In IndyCar’s Grand Prix of Long Beach held last Sunday, Scott Dixon took victory following an extreme fuel-saving performance at the front of the field.
Dixon was part of a group of drivers that took advantage of an early caution to make his first of two pit stops a bit before he would have liked.
The strategy from that point was to stretch the fuel in his 18.5 gallon fuel cell as far as possible so that he only had to make one more stop before the finish.
His tactics for saving fuel stretched into all areas of his driving, including lifting and coasting at the end of the straights, and running with a less powerful engine mode. All in an effort to hit an ambitious fuel number provided by his Chip Ganassi Racing team.
Dixon’s two final stints were 34 laps each, and, despite his slower pace, he was able to maintain enough speed to hold off a fast charging group of drivers that were not under any fuel restrictions.
The veteran has become known for his fuel-saving abilities, and he has won multiple races due to his uncanny ability to maintain speed while stretching his stints longer than others are able.
After the race, his team-mate Alex Palou admitted that he does not know how Dixon was able to save that much fuel, even though he works with the same crew and has access to all his data.
“I mean, it was a tough race I think for everybody,” said Palou. “Different strategies. We also thought that the best thing was to stay out [during the first caution]. I think it was the best thing for the #10 car.
“I don’t think I could have made it work like Scott did. I was not surprised that he took it because he knows he can make it work. I don’t know how. Yeah, I’ll study that probably tonight.
“Once he took [the pit stop], I was like, ‘He’s going to make it work.’ I don’t know. It’s super tough if you know the [fuel] numbers he has to get, what he has to do driving-wise.
“You see other people did it. [Will] Power I think is the second driver that did it. It’s tough, man. I don’t know how.
“Probably he’s cheating and he has an extra fuel cell that I don’t know yet,” he added while smiling. “I’m joking obviously, just in case.”
Palou is no stranger to winning races by executing a prescribed strategy, but it says something when even the two-time champion is at a loss of how to match the feat he just witnessed.
Dixon, for his part, admitted that it was very tough for him to make the strategy work, and he was unsure if he could stop himself from using fuel he did not have.
He also lamented the fact that he can no longer hide all of his tricks due to the amount of data that is now tracked during a race weekend.
“Obviously [Palou] sees what we do,” said Dixon. “He can see all of that, which makes it difficult. I think a lot of these times, these days, you can’t hide anything, especially in our team.
“Some things back in the day, you used to be able to keep to yourself. That’s just impossible now.”
Dixon’s win extended his streak of consecutive years with a win out to 20, well ahead of any others in IndyCar history.
Consistently making fewer fuel stops than any of the other drivers, ‘coasting’ when others are charging makes one wonder if indeed Scott is pulling a fast one on everyone. I’d understand the reluctance of Indycar to announce a detailed study of the engine and car but it may be time to dispel suspicions which has to be whispered in the garage areas.