Watching LCQ now; good stuff.
Watching LCQ now; good stuff.
Incredible job by Schwartzman and Prema. First oval race ever for both, and they put it on pole for the Indy 500.
In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :
It was impressive.
Herta sliding on his head at 150 mph then jumping into a car that was put together and setup in 4 hours and running 230 mph in it was pretty impressive.
It seems VERY unlikely the lack of yellow trend is going to continue next weekend!
They were hinting it is the weight of the hybrid hanging off the back is part of it, but I cannot imagine counter balancing wasn't done. I would think the weight hanging out the back would increase the polar inertia and make the cars easier to catch (assuming they are still balanced the same as they were).
Can anyone explain how the hybrid system will ever recharge around Indy? Most all the cars seem to be setup to be almost entirely full throttle around the course! It seems like they would only charge on pit stops. Since they use different cars for speedways, they should just remove the hybrids for those (especially if they are somehow making the cars less stable)
The hybrid unit is hardly hanging off the back end of the car, it's basically in the bell housing. But yes, the extra 100 lbs is a big deal on an already overweight car.
For most of the race, all the drivers back off going into the turns or in traffic, so there will be chances to harvest energy to top up the capacitor. It probably won't be until the last laps that they won't be lifting.
Terrific job by Prema! It's a new team, but there are a lot of IndyCar experienced personnel on the crew. Schwartzman really was outstanding - you can see why he was a reserve driver for Ferrari.
Schwartzman is the man, unbelievable job from him and team. Rahal and Andretti it's a shame with such prominent names that they can't get it together.
Team Penske, who I am a fan of, I am really disappointed in ICS, during the coverage they showed the violation and for them to be able to compete is BS. If it was a measurement of some kind I can understand, but to carbon fiber a gap that is stated in the rules illegal. On top of the boost scandal. ICS response to all of this is comical and sad. I wonder if Penske response is to fire Cindric.
In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :
OUCH!
It has to be embarrassing to the team, whose owner also owns the series!
I am a Newgarden fan but can't help but wonder, did the Penske cars run the same setup on Saturday (approved by tech) that was NOT approved on Sunday? If they did then I am having a hard time understanding how their qualifying times on Saturday could be allowed? If it "slips by" tech on one day does that make it ok?
For me it sends a clear message that not even the guy who owns the series gets a pass on rules infractions.
It begs the question; why would you modify a part that isn't supposed to be modified? Someone probably got overzealous.
It was only modified on Newgarden and Powers car, so seems like a lower level decision. And yes, the fact that they ran them previously is what put them to the back. I mean, it's a MINOR, MINOR mod, but rules is rules.
Also, just watching some practice: Herta is up to 21st fastest, so he is getting faster...
...Castroneves is currently running 2nd fastest!! (behind Palou). Just practice of course, but wow! Certainly would not mind seeing him with yet another win!
Schwartzman's pit crew, does not look good! They managed to mess up on two tires during a practice stop!
In reply to aircooled :
I would love to see Elio win number 5.
While I've never had any personal interaction with the guy, a couple fo friends have and said he's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.
In reply to Region_Rat :
On another board it was noted that someone took a picture of last years winning car, which had the same violation on it. In the museum. So......
There must be photos of the Penske cars from Saturday. Were they legal on Saturday? If not, I don't see how you can put them in the race over Abel who had a legal car. If they only smoothed that attenuator gap overnight on Saturday, then I think the penalty given fits the crime.
CGR and McLaren supposedly called attention to it on Sunday hence, why Penske was trying to fix it on track with a torch. Team Penske and ICS can duke it out how long the illegal part was on the car. I am with Pato, Team Penske can produce a fast legal car, it's ridiculous they continue to cheat. I wish Robin Miller was around to laugh about this and talk Bobby Unser and Aj Foyt cheating.
trigun7469 said:I am with Pato, Team Penske can produce a fast legal car, it's ridiculous they continue to cheat.
Graham Rahal agrees. I'm a tiny bit torn on this. I mean, it's racing, we celebrate guys like Smokey Yunick and the whole "If you didn't get caught, you didn't cheat" philosophy. On the other hand, Roger Penske owns this series, and he competes in it. His team needs to be the picture of integrity and do it cleaner than anyone else. For the series owner's team to have a "pattern" (Graham's words) of cheating is just a bad look for the series overall.
Hilarious that Ganassi's cars had a sudden drop off in speed for the fast six, right as he's pointing out his main rival is cheating.
I'd be interested to see if there are any pictures of his cars from Saturday...
trigun7469 said:I wonder if Penske response is to fire Cindric.
Good call! Never thought it would come to this, Cindric was meant to be the heir apparent. Guess it shows that Roger is taking this seriously.
I am shocked that Cindric has been fired - he's been a large part of Penske's success. But he ultimately is responsible for what happened. The Team Penske IndyCar managing director and IndyCar general manager have also been lt go. It's obvious that Mr. Penske is taking this pretty seriously.
RacerBoy75 said:It's obvious that Mr. Penske is taking this pretty seriously.
Its hard to see how you can "lose face" much more than this ,
Some heads had to roll ........
I wonder if other teams are making phone calls to grab these guys?
The more I read about the Penske situation, the less egregious it seems
McLaughlin's car wasn't modified like the others, because they had the latest iteration of attenuator, with improved fit/finish deemed acceptable by Team Penske.
The modified attenuators were pictured on road courses and ovals in recent years. If you know you're cheating to gain advantage, you'd probably only do it on ovals where that advantage would be the largest, and avoid the risk of getting caught by running it at tracks where it would have little benefit.
I know that we have some aero specialists here on the board that could probably comment from a more professional perspective, but it seems like this minor level of smoothing probably wouldn't change much in this part of the car where the air is dirty.
If you knowingly cheat, why would you have that component so visible in places like the IMS museum, photo op at the White House, etc?
When people say that this was done almost entirely for aesthetic reasons by Team Penske, I can see that logic. They clearly modified a part that is not to be modified, and Indycar tech should've caught it when they first started using it last season, but the team's actions don't really seem to align with people that are trying to hide something because they know it's wrong.
STM317 said:When people say that this was done almost entirely for aesthetic reasons by Team Penske, I can see that logic.
This is where I'm at. I think someone may have been being a perfectionist.
Penske as always hired good people and then trusted them to do their jobs. He's also held them accountable when they don't.
In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :
Last year when the initial scandal happened at the end of the year it seemed they spread some of the power around and it didn't look like Cindric was going to be the heir.
I read somewhere else that using helicopter tape in some of the cracks wasn't uncommon, but they made a real effort to break the rules. I bet those who were let go will find themselves as a consultant somewhere. I also don't think that Tech should get away with it either given this was CGR that broke this.
Could Cindric end up at Cadillac F1? Isn't he friends with Mario?
You'll need to log in to post.
