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Fans of the NTT IndyCar Series always like to play the “what if” game. What if Greg Moore had not been fatally injured at the end of the 1999 season, and had gone on to drive for Marlboro Team Penske in 2000? Would he have won the championship instead of Gil de Ferran? Would Helio Castroneves have become a four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500? What if Rick Mears had not retired after the 1992 season? Would he have won the 1993 Indianapolis 500, instead of his Penske teammate Emerson Fittipaldi and become a five-time winner of the Indianapolis 500?

Those are questions that have haunted me for the last quarter-century.

There is another “what if” that doesn’t stir as many memories, but it is worth fans discussing over a beer. What if Felix Rosenqvist had stayed in the No. 10 car for Chip Ganassi, and not bolted for greener pastures at Arrow McLaren in 2021? If you recall, it was the sudden departure of Rosenqvist that opened up that seat. Had he stayed, where would Alex Palou be driving right now? Remember, Alex Palou didn’t really become Alex Palou until he started driving for Ganassi.

No one knows more than Felix Rosenqvist that you can’t put the toothpaste back into the tube. I’m sure it didn’t take him long to regret leaving Ganassi. After all, it was with Ganassi that Rosenqvist earned his one and only IndyCar win – 2020 at Road America (Race Two). But Rosenqvist impresses me as someone who looks ahead, and doesn’t lament the past.

His three years at Arrow McLaren were tough to watch. In his first ten races of 2021, his results were 21st, 12th, 13th, 16th, 17th, 27th, 25th, DNS, DNS and 23rd. Things picked up slightly in the final six races to give him a final ranking of twenty-first for the season. Quite honestly, given McLaren’s history of short leashes – I wasn’t sure Rosenqvist was going to get a second season.

He did return for 2022, but things were very rocky at first. Through the first four races of that season, his finishes were 17th, 21st, 11th and 16th. But things turned around in the Month of May. Rosenqvist finished sixth in the GMR Grand Prix and fourth in the Indianapolis 500. From the beginning of May until the end of the season; Rosenqvist amassed ten Top-Ten finishes, including one podium on his way to a respectable eight-place finish in the standings.

While Arrow McLaren tried to replace Rosenqvist for 2023, with the driver that replaced him (Palou) – the future of Rosenqvist twisted in the wind. Once Ganassi let it be known that he still had Palou under contract for 2023, one would’ve thought that McLaren would have confirmed him for the 2023 season. It took forever, before they announced that Alexander Rossi would be joining the team, and would take his old number (7) and presumably his team, which was already in place. Rosenqvist was finally told he would return to Arrow McLaren in 2023, but with a new number, a new crew and on a one-year deal, that everyone assumed would be a lame-duck season for Rosenqvist.

Rosenqvist posted respectable results, after another slow start. He ended up with eight Top-Tens, with two podium finishes. He finished twelfth in the final standings – three spots behind Rossi and eight behind Pato O’Ward. It should be noted that Arrow McLaren posted no wins for 2023, despite their impressive driver lineup and millions in resources.

It came as a surprise to absolutely non one, that Rosenqvist was not retained by Arrow McLaren for the 2024 season. The only question was where he would land, in what turned out to be one of the craziest silly seasons ever. You always wonder which driver is going to be left without a chair, when the music stops – but I don’t think many people counted on Rosenqvist ending up on the sidelines.

We knew pretty early on in the process that Felix Rosenqvist was headed to Meyer Shank Racing (MSR). The only question was, would he be replacing Helio Castroneves, who was moving to an Indy-only arrangement with the team; or would he replace the injured Simon Pagenaud? It didn’t really matter, as long as he had a seat.

At the time, I figured this was the final stop for Rosenqvist in IndyCar. MSR had an absolutely abysmal 2023 season, that had nothing to do with the fact that Pagenaud was injured halfway through the season. They were terrible before he got hurt. 2022 wasn’t much better.

The 2022 IndyCar season saw Pagenaud finish fifteenth in points, while Castroneves finished eighteenth. Before his injury in early July 2023, Pagenaud was languishing below twentieth in points. Castroneves finished eighteenth for the second year in a row. All of the feel good that came from Helio’s improbable 2021 Indianapolis 500 win was gone. To this day, that remains MSR’s only IndyCar win. I guess if you’re going to win only one, that’s the one to win.

To be honest, I saw no reason to think that 2024 was going to be any different for MSR. They had a McLaren castoff as their lead driver, and an incoming thirty year-old rookie in Tom Blomqvist, in the second car. If I was told to pick a dark horse for a small team to have a breakout year, I don’t think MSR would’ve been my first choice.

I love being proved wrong like this. Blomqvist has held his own, but Rosenqvist has been the biggest surprise of this very young season. If you count the non-points paying race at Thermal, he has qualified on the front row twice, one being the pole for the first heat race at Thermal (does that count?). He won that first heat race and a botched second pit stop at St. Petersburg relegated him back to seventh. Before that, he was about the only driver who could keep pace with Josef Newgarden.

Technically, we are only one race into the season. But based on what we saw at Thermal, I think it’s safe to say that there is a vague pattern forming if you look at Thermal and St. Petersburg. Alex Palou is still the man to beat. The Penske cars are strong as well as Ganassi. Thermal did not produce anything unexpected, beyond the performance of Felix Rosenqvist. But given his performance at St. Petersburg, can we say it was unexpected?

MSR has a technical alliance with Andretti Global. For two events, Rosenqvist has our qualified and outraced his Andretti counterparts, although Colton Herta did finish fifth at St. Petersburg.

I am very happy for Felix Rosenqvist. Throughout his tenure at Arrow McLaren, he never once badmouthed his situation, or wallowed in self-pity – even though team management made it clear that he wasn’t really wanted. Credit Pato O’Ward for being his advocate with the team. Reportedly, Rosenqvist and O’Ward formed a strong friendship while they were teammates.

Not once did Rosenqvist ever have anything but a smile on his face. He never dodged a question by the media, and he was always very even-keeled – even at the worst of times.

It’s always good to see good things finally come to good people. He is very happy at his new home at MSR. Unlike his time at McLaren, they are also very happy with him. He feels appreciated at MSR, and is the undisputed leader on the team, instead of considered the third of three drivers at McLaren. But he doesn’t gloat. He seems to have the same even-keeled demeanor and that familiar smile we’ve always seen from him. Only now, he actually has something to smile about. I think he is now past asking himself ‘what if”.

Like any fan, I have teams and drivers that I pull for and pull against. You can be certain that Felix Rosenqvist at MSR is a team and driver combination that I am now pulling for. I also would not mind seeing him drinking milk at the end of May. He has paid his dues.

George Phillips

Please Note:  I am taking off Thursday from work, and I am already off for Good Friday. I don’t really care to be behind a keyboard on Easter Sunday, either.

That’s a long way of saying that there will be no post here on Friday Mar 29 or Monday Apr 1, as I will take take a short break for Easter before we get into heavy-duty racing season. I will return here on Wednesday Apr 3. Enjoy the Easter weekend, everyone! – GP

This entry was posted on March 27, 2024 at 4:04 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.