Welcome to the racer’s mail bag. Any questions from the racer writer are: mailbag@racer.com. We love hearing your comments and opinions, but letters containing questions are likely to be published. Any questions received every Monday after 3pm will be saved the following week.
Q: Help me understand the unforgivable behavior of those who called on me to throw yellow. First of all, they had to keep the pits open, so they decided not to throw yellow when Veekay spun. If you didn’t pit before the yellow, then! You are living with the consequences of a race incident. So Veekay loses two laps when it may have started to start with sand. It’s ridiculous.
Worse, not the first race I’ve seen this, Ericsson is spitting out and sitting in a very vulnerable position, unable to throw yellow for a few minutes. Someone will die recently, Marshall.
Who will make these decisions? Why does the pits remain open while the yellow is delayed, pose a risk to the driver? Why can’t Ike be consistently thrown at the moment there’s an incident? why?
Jank
Marshall Pruett: Because not all situations are the same. The IndyCar instantly turns yellow (FCY) into an oval shape, and the speed and nature of the collision slides down onto the racing line and hits. With a WWTR crash involving Foster and New Garden confirmed, it may not always work as intended, but in general, if contact is seen, it is a hurry and FCY. A great approach. Please do not change it.
Road racing is different, and what is done in an oval shape applies to radically different styles of racing, and vice versa, it does not have to be treated in a blind and imitation way. That’s why I appreciate the subtle approach to hosting a multi-disship line race.
For safety and physics, the instant elliptical FCY makes perfect sense. In road racing, the lack of severity of what happened, coupled with very low safety risks, is where racial control can read the situation and make a call for judgment on when to go to FCY. That’s what Veekay’s trading guaranteed.
Veekay’s engine didn’t need to restart with a gravel trap to fix the issue. He was stuck and unable to move, so he had to be pulled out of it by the AMR safety team. He had lost his rap because of how deep he was and the time/effort to carry out his recovery. Did you cut the two wraps into one? of course. However, the expanded call to go to FCY was not the difference between staying on the lead lap and lapping down.
Linus was far from the racing line and no reasonable threat was posed by waiting for the leader to enter the pit. He was not at risk anytime soon, so Racial control used the experience to accurately determine the situation. The car quickly proceeds towards Turn 3, but not outrageously fast and he is far from the truck.
The leaders were in the pits in the window and they were not punished for the timing of attention, which was not an urgent matter to resolve. If this is Veekay spears first towards the barrier, it’s instantly fcy. However, this wasn’t like that, so there was no need to overreact. I won’t change anything about how it was handled.
You can’t say the same thing about Erickson’s situation. It’s a head scratcher. It is perfectly reasonable to give Marcus time to fire and drive his engine. They waited to see if that would happen. This was timed at 1M31 from the moment it was cut by his car, from the moment Fox broadcast sat next to the truck and when FCY was running. Adds a few seconds from when the spin started when it was discovered on the camera, close to 1M35. The Palou was wrapped between the 1M11S-1M12, so some drivers appeared in response to some of the drivers who passed the Marcus twice before the FCY appeared.
Certainly there was a warning to all drivers in the previous issue as there was a local yellow waving on the light panels of the lighting system that blinked at turn 6 at the bottom of the hill and at the bottom of the hill. It doesn’t explain the long wait, but it’s not as if nothing was done before FCY to warn other drivers of the issue.
The leader, who acquired the pit between the 69-72 lap and Erickson issues, had nothing to do with keeping the pit open for the leader, as he led to FCY on lap 78. Ask Race Control to do the same thing every time there is a scenario like Veekay.
Ask Race Control to take a more aggressive approach at one of the fastest points on the racetrack, as Ericsson spreads out into the field. He wasn’t on the racing line, or anything close to it, but he was still on the pavement, but it’s too close to comfort.
Q: Is someone at Indycar thinking about the weather when they put together their schedule as practice 2 at Laguna Seca needs to be cancelled due to low marine formations in the geological formations?
I am a graduate meteorologist in Monterey with graduate weather education. Anyone who lives in the area or lives in the area knows that marine strata occur every day in the summer. No one should be surprised when Practice 2 was cancelled.
This date was deliberately chosen, but do you hope it somehow works? Or was this a gap in the due diligence process?
Steve, Ann Arbor, Michigan
MP: A great question about no answers. However, during the hours of walking up and down the pit lane, I stopped with all my friends, former rivals, or teammates and my Cartwright and Indylight Day teammates and asked, “Have you ever been to Laguna Seca to schedule before 2025?” or a theme variation. I sat in the same pit lane, or under countless tents while waiting for the same marine layers to burn out in the 1990s, so I just shook my head as the same old waiting time was as I arrived in clear skies.
Looking for a permanent shift to late-night practice sessions on Saturdays, the standard plan will soon be qualifying and a late afternoon “morning” warm-up.
If you’re familiar with Monterey weather, you’ve seen this coming. Chris Owens/IMS
Q: We all know and adore the ever-evolving genius, Alex Pallow, and know the fact that he is not only one of the greatest drivers of the present day, but also at the pace to become one of the greatest ever. There’s no doubt that one day we’re talking about him the same way as Voyt, Mario and Dixon. But the real question, and when I ask this, I know to speak for all of us.
Alan Bundy, Salvar, Pennsylvania
MP: I met most of my heroes – Mario Andretti, Al Horbert, Dan Gurney, etc. – but I have never met the amazing Mark Prud. Life is imperfect. However, I still have a “Plourde” shirt that I bought many years ago.
Q: Last Sunday, in the final stages of Laguna Seca, Fox Crew said Palou could rival or surpass most winning records in a season. On the broadcast, they said the record was 10 wins and held by Voyt and Unser Sr. But as I recall, this record belongs to Ted Horn, who won 19 in 1946.
Did IndyCar stop to recognize these wins, or races, under the big car rules, or was it a mistake from the broadcast?
Pedro, Weelopreto/mg, Brazil
MP: I got my friend Scott Richards, a great statistician to answer.
“This is one question I was waiting for someone to raise! There was a long debate over whether the 1946 AAA season consisted of six races or 77. From what I understand, AAA chose to include lengths of less than 100 miles for concern over vehicle counts for a year.
“There has been strong debate on both sides of the debate about whether or not to count 71 races since then. Technically, the 1947 car number was assigned based on the results of 77 race points. However, when Indycar released its official record book in 2011, it recognized six races over 100 miles (Indianapolis, Indiana fairgrounds) that was certainly interesting and difficult, and although a few people seem to know, if Fox was doing what Indycar had decided to be the official record now, they weren’t wrong.”
Q: I noticed a contradiction in the cry of removing oval lace from the schedule. In 2023, Texas Speedway had around 20,000 fans at the speedway, with over 75,000 people, which was considered an incredible failure. However, last week in Toronto there were around 18,500 fans in the stands, which was almost “sold out.”
The crowds in Toronto looked great on television, so perception is real. Street circuits have unique advantages. Temporary grandstands can be sized to anticipated ticket sales.
There were 6,000 fans in Iowa. Everyone saw 18,000 empty seats on TV, and that’s now a crisis. But how many fans did the thermal club have? About 5,000? No one has seen the empty grandstand on TV on Thermal Club, so we’re not talking about their low attendance.
Hy-Vee, Big Machine Music and Bommarito have consistently proven that fans come out in strong numbers to see the oval race with proper promotions. So, before you let the detractor declare that the egg is dead, let’s compare an apple to an apple.
Kevin P., Los Angeles, California
MP: Texas was lucky to have 5,000 people in their final race. Iowa certainly wasn’t 6,000, and thermals were just over 2,000. The oval is not dead in IndyCar. But don’t ignore reality by distorting comparisons. When Hy-Vee wasn’t involved, I went to Iowa, there were no big concerts and a healthy crowd. The same goes for the earliest editions in Texas. WWTR/Gateway when the fan is loaded.
For those of us who have been in these races for many years, there is often the ability to compare them to today, with different names such as the Kurt Indy Car Series and the Indy Racing League champion cars. Iowa was depressed. The WWTR was pretty good, but not as good as before.
Milwaukee is a coal mine “dead egg” canary. Anyone can exhale if it is better or better than when he returned last year. And if it’s down, it certainly will cultivate the notion that too many IndyCar ovals attract too few fans.
Q: Theo Pourchaire recently showed he was working with Simon Pagenaud to open the door for him in the US
Have you heard of rumors about him in 2026, whether it’s IndyCar or IMSA?
In 2026, my only chance is for Marcus to go to Pensuke to replace his power, and he creates a good opportunity for the Poucher of the Voyt team.
Given his work at WEC this year, we may think he can continue with WEC in 2026. Also, several more races at IMSA will allow you to open the door at IndyCar in 2027.
I hope Pourchaire will really get a chance at Indycar. I don’t think IndyCar can leave such drivers on the sidelines when he controls drivers like Lawson, Rungaard and Armstrong and he controls drivers that are roughly comparable to Piastri.
Yannick
MP: I’ve never heard of him on P1 from a team he’s on the employment list. He’s on some lists, but not as the most coveted driver. The F2 champion is hard to ignore, but his lack of experience with the oval is a real problem. Few teams wait two or three years for road racers to become an oval threat. You will need to check in with Simon to see if the IMSA opportunity is working. He hates losing him and hopes he finds a way back.
I hope that the story of Theo Pourchaire will have some North American chapters still written. Joe Skibinski/IMS
Q: Have you been thinking about dropping a Porsche Pensuke team considering doing only the durability cups, or all the entire IMSA? Also, can we see Penske transitioning to the Ford factory team at IMSA and WEC, especially since Ford is running Ford on NASCAR?
Jack
MP: I have no opinion as Porsche has repeatedly stated that it has been taking more full-time actions in GTP over the last few weeks and months. I know that other teams are fishing to replace Pensuke every time the relationship ends, and yes, Ford + Pensuke has been rumoured in hypercars for a while.
Q: In Germany, rumors have been circulating that Prema will leave IndyCar at the end of the season due to costs. Because the iron lynx is not enthusiastic about paying for the program.
What’s your info about it?
Frank Lehman
MP: In May there were intense rumours that a team bankrolled by Deborah Mayer had closed the doors after the Indy 500. And Prema appeared in Detroit, WWTR and more. I have not heard anything from within the paddock where they compete, that suggests that the team is gone.
Q: The Laguna Seca crowd looked bigger than I’d ever seen on TV. How was that?
Kyle
MP: Indycar is back for the first time in a place where he had no interest in the future of racing. It wasn’t half the explosion of the human cart era, but it was busy, energetic and youthful. The number of pat/mcLarengear fans was amazing, and the amount of young women often compensated for pats in some way with hats, shirts, bracelets, etc., but it was hard to overlook. Being on one of my local tracks for the IndyCar race and not saddened by the tracks or series with a small turnout made me feel good.
Q: Once again, Palou Masterclass. He was black as fast as everyone else was red. It’s red and he’s out of hand. I know it’s a bit boring, but it’s just amazing. When I see it, I appreciate the extreme excellence.
Now my comments/questions regarding the broadcast. It was amazing how the broadcast completely missed Paslanguard on a track made with Hertha. Maybe it was about 20 laps later when they caught it and showed it.
I wrote to the booth team and they know they have to cover for the people in the production, but it seems that people on the production track need someone who really knows to look at the race and timing and score with them. They know they’re looking at 50 screens and they decide what we’re looking at and what the booth is looking at, but that was a big miss in my opinion. IndyCar interns can help them with this.
I saw it on the app. Because I was watching Gap Hertha come down, so it was second place, not a middle scrap.
I’ve seen others comment on the Fox broadcast here and know they’re rookies in this area, but some of them don’t seem to get better.
Jeff Smith, Penn State University
MP: Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Q: It appears that Mike Hull and CGR had the right strategy at Laguna Seca. Even though the outcome seemed inevitable, the race was scarred enough to maintain our interest.
Palou is now Tiger-style. He or the field? On TV, it also looked like a good crowd – was it? (That’s my need.)
Congratulations on Willpower. As an uninformed fan, I have read everything between the lines, so I have come to the conclusion that he will not be with Team Pensuke next year. Three reasons.
First of all, there was no significant difference in performance between him and Marcus.
Secondly, if he stays, next year will not be the year of contract. Rather, it would be a year-long non-stop hoopra where everyone at every event celebrates their success with Pensuke. Hell, some truck owners may be confused and be given a new Harley. It’s annoying, boring and I don’t think he or the team really wants it.
And thirdly, if he leaves after this season, he will have a better chance of winning a good few years of contract somewhere. I hope there will be more poles and victory in his future, but my lasting memories are his indie and title victory, a time when he and Sindrick did great things together. In fact, there is also a double bird there. It’s an all-timer and it’s impossible to remember it with a smile. YA, good for friends.
Chris of Colorado
MP: So the best move is to drop Pensuke’s most consistent performers. It makes sense to me.
Q: Someone raised a question in last week’s email bag, mentioning the Saga of the Alex Pal McLaren contract for a few seasons ago. During that time, I think it had to be a controversial relationship between Alex Palou and Chip Ganassi. As Parow is shedding tears this season, what has Ganassi and Parow’s relationship been like since that catastrophe?
Brandon Karsten
MP: Strong. It was a controversy. Alex sued the tip. At the time, Chip said he barely knew Paloo as Paloo had just won the team’s championship, but yes, looking back at the 2021-2022 period, he wasn’t showing interpersonal relationships like he did today. Ganasi is known to support Parow in a McLaren Court agreement.
Water under the bridge. Chris Owens/IMS
Q: Wow! I know that fans of IndyCar want more ovals, but no one has appeared in Iowa. But Road America, Mid Ohio, Indy Road Course, Laguna Seca, Barber, everyone is showing up. Are you wondering whether Mosport Park, New Jersey Motorsport Park, Canada will be added to your schedule next year?
Alistair, Springfield, MO
MP: I love the first two suggestions. NJMP is the last place to send IndyCar.
Q: With all the colouring changes throughout the season, do each team have their own dedicated people who can wrap and rewrite the car? Or will they send them to third parties that do it? It seems to be constant. I can’t imagine that every team has a lot of bodywork pieces waiting for them with new sponsor designs, but maybe they do?
rich
There is a team of MP: 11, so there is no answer that fits everything. Large teams have their own graphics departments and do their own graphics departments. Others bring vendors. Wrapping up spare bodywork is optional, but not the bathtub itself.
Q: I was watching the race in Toronto and realized that Pat was chasing Kaifin Simpson. They made one turn on lap 45, and Simpson went round the curb. The pat only cut the curb and went inside turn 1, and did not avoid the curb. I was wondering if it was legal as it seemed like everyone else should keep turning 1 and not avoiding curbs. Check out the video – there is overhead from the helicopter.
mark
MP: Yes, it’s legal.
Q: Is Prema still actively exploring charter purchases from existing entries?
Gym
MP: Are they going back to the same people that I said for the first time? I don’t know, but there is no charter team that sells charters without selling them. Not for sale.
Q: OK IndyCar’s great guru, we will explain CGR strategies at Toronto in a way that we humans can understand.
red
MP: It made no sense to me the moment I saw them picked the primary when it became clear that popular calls would turn off the alternator as soon as possible.
This was a case of leading huge points, trying dangerous strategies, and having creative freedom to know that they can survive if they turn sideways. If Palou’s lead was 50 points instead of 129, there’s no way to take unnecessary risk.
Q: Ask my last mailbag question suggesting that IndyCar can use MotoGP-style “wildcard” entries for the field in the race of his choice… What happens if IndyCar steals another idea from NASCAR?
Specifically, we will refer to Daytona’s “Helio Rules.” If a team wants to place an internationally renowned driver with proven race records, if the driver completes a good test, they will receive autofill. This may come your idea of a Chris Griffis Memorial style test for IndyCar people.
Yes, it’s a gimmick and perhaps it won’t have a big impact on most weekends, but it might work specially on weekends like Iowa. Let’s say DCR field the world of outlaw drivers in Iowa Speedway’s car No. 19, and that driver will drive a bit in Indianapolis on a test day and help to make this public for the fan base.
While Brian Clausson, who runs Indy, might argue that he didn’t bring in so many people, Iowa is not a huge international event unlike Indy, where many WOO fans are likely to be coordinated for Indy Car Racing every year.
If I’m a fan of the giant Kody Swanson or David Gravel, I might already be watching Indy, but then I have to tune to see my drivers on Iowa on TV. I might come to the truck too! As I say, it’s a gimmick, but I think we all agree that IndyCar has to try something to save this event.
This is probably not a golden ticket, but at least it’s something. All of this misses the Napa colouring on Indycar, and Brad Sweet Hopping at DW12 is the best shot we can see again.
Taylor Smith
MP: Returning to the beginning of Indy NXT, when it was known as the American Racing Series, the promoter used “House Cars.” This was filled with various cool or interesting drivers to showcase the series to fill in the gaps between Super Vee/Formula Atlantic and IndyCar.
What you’re proposing is this: Penske Entertainment House Car. Because Pensuke is an Iowa promoter, Pensuke is to promote this by trying to move the driver and needle that everyone agrees to bring 5,000 extra people to the event. And for events where you can move the needle, if you have a coin or anyone with a great driver, use the “house car” entry with your own extra car.
Q: Advice for IndyCar. You have a daytime oval in the summer heat, and wonder why no one appears? Why do you think sprint car racing is exponentially popular? Oval shape at night!
Indy is only exception. An oval is required all It’s not going to be a night race rather than a Sunday, and it doesn’t mean that the sun will be exposed to the sun. Please use July 4th. The night before the race after the giant fireworks show, most people can take a break from work the next day to enjoy another local fireworks show. If the existing ovals on your schedule do not have lights, help with the upgrade.
Dave
MP: The problem has been resolved.
Q: If NASCAR has a sense of humor, I will use the Kart’s Cleveland Circuit configuration for next year’s Coronado Island race.
Kyle
MP: Barclay Front Airport was really good.
The Holy Grail of Racing. Think about it. If NASCAR has a sense of humor, move the entire San Diego event to Cleveland. Getty Images
Q: Call Me Crazy, but with NASCAR taking at least a year off, IndyCar needs to dive into an attempt to get street racing in Chicago to reduce sanctions fees.
From what I can communicate online, NASCAR does not have a contract for future returns. Indycar offers another race in major markets with already accumulated audiences. When F1 left Long Beach, it worked pretty well. Would you like to try it again?
Josh of Frotown, Kentucky
MP: I don’t know if I can quote something that worked once 42 years ago. This is why you roll the dice in street races, which was not a huge success of financial success with fans of the series three to four times more than IndyCar. I’d like to take over the Chicago races, but I saw nothing that suggested that I just needed another series to explode. It has been placed in the country’s most popular series.
Q: The captain proved he is a great businessman. He is a great operator and is extremely efficient at deploying capital. What the captain hasn’t shown yet is business innovation. Did he see value in Willy T-rib in the 80s/90s? Did he see any value in Danica, Sarah Fisher, etc.? The world was slowly changing, and he didn’t care if he didn’t see it.
Penske belongs to the Old Boys Club and is extraordinary at taking existing companies out of the hands of large corporations and making them capital efficient. Can Penske create value from anything? I would say no.
He runs IndyCar in a very capital-efficient way, but he can’t grow it. The sponsored races for Indycar and Penske have not gone anywhere and there are no fans. Their marketing is terrible. Their decision leaves a lot to be desired. The capital-efficient company type operated by Penske is useless for the tasks that Indycar has at hand.
My long-term hope for IndyCar is Liberty Media. John Malone, who owns Liberty, is great in capital efficiency, but he’s even better at making something out of nothing. His success in the media, cable, television and the Formula One business today demonstrates that.
Malone also hires people suitable for the job. Penske hires the right people to get efficiency from the existing businesses he buys. They are far from being someone Malone dreams of hiring.
Pensuke doesn’t get it. The perception or substantial favor his team got from IndyCar was not important to him, even after St. Pete last year. What happens if Honda gets upset? He didn’t care. If that were the case, Tim Sindrick would have left last year. Honda told him they were out of IndyCar. Only then did he do “something.” He didn’t get demographics or cultural changes. (Miles Rowe may be the exception).
My only hope for IndyCar is that it costs Pensuke a lot to continue the series and he decided to sell it to Liberty. Without that, nothing will change.
ss
MP: Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Q: What about the new version of the old Indycar “Triple Crown” achieved by Al Unser in 1978?
This time only, we will adjust it to a unique attribute that makes IndyCar very attractive. I’m nominating the Long Beach/Indianapolis/Road America lineup. Throw a few dollars to make it juicy.
Your thoughts?
Wiscowerner
MP: I love everything about this and the venue choice.
Q: The repetitive answer you give as to why RaceTrack isn’t on the IndyCar schedule is said to have not come and played by RaceTrack. This is the type of reactionary approach that has led us here. Why not be proactive, reach out to them, and promote the race together?
Money, do you say? This is where Capitol Investment Zak Brown said IndyCar’s needs fit well. Indycar will need to reach 20 races from the eve of the Super Bowl. When Roger bought the series, I had great hope, but the ship sailed on all the failed timelines in the project’s name.
What does Padoc think of Greg Pensuke’s future as the leader of IndyCar?
Vincent Martinez, South Pasadena, California
MP: I haven’t heard any negative words that Greg is a succession plan yet. I think we’ll see him on Saturday and we’ll see more of him.
Q: Certainly this is a repeat question, but what does Honda/Chevy usually do when the engine is replaced? Is the replaced/damaged engine discarded or will it become an organ donor?
AC
MP: The engine is modular, so for the whole to be discarded, it must be a catastrophic crash that breaks all the major components (blocks, heads, etc.). It’s about reaching the wear/mile limit for large parts, so as you retire, it’s the usual solution to melt away.
Q: Andretti needs to revert Colton Hertha to her father’s period and undo. Brian Hertha did something great at Kirkwood. Last season’s second place in points was much later than the fat woman sang!
Colton and Edwards aren’t going well! Can’t anyone see it? Save Colton’s career while you can still. They always make stupid mistakes. You create your own luck. He is the number one driver at Gainbridge! Let’s leave him with his father and see what they can do. Let’s see what Edwards can do with Ericson.
Incidentally, Ericsson is good at Indy and is excellent anywhere else!
And Serena, yeah
MP: The man who won three street races is good at speedways. copy. Kirkwood is Andretti’s top performer this season, so naturally, smart play is going to ruin it.
Q: Is there any public information about the performance rankings of the IndyCar pits, or at least what is included in the raw pit stop data during the race?
WIS, West Allis, Atilla Veyssal
MP: I don’t know. I do not ask or use public information about pit stops.
Q: It was a soulful thing to watch Robert Kubika win Le Mans 24 hours. Do you know if Robert considered or offered the INDYCAR test in a lean year between Formula 1 and his congregation accident?
Jonathan and Creed Morris, Ventura, California
MP: If he did, I would never have known about it. A wonderful man. He’s not one who has enough success in Formula 1 and piques the attention of team owners after an injury.
Kubica has a Grand Prix victory, a complete Le Mans victory, a WEC and ELMS LMP2 title, and a WRC2 Championship.
Q: Why was the delayed attention on Ericsson Spin?
I also love the coverage of the expanded racer networks of other series since Europe. Are there any chances for a weekend rap-type show? This worked before (obviously thinking of Dave Despine and Windunnel) and exposed a guy like me from Bristol, Tennessee to WRC, F1, Superbikes and more. Now, this has an appetite and I think it will help you recognize motorsport racing.
Rainsmith2
MP: Give him the opportunity to modify and drive a car.
Marc Mazarin (Marketing and Creative Director; Racer Network): You’re not the only one asking. This concept is very much on our radar. The weekend rap style shows highlighting the national and international series we carry is what we want to bring to our racer networks and racers+. In the meantime, the Racer+ app has a fresh news section from the team at Racer.com. We also recommend subscribing to racers Daily news and Racer Network hotlap Regular coverage, storylines and results newsletters for WRC, Superbikes, DTMs and more. It’s a great way to incorporate plugs while we build towards something bigger.
Q: For the Cadillac F1, are there any required dates when teams have to announce drivers? Also, if you have experience with Ferrari engines, will drivers like Schumacher and Bottas have an advantage over drivers like Perez and Douhan?
Will, Indy
Chris Medland: There is no deadline to complete the driver lineup, but the closest to the first date is the start of FP1 in Australia next year. Teams will need to name two drivers as they will need to inform the FIA of their entries for each race.
Teams can name two completely different things in the next race, but they can’t continue to change beyond that. The rules state that teams can only run up to four different drivers during the season.
The Ferrari Power Unit experience may be a small benefit for drivers, but I don’t think I’ll be planning on registering. Don’t forget that these are new power units for everyone next season. And having different experiences sometimes helps bring to the party.
Q: How do data collected over the weekend of the F1 Sprint compare to a regular weekend? Is it more or quite less? Is it okay or is it good because it is collected during racial conditions?
Timothy Davis
CM: It’s similar in many ways, but with different values. NO FP2 means that long-term data is limited at the same time as the race itself, but it can take good photos of the car in racing conditions (traffic, combat, etc.) during the sprint, albeit about a third of the fuel.
Sprint’s qualifying offers a good picture of the evolution of the track through low fuel running under similar conditions as the qualifying session. It runs on equal terms in itself.
It depends on what your team wants. If it has a car, it’s well known and if there’s no upgrade, it can be considered a sprint weekend that offers some opportunity to get data in qualifying and racing conditions before the main qualifying and racing session. However, if you have more data you want to collect from a variety of car setup and configuration perspectives, three free practice sessions and a more controlled environment would be better.
Q: I saw the Belgian Grand Prix. My feelings are that all the great drivers from Fangio to Senna are rolling in their final resting spots!
Certainly it was raining, but after the worst was over, the steward’s decision to start on a standing start was on the bs. The truck was dry.
These 20 should not be the best in the world? We were taken away from seeing them pass both McLarens and Ferrari before the end of the first lap!
Yanie Porliel
CM: I’ll admit I was a bit annoyed at how long it took me to get started after the initial delay.
In my opinion, circulating for the back few laps of a safety car is useless, so I understand the immediate response to almost every driver about vision on the first formation lap, as it is probably a red flag or at least wait for a lot of laps to clear up enough laps and clean up enough tap water. And it just takes us the race action, as the rap is carved in that scenario.
However, when the weather was free it was clear from the radar and race control waited for it to stop completely. After that, by performing the start procedure, the team was ready for another 15 minutes. For me, I would have called on the team to get ready 20 minutes ago. At this point the rain had been loose enough to get out behind the safety car.
One reason there was no standing start is because the race control was considered to have more water on one side of the grid than the other, but there is more grip on one side too. It’s a tricky argument, but it’s not going to be completely equal.
However, given the history of the incident, it is an understandable decision for me to tie the car down a bit to drive Aude Rouge and Laidillon on the first lap (if vision is still an issue). I would like to sit here and bother me being mad at how racial control is probably a little too cautious than criticizing them after a serious accident. The driver also told the FIA that it was too late to intervene in heavy rains with Silverstone, and that those conditions were too poorly visible so they should be more careful at the spa.
We got a nearly perfect race like this. I lost four SC laps before the rolling start, but I think this is just too many two. However, race control decisions are based on safety rather than entertainment. They have no control over whether Max will pass Charles on the first lap to fight McLarens, or against each team’s chosen setup.
To give an example of that last point, Red Bull had a barstappen in a low downforce setup with Silverstone, so we raced in heavy rain so he stopped being a factor. That’s not because of race control. If Red Bull had a higher downforce setup, it could have gotten more excitement on the front, rather than just two McLarens clearing again.
Or, in the spa example, Ferrari had Hamilton in a rainy weather setup and Leclair in a dry setup. It helped Lewis fight earlier, but after he was behind Albon, he stopped him from making further progress and, conversely, helping Charles go ahead of Max as he dries. If it’s the opposite, they both have different races. Hamilton was initially stuck behind, and Leclerc was easily passed by Verstappen, who might reach McLarens early on. But it has nothing to do with racial control.
Rain at the spa is almost as predictable as the marine layers of Laguna Seca. Michael Potts/Getty Images
Q: During a spa broadcast on Sky, Anthony Davidson made a comment about a hybrid system that “learned” about conditions. It sounded like each car had a self-contained electronic system that adapts to a variety of trucks and conditions in real time to optimize charging logic.
How do these systems actually work? What are their inputs? Do they actually adapt without direct intervention from pit walls or drivers?
Jack
CM: Energy Recovery Systems (ERS) know where your car is and how to optimally harvest or deploy energy. We understand that we deploy energy at the start of a straight, stop the deployment, and start harvesting at the end of a straight (called clipping, as it supplies additional power from the ERS when the speed starts to decrease at full throttle, so that the car loses it to reduce the harvest).
What Davidson explained was that if the driver changes the amount of brakes or full throttle used, it would obviously be a significant occurrence in conditions that can be changed – the system would have to re-optimize to catch up.
Learning on the go, so if the driver can brake more than usual and harvest more energy in one lap, the ERS will see that it can play with more energy and unfold more on the next lap. Similarly, if one lap doesn’t generate enough energy, then start the clip early on the next lap to avoid repetition, but hear the race engineer talk about the battery driver level and hear the ERS pack take it back.
Q: F1 cars always throw a lot of rain spray. Some say these cars are throwing more, but I disagree. When you look at races in previous generation cars, you can see the race running in the rain and throw the same amount of spray.
So why don’t they accept things and try to live with them? We address this through technology. Create a HUD that shows the car first. What’s going forward can be drawn in silhouette, allowing the driver to look at the perfect car and maintain distance in the event of a collision. It also displays the corner distance marks, and possibly the edge of the track.
Technology for this is not so expensive these days.
This feels like when people try to deal with dirty air. It’s not going well. Ground effect cars are not raced better. Creating a tire that can handle slides instead addresses the issue. Before Pirelli, see how the car has been glued to the car for a long time. See how the McLaren duo can get close to other cars for a long time. Whatever they do to control tire temperatures, they need to be implemented in regulations (though F1 is already banned in ’26 instead…)
William Mazeo
CM: You have to oppose you at the first point, William. Because these are the fastest cars I’ve ever seen. Piastri’s pole lap in the sprint qualifier was a lap record at the spa. So, it means that not only increases the spray level that affects performance (this generation of cars are designed to reduce the impact on the back car to reduce the impact on the back car and reduce the spray upwards), but it also means that wet times are reduced.
Even if it’s the same amount of spray, going faster means less time to deal with the effects of that spray, making it more dangerous than in the past.
Current tires are similarly much better when it comes to overheating and dealing with slides. When you’re sliding, you can’t corner the corners at the same speed, and the slides will always overheat the tires – even the most robust ones – it tallies in terms of actually having to accept that part like that.
The main thing to accept is that these are the world’s highest performing single-seater racing cars, and they are all prototypes rather than specs, so you have no complete control over the dirty air (and the impact it will have on your next car) and you can’t spray it all the time. If F1 wants to maintain its best performance, that’s part of the trade-off.
That said, I fully agree that a variety of solutions need to be considered. I’m not sure if the technology can handle the speed required or the complete lack of visibility (does it work in dense fog if you don’t see the car first?), but exploring such technology is a good idea.
You can also see the tires themselves. Wide tires will increase grip and help follow in dry conditions, but will disperse more water and increase wet spray. Is it possible to different wet tire widths? It’s a headache for aerodynamic engineers, and it greatly expands the performance gap between wet and dry cars, but if vision is the biggest issue, it could be addressed.
Anyway, the car will be slightly smaller (more water/air disruptions), much slower, less spray, better visibility and more likely reaction time, so next year will be better. Just as each of them increments as they are in individual cars, a 5% improvement from each has a major impact when spreads over a pack of 20 cars.
Q: I am amazed that the loophole that Haas allows races on his white label Dalala every year is still allowed for races with large bolted and bolted kits. This arrangement makes sense when they first entered the championship. However, with the growing popularity and economic success of Formula 1 today, it seems unfair to other constructors that one team enjoys such an economic advantage.
Do you foresee when the rules require Haas to become the actual constructor? Perhaps not for new fans, but for many, the spirit of Formula 1 is the team that designs and builds their own cars. It’s truly an amazing achievement for a team to build their own cars.
Matt gun
CM: I think it’s a bit unfair to call it the white label Darara. It is still a chassis designed by Haas. Although manufacturing is outsourced, many teams outsource specific components for manufacturing. Neither the chassis approach nor the Ferrari partnership has a major financial advantage. This is because cost cap regulations make such items more premium in costs compared to when they were built themselves.
You’ll be surprised at the number of components that some teams outsource. Although it is rare to outsource chassis, Cadillac outsourced chassis manufacturing to what it calls the regular supplier of its supply chain, but Haas has not underestimated the importance of the Toyota partnership that has also been signed. This could potentially produce more components themselves (or as a working partner via Toyota if they evolve to that level) as the team is looking for a larger new factory location, thus increasing the space for machines and facilities.
It all means that it is still considered an advantage to create as many unique components as possible, as possible, due to quality control and production speed, but it is very expensive and takes time to go.
Q: Baba’s victory at Indy made him the first black driver to win the Crown Jewel Race in NASCAR. It’s a major milestone for the sport, but it wasn’t mentioned in many publications, including TNT reports and racers. I could see on the broadcast that people talking to Baba wanted to be aware of how hardships they face from their fanbase and how they affect his mental health, but I remember which of his abuses comes from people critical of his role, which is banned from race, in a more incredible perspective.
Did I want to know in my report on Sunday that this victory led to your decision not to touch on racial advances, which are iconic for both Baba and NASCAR?
Jake, Michigan
Kelly Krandoall: It was not a “decision.” When Wallace held its post-race press conference, it was not mentioned in television broadcasts or in the media center. It wasn’t long after even making the first mention of it on social media on Sunday night. But that certainly wasn’t a deliberate omission on my part. That’s a natural achievement for Wallace, and it’s great that he owns a piece of Speedway history forever.
Q: I’m sure they already understood that before the San Diego announcement, but many US military bases have review requirements before either completely denying access to foreigners (non-US citizens) or entering the base for both foreigners and non-military personnel. Are there any indications that indicate how NASCAR handles this? We talk about fans with thousands of different racing reps.
Scott C., Greenwood, Indiana
KC: With media availability last week after the announcement, Venkennedy was asked if this was an event to be made public. “It’s going to be open to the public. … Anyone who wants to buy tickets is welcome to join us that weekend,” Kennedy said.
The final words
July 29, 2025, from Robin Miller’s mail bag
Q: I can’t believe it’s been 30 years since Rich Vogler passed away. What about the quick, rich story that brings together a MailBag?
Jeff B., Joliet, Illinois.
Robin Miller: At the 1981 USAC Midget Show at Whitewater Speedway, I started from the outside of the first line, with Vogie in 5th place. On the first lap of Turn 3, he drills me, knocks on the guardrail, and sheds tears from the front right corner. After the race he thinks he wins, we are in the pay window and he comes and starts apologizing. I said, “Rich, it was the first rap and you and I know you’ll pass me pretty quickly, but you didn’t have to take me.” I had just written a pretty shining column about him. Indianapolis star So he felt more regret than usual and offered me $100 to fix my car. I declined, he slapped me on the back and said, “There’s no difficult feelings, it’s just hard races,” and he’s gone. I’ve always liked rich people and never saw anyone aggressive.
