scheduled tribe. Petersburg, Fla. - The stars of IndyCar crowd the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to celebrate the upcoming season of an opportunity to further cement the legitimacy of America's open-wheel racing series and expand its popularity.
The party marking the 100-day countdown to the Indianapolis 500 was shut down amid word that Michael Andretti was trying to get a Formula One team again. The 1978 F1 world champion, Mario Andretti, wrote that Andretti Global had applied for an expansion team to launch in 2024 – news indicating IndyCar's strange dilemma.
IndyCar has weathered the pandemic under Roger Penske, who had the misfortune to buy the chain and IMS nearly two months before the global shutdown. Despite the challenges, Penske finished his third season on top, with the all-important metrics trending upwards.
IndyCar's development can be credited to a crop of young stars - a Dutch driver, a Mexican, a Spaniard and 21-year-old Colton Herta from California - who won races and new fans. IndyCar's growth has made it a respectable and even desirable landing spot for top drivers around the world, but the bright young lights of IndyCar's resurgence have grown up dreaming of F1.
If Michael Andretti gets the F1 team, he is almost certain to take Herta from Andretti Autosport with him as the next American driver. Herta was a central figure in last year's unsuccessful Andretti talks to buy Sauber, and as he prepares on Sunday to defend St Petersburg's victory from a year earlier, he is again in the limelight for the wrong series. Is.
"It's just like I was with the Sauber stuff, it doesn't really make much difference to me," Herta told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "My main target this year is IndyCar and that's what I'm focused on. If anything happens to Formula One, I'll have to take a good look at it. But when I'm contracted to drive something, I'm going to do my best." I put 95% of my energy into it."
Pato O'Ward, a 22-year-old Mexican, runs for McLaren in IndyCar and seems to already have a foot out the door. He tested the F1 car for McLaren in December and could be the team's reserve driver for select races in 2022.
Teammates Herta and O'Ward have established themselves as motorsport's new guard in January following a class win at the Rolex 24 in Daytona. Losing them to F1, motorsport's hottest property, hangs on to an IndyCar community banking on all-new faces to move the series forward.
"I want people to enjoy me in IndyCar, I want them to know what IndyCar has to offer, racing," O'Ward said of the line he should toe. "Whenever I go to Formula One, or if I ever go to Formula One, enjoy me in IndyCar for now."
It draws a lot of attention to a pair of drivers who were both cut short by the IndyCar championship and both are still scraping together what the FIA requires to obtain an F1 driver's licence. Of all the rising stars, the one removing six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon last season was neither Herta nor O'Ward, but instead Alex Palu - Dixon's Chip Ganassi Racing teammate.
Palu was new to Ganassi last season but in his second year at IndyCar. The 24-year-old Spaniard has a remarkable steeliness and relentless thirst for understanding every element of his craft. He won his first race with Ganassi last season, finishing second behind Hélio Castroneves in the Indy 500 and returning from a consecutive DNF to win in Portland and reclaim the championship lead with two races remaining.
The focus always seemed to be elsewhere, Palu's weather was somewhat under the radar.
"We didn't surprise people last year, but they didn't really even talk about us," Palu said. "We need to be part of the conversation constantly so that people can clearly understand that this team is real."
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Rinus VK, who last turned 21, was one of IndyCar's breakout debut winners and returned with Ed Carpenter Racing. The Dutchman's on-track results weren't the same after breaking his collarbone in a bicycle accident, and there's a ton of young talent looking for IndyCar seats.
Some of the newcomers to IndyCar came from F1 as the eagerness in the IndyCar series has risen since the defection of Alexander Rossi in 2016 and Fernando Alonso entering the Indy 500 three times.
Marcus Ericsson left F1 for IndyCar in 2019 and returned for a fourth season (third with Ganassi) after two wins last year. The fourth person in the Ganassi lineup is seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmy Johnson, who is back for a second season and this time full-time with an Indianapolis 500 entry.
New faces
There's so much new talent that Indy Lights champion Kyle Kirkwood, a 23-year-old American, almost found himself without a seat. He is developed by Andretti Autosport but his path with that team required Herta to move to F1; When Andretti did not complete the Sauber deal, Kirkwood became available to AJ Foyt Racing.
Indy Lights runner-up David Malukas, 20, moved to Del Coyne Racing Ride with the support of his father and the Chicago-area driver who gave IndyCar two new Americans.
Devlin DeFrancesco, who raced under the Canadian flag, went on to place three graduates of the Road to Indy ladder system in the big leagues with Kirkwood and the Malukas. All three enter IndyCar at the same time as three completely new faces:
- Tatiana Calderon will be IndyCar's only full-time female driver with Foyt; At 28 years old, the Colombian will be the oldest rookie in the class.
- Christian Lundgaard spent the last two seasons racing Formula 2 before the Danish driver committed to Rahal Letterman Lanigan.
- Callum Ilot, an F1 test driver for Alfo Romeo, was so inspired by Romain Grosjean's renewed energy as an IndyCar rookie last year that he signed with new team Junkos Hollinger Racing, which leads IndyCar with 26 full decades Lists its largest entry in . Time cars.
Purse strings
Penske said he is increasing the leader circle guaranteed payouts by IndyCar by 30% for the top 22 teams in the standings, and expects the Indy 500 purse to be "higher than before". The purse for last year's race was just under $9 million.
"One of the things we're going to do is try to provide support to all of our Leader Circle teams. We have good teams and we need to support them," Penske told the AP. "The lights are on and the stores are open."
The series is opening a new three-year deal with NBC Sports, which pulled in its highest IndyCar rating last season since acquiring the property in 2019. This year a series-high 14 races will take place on the major broadcast networks rather than on cable. Telemundo Deportes plans live Spanish-language coverage of the three races starting with Sunday's opening in St. Pete, and IndyCar says it has deals in more than 200 countries and territories.
The search for a third manufacturer is ongoing, and Penske said IndyCar's talks with Toyota are far from over after the Ferrari courtship. It returns to Toyota, which is believed to be partnering with Vassar Sullivan Racing.
Penske said of Toyota, "They haven't said no and haven't gone." "I think what they're trying to do is to see how it fits into their total motorsports package around the world. But there's definitely interest and it's a good idea to get a third manufacturer here." There will be a home race, which we can announce next season."
Familiar faces
The competition is so good that both Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud turned down opportunities in other series as Meyer Shank Racing set out to build around them in IndyCar.
Castroneves joined Shank after three seasons away from driving IndyCar for Penske at IMSA; Penske wanted Pagenaud to do a sports car job so that the team could shorten the three IndyCar entries.
"The rules allow your talent to show through," Castronevs said. "IndyCar is where I wanted to be with."
As for the F1 appeal to those young drivers, Penske driver Will Power said he understands the bridge Herta and O'Ward are feeling right now.
"When you look at the money and the level of television coverage around the world, Formula One is the pinnacle," he said. "If you are a young driver, this is the place you would love to go."
But it won't be an IndyCar-like experience on or off the track.
"There is no other open wheel series like IndyCar in the world," said Power. “Just refer to the practice sheet and qualifying timings. You can solve it yourself, mathematically, that IndyCar is more competitive than Formula One.
"I'm not saying that the IndyCar drivers are better. I'm just saying that our formula is more competitive, and I think our formula is better for the fans, honestly, because you never know who will win. Going to do. "