Over the last few years, in conversation and in writing, there have been times when I’ve described Simon Pagenaud as puzzling, troubled, enigmatic, lacking confidence and one of those guys who needs everything au point with his setup in order to give his best.
I’ve also opined that when he is at 100 percent, he has few peers. We saw that in 2016.
He doesn’t regard it as one of his greatest drives, but I have never been more impressed with him than at Barber Motorsports Park in 2016. In the closing stages of a race he had dominated, he was baulked by traffic and was then clumsily nudged into a sandtrap by Graham Rahal. The Penske driver had the presence of mind to keep his foot down, skate through the gravel, emerge and rejoin the track, and what we saw for the next few laps was the epitome of controlled aggression as he rocketed back onto the tail of the RLL car. He harried Rahal into damaging his front wing on the rear of a tail-ender, passed him and sped to victory. It…
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