After an action-packed start to the 2016 IndyCar season, with Juan Pablo Montoya taking a commanding victory for Penske, Grand Prix Times’ Andy Young takes a look at five key points from the opening race weekend at St. Petersburg.
Advantage Montoya
After a commanding win on the streets of St. Pete, 2015 IndyCar runner-up Montoya has already built himself a solid fountain on which to build a title campaign upon.
The Columbian produced an aggressive drive to gain what would be a decisive race lead from team-mate Simon Pagenaud on the first of two restarts, before clearing an impressive Connor Daly with a similar run off the second green flag.
With championship contender and Penske team-mate Will Power missing the race due to a mild concussion, there’s no denying that Montoya has already given himself a lofty perch to start a title run, after so narrowly missing out last year.
Although there are still 15 races remaining in the season – more than enough for Montoya’s championship hopes to derail, again – Power and reigning champion Scott Dixon are already on the back-foot.
But for Montoya to fully assert his authority over the field, he will need to build upon this early advantage with both hands and maintain it, particularly when IndyCar visits the first oval of the season next time out.
Last season oval racing was ultra competitive, with only Ryan Hunter-Reay winning more than once – at Iowa and Pocono late in the season.
Ultimately, it is still too early in the year to begin truly discussing championship contenders.
After all Montoya secured an equally impressive victory this time last season, only for Dixon and Power to bounce back as the season went on.
A woeful weekend for Chip Ganassi
Heading into the weekend the Chip Ganassi Racing squad were strong favourites alongside traditional rivals Penske, but after the first day of practice it was evidently clear that only one Ganassi driver would be challenging Montoya and Power come raceday.
While reigning champion Dixon managed to remain competitive in comparison to the Penske quartet, his three team-mates struggled to replicate his pace.
Most surprising of the three was 2004 champion Tony Kanaan, who struggled throughout the entire weekend.
It was telling that while Dixon hauled his off-form Ganassi towards the sharp end of the order, Kanaan struggled behind rookie team-mate and F1 refugee Max Chilton in qualifying.
The ’04 champ could manage just 20th on the grid, ahead of the inexperienced Daly and Indy Lights champion and series rookie Spencer Pigot.
Overnight the Brazilian switched blindly to Dixon’s setup as a last ditch attempt to find some pace ahead of the race, which he was unable to capitalise on after he was forced to pit after just seven laps due to brake issues.
From then on Kanaan elected for an alternate strategy, remaining out on track along with Daly during the first round of pit-stops to climb up to second position.
Although he was forced to pit under the second caution, Kanaan did manage to remain in the top ten, hanging on for ninth ahead of Charlie Kimball.
But Dixon’s chances of a podium finish were dashed when overheating issues struck his Ganassi car during the latter stages of the race, forcing him to pit to allow his mechanics to clear the debris from his sidepods.
"Unfortunately we had a radiator that was clogged and overheating and there was nothing we could do,” explained Dixon after the race.
“We had to pit off sequence so the team could get it cleaned up. That stop took a while and put us to the back.
“We were fortunate that the one big incident took half the field out and let us gain some positions back.
“But if we didn't have that problem early on, we were definitely looking at a podium finish.”
Daly impresses on alternate strategy
Anyone familiar with the GP3 Series will know of Daly, who during his three years in the feeder class won two races and finished third overall in 2013.
Despite being regarded as a rookie for the 2016 IndyCar season, Daly has in fact competed in six previous races in the series for A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Dale Coyne Racing and Schmidt Peterson Motorsport.
This year the outspoken Daly will compete in his first full IndyCar season for Dale Coyne and the 24-year-old wasted no time in making a mark in the season opener.
While he started on the back row, the American elected to run a very long middle stint in the race, which eventually paid dividends when Marco Andretti set off the first first caution period on lap 46.
While the majority of the field took to the pits, Daly and Kanaan remained out on track, with the rookie assuming the lead.
The American was swallowed up by a feisty Montoya off the second restart, but still looked set for a breakthrough result before he was forced into making a third stop after a front wing failure.
However, Daly certainly put himself in amongst the big names during the race, and will be eager to return to the sharp end of the order as his official debut season progresses.
“Overall it was nice to fight up front with the Penskes,” said Daly post-race.
“That's the key thing is that we were fighting up front and they weren't pulling away.
“We were right there and we were saving fuel.
“It's a good place to start.”
Aleshin makes sensational start to 2016 campaign
At the final round of the season last year Mikhail Aleshin made a return to IndyCar following his almighty accident during practice at Fontana in 2014.
The Russian driver suffered concussion, fractured ribs, a broken right clavicle and chest injuries during the high-speed shunt, ruling him out of the sport for almost a year.
During his return at Sonoma last year Aleshin finished an impressive 10th for Schmidt Peterson, bouncing back in competitive form.
After a lengthy winter break Aleshin looks to have carried over his late 2015 form, with the Russian racer storming to an impressive fifth place finish at St. Petersburg.
The result is even more impressive when you consider that Aleshin started the race from down in 18th and was also caught up in the multi-car incident at Turn 4 just after half distance.
Luckily for Aleshin he was fortunate to avoid sustaining major damage and managed to gain considerable ground while others around him pitted for repairs.
"It was not very easy because of the lack of testing, but the car was very easy to drive,” said a bouncing Aleshin after the race.
“I had so much fun, especially when I almost crashed into the group of guys.
“I don't know how I managed to find reverse, which is not easy, I'll tell you.
“A few seconds later and the engine would have overheated.”
During his first full season in 2014, the Russian secured seven top 10 finishes before his almighty incident, including a stunning second at Houston.
With a team like Schmidt Peterson, Aleshin could certainly find himself battling for podiums and even race victories as the 2016 season unfolds.
Munoz apologetic for multi-car mess at Turn 4
Carlos Munoz was exceptionally apologetic after causing the multi-car incident at Turn 4 on lap 57, only a lap after the race was resumed following the first caution of the race.
With the midfield bunched up after the restart, Munoz botched a move on Graham Rahal as the field negotiated the right-hand Turn 4.
Munoz and Rahal collided, which in turn caused a concertina-affect behind as Sebastien Bourdais, Aleshin, Luca Filippi, Takuma Sato, Alexander Rossi, Kimball, James Hinchcliffe, Chilton and Oriol Servia – standing in for an unwell Power – ploughed into the melee.
Despite the scale of the incident everyone except Bourdais managed to continue, with some returning to the pits for repairs before rejoining the action at the back of the pack.
"I ended up making a mistake trying to overtake Kimball, so we ended up crashing because of my move,” said an apologetic Munoz post-race.
“It’s racing and I apologise to all of those who were involved in that incident.”
A fired up Rahal made it clear who he felt was responsible for destroying his race.
“When Munoz punted us there was nothing we could do,” said the 2015 title contender.
“The race was over for us so we just tried to make the most of it and we did all right and passed four or so cars at the end, but it's frustrating because we deserved better results.
“The whole team put a lot of work in and it's a shame to have it go the way it did.
“If I look at our day as a whole, I think we had one of the fastest race cars, but when you get caught up in someone else's mistake, there is just not much you can do.”
