter because I don’t think I would have won the race anyway. Still, I think it’s time for us as a racing series to grow up and avoid these situations with lapped cars. I think it makes us all look stupid,” said Rosenqvist.
“When you work hard and suddenly lose five seconds behind a lapped car, I don’t think that’s right. I don’t think anyone wants to see that. Again: I don’t think I would have won, but I think all the drivers would probably agree with me,” said this year’s Indy 500 winner.
Will Power hopes for rule change in the future
Will Power, who finished third directly behind Rosenqvist in Portland after misunderstanding his race strategist Ron Ruzewski’s instruction for the last pit stop and mistakenly staying out one lap too long, complains even more about the lapped traffic.
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Power said he was “massively held up.” Alone behind Sting Ray Robb (Juncos-Chevrolet), the Andretti driver lost almost three seconds in the decisive phase of the race after Robb vehemently closed the door at the end of the back straight to avoid being lapped by Power – who at that time was strategically the race leader.
“Yes, I agree,” Power said in the press conference referring to Rosenqvist’s words that “probably everyone would agree” with his opinion.
Power’s criticism is: “I’ve been saying this for ages. It’s kind of ridiculous that we have a rule from the 1970s and say: ‘We’ve always done it this way.’ Nowadays, it’s a bit different. IndyCar says we don’t make the rules, we’ve stuck to them since the 70s.”
Power’s hope for the future regarding the behavior of drivers about to be lapped: “If IndyCar doesn’t do anything, then in my opinion all drivers should sit down and make a gentlemen’s agreement.”
Alex Palou sees no reason for rule change
Portland winner Alex Palou and his race strategist Barry Wanser have a completely different opinion. Wanser’s argument in the press conference on Sunday: “I think we made it clear in talks with IndyCar that as long as you are fighting to stay in the lead lap, you are not subject to blue flags.”
“Even if you are a lap down, but not a lap behind the entire field, you don’t get blue flags. You have the right to fight. Because a yellow phase can give you the chance to get back into the lead lap. From then on, you would fight for a better position. That’s just part of the IndyCar series,” said Wanser.
Palou, who continues to consolidate his dominance in the IndyCar series and can only be stopped from winning his fifth title – which would be his fourth in a row – by a miracle, agrees with his race strategist’s opinion.
Instead of changing the regulations on lapping in favor of the leading cars, the points leader emphasized last Sunday that only one thing is important to him in this context. “As long as we are consistent, the same applies to everyone,” said Palou.
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“We’ve had races where traffic has severely hindered us and allowed everyone else to catch up. Last year in Portland, Power and Lundgaard were held up in front of me. I was able to make up a 10-second deficit. As long as we remain consistent and the rules are the same for everyone, that’s fine with me.”
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