IndyCar drivers expect to see changes to the rules following the controversial conclusion to last year’s Indianapolis 500.
Josef Newgarden passed Marcus Ericsson to win the race after an unprecedented final-lap restart. The series’ handling of a series of late red flags during the race came under scrutiny afterwards, as did the increasingly strong defensive moves made by several drivers at high speed.
Ericsson, who called the finish “dangerous and unfair” at the time, said this week he expects new rules to police the latter. Concern especially surrounds the so-called “dragon move” defence used by drivers at the exit of turn four, at speeds of over 350kph, where they approach the barrier which divides the circuit from the pit lane. If drivers collided or lost control at that point on the track, they would risk an extremely heavy impact with that barrier or spinning into the pit lane.
At the final restart Ericsson swerved sharply towards the barrier in an attempt to keep Newgarden behind him. The Penske driver pushed the move to extremes after taking the lead, driving well into the pit lane entrance before swerving back out again.
Although Ericsson believes moves like this will be difficult to stamp out entirely – especially on the final lap with victory in IndyCar’s biggest race on the line – he expects the series will take action on safety grounds.
“The swerving is going to be hard to police,” he said, “especially in the end of the race. People are going to do whatever it takes to win that race, it’s the biggest race in the world. So I think that’s going to be hard to block.
“But I think we can do something about that swerving down into pit entry. I don’t think that’s a good look and it’s been pushed more and more each year.
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“Josef took it to new extremes that last year going very deep into the pit lane and out there again. That for me is the biggest one because it goes with safety as well, we don’t want an accident there to happen because that would be bad. So I think something about that and I know that’s in the works as well.”
The decision to restart the race with a single lap remaining provoked controversy as IndyCar has handled similar situations differently in the recent past. While the 2014 race was restarted after a crash on the 191st lap of 200, the 2020 event ended under caution following a crash…
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