The sun finally came out around 4:00 this afternoon. While that was good for the comfort of the fans, the engines prefer things to be a little cooler.
I mentioned this earlier and hate being a Negative Nellie, but this was a very subdued crowd for Fast Friday. I’m going to blame it on the rain delay and the threatening looking weather. Those that were thinking about going early this morning probably gave up. Once the sun came out, it was very pleasant.
Felix Rosenqvist set the fastest time on Fast Friday, in what may be the ugliest car on the grid – but it appears to be fast. He set a speed of 233.372 mph. (My Photo)
It’s still hard to determine if a team feels like it’s in trouble, or are they just not showing their hand. Even though there is no bumping this year, and we will be treated to a new qualifying procedure – there is still pressure.
Even if a team is realistic and think they have no shot at the pole, they don’t want to be below that fifteenth position. Even if you are fifteenth, you can make some fairly drastic changes overnight to at least get up to the second or third row on Sunday. Qualify sixteenth or lower on Saturday, that’s where you start the race.
One team that looks like they are in trouble is Andretti Global. Yes, Marcus Ericsson turned the fifth quickest lap with a 232.622 mph, but that was with a big tow late in the day. His fastest no-tow speed was 231.420 mph, which was good for twenty-second. Will Power is fourteenth on the speed chart and Kyle Kirkwood is twenty-third.
One thing that is odd this year is that it seems each team has one driver who is exceedingly fast, while their teammates are languishing. Are they putting different setups on different cars, then when they find out which works the best, put that on the other cars? Is that what the Ganassi plan is? Alex Palou has been fast all month and was sixth today, but Scott Dixon has been quiet most of the month and was twelfth today. Kyffin Simpson was twenty-eighth today, and has been silent all month, but he sure has a pretty car.
Aside from Rosenqvist having the fastest speed, Alexander Rossi, Scott McLaughlin, Takuma Sato and Ericsson rounded out the Top Five. The bottom five, from the bottom up; were Katherine Legge (229.357), Mick Schumacher, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Romain Grosjean and Dennis Hauger.
The draw is going on as I type. Scott Dixon drew No. 1 for tomorrow, while Alex Palou drew No. 31. It may not matter, because rain is in the forecast, so if they do get to run tomorrow, it will probably be in cloudy conditions. No. 1 is only advantageous on warm sunny days.
The weather will be the story tomorrow. Some here are optimistic and are putting no stock in the forecast. Others are convinced we won’t turn a wheel tomorrow. I fall somewhere in the middle. I think we will be dodging raindrops and some cars will get qualified, but I also think that first-day qualifying will spill over into Sunday. If so, that will be a very full day and IndyCar officials will have their hands full juggling the schedule around.
I’ll close with some photos that Susan took this afternoon, and that will do it for us tonight. Since we are late leaving the track, we may just grab something quick near our hotel. Please come back here tomorrow. We plan to be here halfway early, unless we wake up to a downpour.
George Phillips
