The 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season is all revved up and ready to go.
It sure wasn’t a quiet off-season with some familiar faces now in new places, major teams downsizing operations and new technology introduced to progress the sport.
Before the green flag drops Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla., here are five storylines to follow this year.
Programming Alert: Watch the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg live Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT on Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet NOW.
1. O, Canada
James Hinchcliffe isn’t the only driver riding with the Maple Leaf on his back in the series anymore. Canadian IndyCar fans will now have three drivers to cheer for this season.
Hinchcliffe is still the cream of the compatriot crop returning to Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in the No. 5 Honda. The 31-year-old from Oakville, Ont., finished an unlucky 13th in the standings for the second consecutive season in 2017, although his placement is a tad misleading. Hinchcliffe sustained DNFs at the double-point Indy 500 and Sonoma and if they were adjusted, or even if Hinchcliffe had crossed the finish line, he’d easily be in the top 10 where he belongs. Road/street courses remain his forte with a win at Long Beach last year plus podium finishes in Detroit and his hometown track, Toronto.
The team has also made a number of personnel changes to help make Hinchcliffe more competitive week-in and week-out. A key performance to start at St. Petersburg, where Hinchcliffe has won before, will go a long way to putting the paddock on notice.
Joining Hinchcliffe at Schmidt Peterson Motorsports is longtime pal Robert Wickens in the No. 6 Honda. The 28-year-old from Guelph, Ont., spent the past six seasons racing touring cars in Germany. Wickens is no IndyCar newbie though as the one-time Formula One prospect performed a ride-swap with Hinchcliffe last season and also filled in for Mikhail Aleshin during practice at Road America when the Russian driver experienced visa problems. Wickens gives Hinchcliffe a solid teammate for the first time in a while and the two should gel well as they go way back to their karting days.
Rounding out the Canadian contingent is Zachary Claman DeMelo, who will split duties with Pietro Fittipaldi in the No. 19 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing. The 19-year-old from Montreal made his IndyCar debut in last year’s season finale at Sonoma with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. DeMelo may struggle as he’s fast-tracked through the minor leagues to the big show but he’ll have veteran Sebastien Bourdais to turn to as a strong teammate for guidance.
2. New aero-kit adds intrigue
IndyCar has introduced a universal aero-kit for all cars this season. The “Explain like I’m five” version can be summed up in one compound word: low-downforce. The cars are less likely to be glued to the track, which means less grip heading into high-speed corners. It’ll come down to who can find the right tweaks within the limits to gain an edge over the competition and drivers will rely more on their engineers for the right setup.
The universal aero-kit will have a true test right off the bat in St. Petersburg with its narrow and unforgiving confines of a street course. If the car gets too hard to handle, it’s into the wall and game over, man. It’s definitely something to keep an eye on as the season progresses and we’ll find out who thrives under the new universal aero-kit and who gets left in the dust.
3. Can Team Penske get along?
Josef Newgarden became the third different Team Penske driver in four years to capture the series championship last season and claimed the title in his first season with the squad.
There were some tense moments within the team though with both Will Power (2014 champ) and Simon Pagenaud (then defending champ) also in the mix for the trophy as well as Helio Castroneves seeking his first.
Newgarden made it clear he’s here to win races and not make friends, not even on his own team. The 27-year-old from Hendersonville, Tenn., made an aggressive pass on Power early in the Mid-Ohio race en route to victory. He also nudged Pagenaud out of the way in the closing laps to grab the checkers at Gateway.
Castroneves has been shuffled over to the team’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship operations, however, the three-time Indy 500 winner from Brazil will return for the month of May and another crack at tying the record for most wins in the pinnacle event.
It may be a case of too many cooks in the kitchen with three drivers looking out for No. 1 — and allowing someone like Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing to sneak through should they butt heads — but pushing each other may also lead to their best chance at one of them staying at the head of the class. At the end of the day, as long as any of Roger Penske’s cars is on the top spot of the podium, the Captain is happy.
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4. Danica-mania
Sure it’s only for the Indy 500 but Danica Patrick’s return to the Verizon IndyCar Series to cap her trailblazing career is worth keeping tabs on.
Patrick was by far the most popular driver during her IndyCar tenure backed by the fact she won the Most Popular Driver award in six of her seven seasons in the series. Like F1 driver Fernando Alonso’s appearance in the Indy 500 last year, Patrick gives the marquee race a bit of buzz that the Greatest Spectacle on Earth has been lacking.
5. Who is the best of the rest?
You have to go all the way back to 2002 to find a driver outside of Penske, Ganassi or Andretti Autosport who won the IndyCar Series championship (Sam Hornish Jr. with Panther Racing, by the way). That hasn’t hindered new teams from joining the fold — Carlin and Harding full-time this year plus Juncos and Michael Shank Racing for a handful of races — or for others to expand.
Even then, it’s been Penske-Ganassi at the top the last five years with Andretti looking to build off of Alexander Rossi’s late-season surge. Chip Ganassi Racing has also downsized its operations with Charlie Kimball and Max Chilton moving on to the all-new Carling Racing team. Tony Kanaan has also replaced Rookie of the Year winner Ed Jones with Dixon still in the prime spot.
Having said that, there’s still a chance for someone outside of the Big 3 to emerge. Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has been on the doorstep of a championship opportunity finishing within the top six during the past three seasons and will now have a formidable teammate to bounce setups with: reigning Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato. This could be RLL’s moment to move out from under the “small team” cloud.
Bourdais jumped out of the gate to win in his adopted hometown of St. Petersburg last year. The renaissance season for the four-time champion from France was derailed when he sustained multiple injuries during a frightening crash in practice at the Indy 500. Could this year become Bourdais’ revenge tour? We’ll just have to play it out and see how it goes.
