F1 And GP2’s Loss Might Be IndyCar’s Gain

While there have been others, the most recent F1 and GP2 defectors to IndyCars – Doornbos (F1), Viso (GP2) and Conway (GP2) could have some company in 2010 if nature plays its role.

With Sebastien Bourdais reportedly about to hit the unemployment line, following the likes of Michael Andretti and Cristiano da Matta back to IndyCar racing after they failed to gain traction in F1 is likely his best option.

Nelson Piquet Jr. would find the climate in IndyCar racing more to his liking after an embattled year and a half in F1. If the rumors are to be believed, he might not have a choice but to make the move. (LAT)

Does he try to rekindle the magic at Newman/Haas/Lanigan, provided there’s room and funding for him since the McDonald’s money moved over to Graham Rahal?

If Danica bolts the AGR stable, will the sponsorship gurus be able to find the 4-time ChampCar title winner the funding for a seat?

Beyond AGR and N/H/L, there aren’t many seats he’d likely consider (or be considered for). Penske has a logjam of talent with a third driver in Will Power that’s already hard pressed to find a full-time ride, and Ganassi has the perfect combination of drivers and temperament with Dixon and Franchitti – why risk messing that up by drafting in the fast but combustable Bourdais?

Renault also looks ready to cast off young Nelson Piquet Jr., and provided he’s not desperate to stay in F1 with a no-hoper like Force India, a switch to IndyCars could be the wisest move possible.

His father had a horrible time in 1992 at the Speedway, so it’s likely Sr.’s permanent limp and legal wrangling with John Menard have tainted the IndyCar brand in the Piquet household. But if Nelsinho wants the best platform to prove his skills in (relatively) equal machinery – something he did to great effect while running second to Lewis Hamilton in the 2006 GP2 series – taking on the best Target, Penske and AGR have to offer could be the career boost he sorely needs.

Between Bourdais and Piquet, an open seat at AGR would be something Nelson could be in the running for if Tony Kanaan had his way. Piquet Sr. was a great influence on the young Kanaan, helping him to make to land in Europe and F3 which propelled TK to Indy Lights and then IndyCars.

Beyond their shared nationality, the best scenario for Jr. would be to spend some of his family money on a seat at AGR to study under Kanaan – something that hasn’t happened to the level Nelsinho’s obviously needed in F1. That’s not to say the Renault team haven’t nurtured him, but some drivers need a little more than others and having Kanaan as a mentor and teammate could work wonders for Piquet.

If I was his manager, I’d be on the phone to Michael Andretti right now.

If I was Bourdais, and knowing Doornbos’ personal funding is running on fumes and that McDonald’s is currently stepping in to help, I’d be dusting off my old Newman-Hass McDonald’s suit, taping over a few of the ChampCar logos and booking a flight for Edmonton ASAP.

GP2 is loaded with ageing talent (not physical age, but drivers that are in their third year of the championship and aren’t likely to get a call-up to F1 anytime soon) that bring something between one and two million dollars to the party – a sum that could get them in the IndyCar game.

With car counts hovering around twenty, adding a few more IndyCar entries wouldn’t hurt. The likes of GP2 veterans Pastor Maldonado, Vitaly Petrov, Andreas Zuber and Luca Filippi come to mind as the immediate flock that are past their sell-by date in GP2.

Their names might not stand out if you don’t follow GP2, but they are all capable drivers with the ability to bring varying degrees of cash and talent to a mid-field IndyCar team. Maldonado, a Venezuelan that’s also sponsored by PDVSA, would make a great teammate for E.J. Viso at the financially-challenged HVM team.

Petrov, Zuber and Filippi could find homes at Coyne, Conquest, Dreyer & Reinbold, Luczo Dragon, Foyt or Vision (OK, those last two might be a stretch for a newbie GP2 driver). With a little bit more budget to offer, Panther or KV Racing could be an option as they’re known to command a higher rate. The majority of IndyCar teams need all the money they can find these days, regardless of the driver's country of origin.

I’d love to see a crop of Americans find seats in IndyCar next year, but free seats aren’t opening up right now and unless a check is in hand, the rest of the rides will go to those with dollars to spare.

AGR's Drivers Need To Go Their Separate Ways

You know you’re having a bad day when your four cars are qualified 17th, 18th, 20th and 21st in a 23-car field and that’s just what Andretti-Green had on Saturday at Toronto.

Danica earned a 6th place finish at Toronto but her teammates either crashed (Kanaan) or were lucky to survive the chaos and crashes to finish better than their pace would have allowed.

Teammates will always have their specific setup needs – one prefers a touch of understeer, one likes things more neutral, one wants lighter downforce…but almost every team starts with a base setup that the drivers and their engineers begin with before veering off in their own direction.

It’s why you’ll see most teammates qualify close to one another (not always, but in general) and this gives a general indicator as to how well the team’s testing and Sim efforts have been.

But after a semi-frequent drubbing as a whole in qualifying or the races, maybe it’s time for the four cars to break from convention and start working on their own setups from the outset.

Tony Kanaan hasn’t forgotten how to drive, Marco can be amazingly quick, Mutoh has shown flashes and Patrick has upped her speed and overall game by more than a few notches this year.

For all of the heat Marco brings on himself, his struggles in 2009 haven't been entirely of his making. A re-shuffling of the deck at AGR could help Andretti quite a bit. (LAT)

The team is also filled with a strong engineering staff and a solid budget, so maybe it’s time to abandon the ‘all for one, and one for all’ approach until one or more of the four drivers can find their to qualify and race up front on a consistent basis.

AGR appears to be a bit lost in 2009, but they have the ability to rebound. Engineers and crew were shuffled in the off season to strike a better harmony on and off track, but with the exception of Danica, the experiment hasn’t delivered the results they wanted.

A little bit of math quickly illustrates the difference. After ten rounds in 2008, AGR had amassed two wins and three poles. After ten rounds in 2009, the team has zero wins and zero poles.

The drop in top-6 performances is the most revealing. By the tenth race last year AGR had twenty top-6s (Kanaan with 7, Andretti with 5, Patrick with 4 and Mutoh with 4.)

One year later and Danica has almost doubled her total from 4 to 7, Kanaan is down from 7 to 4, Marco Andretti is down from 4 to 3 and Mutoh is down from 4 to 2. That’s a 43% bump for Danica, a 43% drop for TK, a 25% drop for Marco and an even 50% down for Mutoh.

But for Danica’s awakening this year that has skewed the overall picture of AGR’s competitiveness to place in the top-6, there’s a 39% average drop in top-6s for her three teammates through Toronto.

There’s no need to panic (or is there?), but after ten mostly fruitless rounds in 2009, an immediate change of game plan is worth considering – three of their four drivers are in the top-10 in points (Danica in 5th, Marco in 7th, Tony in 8th and Hideki in 11th) but with zero wins, zero poles, one fastest lap (Mutoh at Iowa) and no hope of challenging Ganassi or Penske for the title, now’s the time get creative.

Testing and developing for the good of the team usually works, but when it doesn't, there's nothing wrong with splitting things into four unique programs until a solution can be found.

Leaving Danica’s program alone would be smart but for the other three cars, it’s time to start rolling the dice. Divergent paths could find TK or Marco in victory circle before the season draws to a close.

Why Are Foyt’s Cars Now Faster On Road Courses Than Ovals?

Just a quick observation. Yes, he’s had Darren Manning and now RHR driving for him – both road course guys, but how did we get to a place in the universe where cars with AJ Foyt’s name on them are lost on ovals but rather impressive on street and road courses?

When I think of the best performances from the Foyt team, it’s races like Watkins Glen or Detroit 2008 that stand out. Hunter-Reay also had the ABC Supply car in the hunt for a while last weekend at Toronto. For a team that used to consider road courses something to suffer through until the next oval race, it's a nice change of pace, but now we're left wondering if and when Foyt's team will threaten when they're only asked to turn left.

Early crashes not with standing, Meira, Foyt ‘Quattro’ (as VS commentator Jon Beekhuis calls him) and RHR were nowhere on the ovals and Paul Tracy held on for dear life as long as he dared in his guest drive for A.J. at Milwaukee.

With Super Tex taking back the engineering reigns last weekend, who knows how the team will fare going forward.


The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, SPEED, FOX, or NewsCorp.

Marshall Pruett is Auto Racing Editor for SPEEDtv.com. Pruett grew up at "Pruett's Olde English Garage," his father's shelter for abused foreign cars, and spent his childhood being dragged across the West Coast to help with his dad's amateur racing exploits.

Pruett spent twenty years working in the IRL, CART, IMSA, and most of the known open-wheel feeder series before retiring from active duty in 2001. And in case you were wondering, no, he isn’t related to Scott Pruett.

Marshall lives in Northern California with his wife Shabral.