“The most dominant half-second win of all time.”
Hey folks, welcome to another double-header edition of Dre’s Race Review, in this edition of the show we’re reviewing IndyCar’s penultimate non-oval race, the Grand Prix of Toronto. And with it, another cold streak finally came to an end, because after 41 starts, and exactly 800 days since his last win at the Indy Road Course race in 2022, Colton Herta is finally back in the winner’s circle, in a race he dominated, but also didn’t at the same time. Let’s understand why this race was defined by its erratic start and end.
A Crash Sandwich
As said in the intro, this race was defined by its start and its ending. Toronto Turn 1 is the single worst corner on the entire IndyCar calendar. It’s devilish. It’s bumpy, it has a super wide entry but a narrow exit. Proven by the opening lap, when the field tried to go FIVE wide into the corner, and only two came out the other side unscathed. Marcus Ericsson was pinched on the outside and clouted Christian Rasmussen into the wall, ending his day. On the inside, Pato O’Ward hip-checked Santino Ferrucci into the inside wall, and he broke a front wing seconds into the race. On the following restart, Scott Dixon went down the inside of Agustin Canapino at the uphill chicane and made light contact, brushing the Argentine driver into the wall.
When we settled down, Colton Herta was in control of the race, but couldn’t shake off Kyle Kirkwood all race long. The gap was never more than about 1.9 seconds the whole way through. All this was going on as the other title contenders were determined to make moves to come back through the field. Pato was ultra-aggressive with his overtakes, Alex Palou was using tyre strategy to come through the field, and Scott Dixon did what he does best, stretch a stint on fuel saving, go for the overcut twice, and on raw pace and tactics went from 20th to 3rd late on and was the only man to pressure Herta and Kirkwood.
But we got chaos at the end of the race that marred everything. First up, a horror crash. Pato O’Ward, now running sixth, was under pressure from an overcutting Palou. O’Ward, who’s had a knack for buckling under pressure, did it again, spinning out at Turn 1 into the outside wall, and with marshals and race control slow to throw at least a local yellow, all hell broke loose. Marcus Ericsson also lost it via locking up and hit the side of Pato’s car.
Then, Pietro Fittipaldi hit the front of Pato’s wing and bounced into the air and the outside wall, before Santino Ferrucci did it at an even higher speed and hit the top of the outside wall and was side-on with the catch fence. I got Robert Wickens vibes off that crash, truly scary. Not to mention Nolan Siegel hit the debris and crashed into the inside wall, with Siegel taking a hard hit from Toby Sowery standing in for Dale Coyne in the #51. Thankfully, everybody walked away okay. Told you, Turn 1 is a nightmare.
After a Red Flag to clean up the mess, a 9-lap sprint finish ensued and immediately, Scott McLaughlin was put in the wall and taken out by Will Power, his teammate. It was a bush-league move and a deep lunge he had next to no chance of making in a controlled manner. McLaughlin clapped sarcastically at his teammate and he had every right to be pissed, it was a move opposite to the nicknamed “Zenmaster” Will Power we’ve become accustomed to. And with Newgarden clipping the debris and puncturing a rear tyre, it felt like Penske had hit self-destruct on this race. Power ended up with a Drive-Through Penalty for avoidable contact that dropped him to 12th. Newgarden ended up 11th, another sloppy road course race for a man who’s now virtually out of title contention altogether, and McLaughlin 16th, untangling most of his hard work in Iowa.
It left Herta to lead a controlled and disciplined final restart, where Kirkwood could never be close enough to even try a lunge down the back straight, and Herta took the least dominant, most dominant IndyCar weekend in a hot minute. For perspective, he became the first IndyCar driver EVER to top the timesheets in every single session; both practises, qualifying, warmup, and the race. Not to mention, he led 81 out of 85 laps.
This was the Colton Herta that we thought had a chance of being a decent F1 driver. It’s been a long and frustrating two years since Herta’s last win, a cold spell of frustration, errors of his own, speculation as the F1 dream came and went, and an Andretti team that could still fire on a good day, but those days were becoming rarer with McLaren developing a rivalry with them. As I said at the top, this was a reminder of what Herta could be. He still has a decent shot at the title. If the oval pace can come together… Man.
McLaren’s Got Me In A Chokehold…
I’d like to go a week without a McLaren story hitting a DRR. Like, it’s been nearly a month straight and it’s getting ridiculous. The week started with AutoHebdo in France posting a huge story about Theo Pourchaire’s IndyCar cut and how he was on a multiple-year contract and said that Nolan Siegel got the job because his Dad was a billionaire. Some journos like David Land took that story and ran with it. Theo then had to clarify that the comments made in the report were false, with Tony Kanaan propping “Teddy” up on Twitter saying they had a plan for him.
Coincidentally, as Toronto happened, Alexander Rossi hit the outside wall in Friday practice right before pitlane and broke his thumb. In the space of less than 24 hours, Pourchaire gets a call from TK, and the Frenchman is on the first flight to Frankfurt and then a second to Toronto, while being fed onboard footage of the track because he’s NEVER DRIVEN AROUND IT BEFORE. Theo arrived at the track an hour before Qualifying.
It was a miracle he didn’t end up last with no practice, jet lag after nearly a dozen hours worth of flights and no previous experience of Toronto’s race track. And because of Pato O’Ward’s huge mistake and Nolan Siegel getting caught in the crossfire, Pourchaire was the only McLaren to finish and ended up 14th. It’s almost like he never should have lost his job in the first place!
Seriously, this team’s management is a mess. None of this is good. I know I wasn’t the only one who groaned when McLaren announced Pourchaire was filling in again for a round, only weeks after being told to kick rocks. Oliver Askew and Devlin DeFrancesco was in the paddock in Toronto and was glossed over as the team scrambled to facilitate the man they didn’t think was good enough to be there in the first place. I’m delighted Pourchaire got another chance to put himself in the barbershop window but it just highlights once again how ridiculous McLaren has been this season to even get to this point.
And I don’t care if they want to take the piss out of themselves by copying the Spiderman meme with David Malukas, Olympic Gold Medallist in shitposting. This is a wacky look. Tony Kanaan refusing to log off Twitter when he’s now one of the most powerful figures in the team and arguing with fans who are largely being reasonable about their questionable decision-making is wacky.
McLaren’s current team: A star driver who’s stagnant as he hovers around the Top 5, a departing Alex Rossi in the middle of his best season in half a decade who’s now injured, and a huge amount of drama over Nolan Siegel, who so far has been no better than the F2 Champion you felt was expendable. Yuck.
The Lightning Round
Honda ended up locking out the Top 7 spots in this race, with Rinus Veekay finishing as top Chevy in eighth. Ouch.
Finally, an IndyCar Hybrid era race with no actual hybrid issues. The third time’s the charm. I still ponder though… is it adding anything to the racing?
With Dale Coyne handing a debut to Hunter McElrea this weekend, they broke a series record for the ninth driver that’s been in one of their cars this season. Can you name them all?1
Kyle Larson admitted after winning NASCAR’s Brickyard 400 (What the hell was that finish by the way?) that he’s waiting for the announcement that he’s running the Hendrick 1100 Double again next year. Given the TV Ratings the last time, I think IndyCar just dropped their pants.
And props to Kyle Kirkwood. This was the cleanest run to a win that Colton Herta has ever had, and Kirkwood matched him every step of the way. Kirkwood is quickly taking that next step up to “Fringe contender”, and he’s been excellent this season. Andretti has the stable core it’s been begging for. Marcus Ericsson is also there.
Marcus Armstrong won’t get the attention he deserves but another excellent Top 5 finish from the Podcaster. His third of the season. That potential I talked about with him is coming through nicely on the Road and Street tracks. Three Top 10’s in a row for Rinus Veekay is nice work too, man needs a shot in the arm.
Speaking of which, the man was very lucky his race-ending DNF wasn’t an aeroplane crash after hitting Felix Rosenqvist under braking down the back straight.
General spitball comment: Has IndyCar outgrown Toronto? It’s a 59-second lap now with hybrid power, qualifying was a traffic-induced mess and there are multiple choke-points on the track that almost force drivers to take hellacious risks to pass people. I’m glad Canada gets a race. Why not Montreal?
Dre’s Race Rating: 5/10 (Average) – Another messy Toronto race. When we did get going there was the odd overtake here and there, but the race itself was largely decided on pit strategy, with the overcut being the stronger play that brought Dixon and Palou up the field. And as I’ve often said with IndyCar, if you’re into car crash TV, you’ll get a kick out of how this race started and ended. The inbetween? Kinda meh. Add a point and a half if you like chaos. Remember, IndyCar is now part of a break for the Olympic Games, so it’ll be back on August 17th for Gateway. See you then.
- Answer: Jack Harvey, Nolan Siegel, Conor Daly, Hunter McElrea, Colin Braun, Luca Ghiotto, Katherine Legge, Tristan Vautier and Toby Sowery. (If you got them all, please touch some grass.) ↩︎
