Two of the biggest races on the calendar are complete with the 100th Indianapolis 500 and Monaco Grand Prix now in the books. A driver who competed in both events earlier in his career, Stefan Johansson, has then recapped it in his latest blog entry with Jan Tegler.
Here’s some of Johansson’s thoughts on the race itself:
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“You could really feel the energy this year. There was the same buzz you used to feel before the split (CART/IRL) in the mid 90’s. The whole city was just buzzing all month. It was great and I hope it will continue like this.
“This year’s race ended up being a typical, IndyCar race that was won on strategy rather than sheer speed. We saw [Graham] Rahal do it many times last season where he wasn’t in the picture until the races came to him strategically towards the end.That’s not to take anything away from Rossi. I think he did a phenomenal job all month, really. He was always there or thereabouts through practice and qualifying. For a rookie I think he did a tremendous job.
“But he was never in the hunt to win at any point during the race on pace alone. The team made the right call and that’s what matters at Indy. They gambled and in the situation they were in it wasn’t a difficult choice to make. If you’re not running you can sometimes afford to roll the dice and hope the race will come to you, and it certainly did in this case.
“Yes, had that [pit road incident] not happened I don’t think there’s any doubt that Hunter-Reay or Bell would have been right there at the end to shoot it out for the win. They were really strong most of the day.
“I think both Penske and Ganassi missed the mark this year. It was hard work for both teams to get up to speed. They did manage to get the lap times but it wasn’t coming easy. TK (Tony Kanaan) was running strong obviously but being on the pace wasn’t as easy as it has been in the past. It was a strange Indy 500 in that respect.”
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Here were Johansson’s thoughts on Monaco, how Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes nailed the strategy while Daniel Ricciardo was caught out by Red Bull’s strategic error:
“Hamilton experienced a similar scenario last year. Mercedes just screwed up because the guys that sit behind the computers have never been in a race. They don’t know what it’s like to be on track. All they look at are theoretical scenarios. Monaco is actually quite simple compared to most other tracks as there’s really only thing you need to be concerned with, and that’s track position as it’s virtually impossible to pass even if you’re 5 seconds a lap faster.
“I thought Ricciardo was absolutely superb all weekend. He was fantastic in both qualifying and the race. He was really hustling the car behind Lewis. It was quite impressive. I think it’s going to be very interesting to follow him and Red Bull from now on. They’ve made a lot of progress and they clearly have a good car. Ricciardo’s got the bit between his teeth and really should have won in Spain too under normal circumstances.”
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There are several more great nuggets within Johansson’s latest blog, which you can view in its entirety here.
Previous linkouts to Johansson’s blog on MotorSportsTalk are linked below:
- 5/26: On Verstappen, Mercedes and more
- 4/29: On rules, regs and female drivers
- 4/7: F1’s power struggle, Haas’ rise
- 3/24: Addressing fixes for F1, IndyCar
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Additionally, a link to Johansson’s social media channels and #F1TOP3 competition are linked here.