A street track providing for limited opportunities for overtaking, Rosenqvist qualifying well then falling like a rock in the race and Romain Grosjean causing chaos. IndyCar must be back.

T’was not the most exciting race unfortunately. Street tracks in IndyCar are either processional or chaotic and this one leaned towards the processional. This was not assisted by the new tyres seeming to not possess much performance variety. Only during the warmup phase, when those on black tyres found themselves overtaken by those on green tyres, featured much in the way of on-track battles. After those tyres warmed up, they seemed to have similar lifespans and similar pace. This prevented differentials from occurring, turning the race into a follow-the-leader show. Firestone should definitely look into the construction of their tyres for future races, or the street tracks this year will continue to lack any action.

It thus fell on Romain Grosjean to entertain fans. Romain is a driver whose career I follow with fascination. He is always one step away from brilliance, with the only thing stopping him from achieving great results being himself. Because he crashes. A lot. The brilliance last weekend came from qualifying, where Romain was able to drag his car into fifth position, despite now driving for Juncos Hollinger, a small team that has never achieved a podium and only recorded three top-10 finishes last year. If Grosjean kept his racing clean, he could have immediately recorded a top-10 and justified the decision to sign him over Callum Ilott. Unfortunately, Romain got involved in another clumsy incident, making a half lunge on Linus Lundqvist that was only going to end in a collision. This ruined Lundqvist’s race, as well as earning Grosjean a drive-through penalty. With all his experience, Romain should have known better than to make that move. Though given his history, it’s exactly what I expected to happen.

At the front, the race was dominated by Josef Newgarden. He only looked threatened at one point, after a slow first pit stop put him in net-3^rd place, behind Colton Herta and Felix Rosenqvist. Both Herta and Rosenqvist were on the black tyres, so if Newgarden was going to retake the lead, he had to overtake them during the warm-up phase, before the tyre differential disappeared. Newgarden did so with no hesitation, making confident lunges on Herta and Rosenqvist to secure his lead and henceforth dominated the event. If Newgarden can dominate more regular tracks in the way he often dominates on ovals, then he will be a major threat for the championship.

In conclusion, these IndyCar street tracks really need improvements. With no tyre differential, they become processional and feel to me more like an experimental form of hypnotherapy than an action-packed car race. And as someone who knows that IndyCar on road courses and ovals is some of the best racing in the world, it seems unwise to continually begin seasons with the weakest flavour IndyCar has to offer.