The double header at Iowa was an unmitigated disaster. From the track, to the hybrids, to the safety, everything that could go wrong did. We were witness to 500 laps of boredom over two races and however much the commentary team tried to gloss it over, it was clear that a great track had been utterly ruined. One hopes that improvements are made for next year, because I am aghast at what I watched.

Problems with the hybrids were apparent during qualifying. Because some drivers did not have access to the hybrid system IndyCar had to offer them the ability to redo their qualifying runs, including the first race’s polesitter Colton Herta. Unfortunately, it seemed to affect Jack Harvey the most. It was already questionable whether Harvey should have been allowed to compete, as he was affected with serious back and neck spasms. After his first run, it was revealed that Harvey did not have access to the hybrid system, leading to him having to go out a second time. After this Jack was in visible agony and could barely get out of the car. So evidently, his hybrid system hadn’t worked again and he was forced to qualify for a third time. At this point, the IndyCar medical team did not want Harvey to run in the race, due to the apparent agony he was in. However, the officials declared that if he withdrew or was replaced by a substitute driver, the car would not be able to receive full points. This forced Harvey into the race for a brief period, until he came into the pits and withdrew due to his pain having become unbearable. Whilst he probably should never have been cleared to compete in the first place, not adjusting the rules when your medical team is suggesting you should to is shameful from IndyCar.

Problems were not limited to qualifying, as the track had been completely ruined. Iowa had always been a fun track that encouraged overtakes and had high tyre degradation. Unfortunately, the track has been partially resurfaced. Not fully, partially. Half the track consisted of a brand-new tarmac that offered high grip and no tyre degradation, whilst the outside line was abrasive and offered little grip. Thus, it was almost impossible to overtake outside of the few laps after a race restart when the track had been cleaned up. It was obvious that the surface was going to offer a challenge to race on when I saw the track and realized that it looked more like a half-finished B&Q car park than a functioning race course. The result of this foolish decision was to completely destroy the race. Drivers that had pace throughout the races, like Will Power, Felix Rosenqvist and Santino Ferrucci couldn’t make overtakes when in years past, there would have been fights throughout the field. This turned the race into one that was won on pit road, rather than on the track. A race that should have been fun and full of action morphed into a procession. As a result, both races were boring. I love oval racing, so when I’m bored, I don’t know how I’m supposed to recommend the sport to anyone.

Another consequence of the inability to overtake was that races were won and lost due to luck. Luck during the pit sequences has always been an issue in Iowa. As the track is so short, when drivers pit, they are consequently lapped. Thus, if a caution comes out during this sequence, the drivers that pit early are severely punished. However, since Iowa was easy to overtake at and had many pit stops a balance was provided, as positions could easily be regained with clever driving. When there are only two pit stops due to a lack of tyre degradation and it is almost impossible to overtake, what used to be a major setback turned into a fatal one. The major casualty of this in race one was Colton Herta. Colton had taken a fantastic pole position despite not having access to the hybrid system and was running in second, having lost the lead during the first pit stop sequence to race one winner Scott McLaughlin. However Palou, who was mired in the midfield due to experiencing a hybrid related stall during his first pit stop, uncharacteristically crashed and bought out a caution on the lap after Colton had pitted. This ruined Colton’s race, sending him to the back of the field and turning an almost guaranteed spot on the podium into an eleventh place.

The major winner from a lucky caution was Will Power in race two. Power had hit the wall during his second qualifying lap, thus started race two in twenty-second. He managed to make it to nineteenth at the start, but went into fuel save mode afterwards. Thus, when a caution came out and only Power and Palou had to pit, Power found himself jumping from nineteenth to second. A successful overcut during the second pit stop sequence turned the second place into a victory for Power, achieved entirely by making no overtakes, at an oval. The worst part of this was that Power had a lot of pace which was evident when he was chasing Palou during the middle of the race. Yet, due to the resurfacing, Power didn’t take a win due to a tremendous performance aided by luck, he instead took one entirely through luck.

Just to cap off the weekend, the second race ended in a horrific accident. McLaren hadn’t fueled Alexander Rossi’s car correctly, so he suddenly slowed down on the last lap. This led to Sting Ray Robb crashing into him, with Sting Ray’s car rolling over in a dramatic fashion. This also led to Ed Carpenter and Kyle Kirkwood crashing in an attempt to avoid the rolling car. The safety standards of IndyCar have greatly improved in recent years; if it weren’t for the aero screens on the car, Sting Ray and Kyle would likely be dead. So, it was a relief to be reminded that, even in an awful weekend for the sport, safety standards overall have improved by a country mile since the horrific accidents of decades past. This near miss proved the only relief in this weekend defined by boredom though. Whilst there were some good performances across the field, the changes to the track and the introduction of the hybrid systems combined to make one of IndyCar’s worst weekends in a long time. This season is proving to be heavily disappointing and I’m severely hoping for a good weekend in Toronto.