The opening two rounds, including a non-points event as the most recent act, has featured zero on-track passes for the lead.
In the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden dominated to lead 92 of 100 laps and claimed victory by 7.9121s over Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward. The race featured zero on-track passes for the lead, with the four changes of the top spot rotating hands during pit sequences.
The most recent event, a non-points exhibition at The Thermal Club, showcased more follow-the-leader running as Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou led every lap in the 20-lap final – which featured a halftime break – to win by 5.729s over Scott McLaughlin. Palou also led all 10 laps in his respective heat, with Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist also uncontested in the other.
Kirkwood, the defending race winner of this weekend’s Grand Prix of Long Beach, believes a big reason for the current on-track product is down to the lack of tire wear.
“The reason why you're seeing that and specifically at a street course is because of the tire situation we have now with a tire that doesn’t deg as much,” Kirkwood told Motorsport.com.
Firestone was already hard at work on pushing out a compound that could handle the new hybrid engine that increases the weight of the car. However, when IndyCar made the decision to move the hybrid’s introduction from the start of the season until sometime after the Indianapolis 500, the new tires were already being rolled out for the current.
“They built the new tires for the hybrid and now they're super durable,” added Kirkwood, driver of the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda.
“So, it's just so hard to pass. Really in IndyCar, the only way you pass people is on like different strategies. You know, if you're at the same pace as somebody else, you're not going to pass them. That's just how it is. So, you need to do something different to be able to get by people and we just don't have that luxury this year, if I'm being honest.”
So, will this be the case until the hybrid debuts in the middle of the year?
“Maybe,” Kirkwood said.
“It's going to change. Like, it depends on the weekend. Yes, we saw it at St. Pete for that reason. Thermal, I wouldn't say it was that reason because there was passes deeper in the field, but Palou just walked away with it because he's really fast. That's just inevitable in any race; if you're really fast, you're going to walk away with it.
“But yeah, I think that will probably be the case at a lot of races. If we're seeing tires like this that are more durable, it's going to be a little bit harder to pass.
“It's not going to be as much strategy involved. It's just going to be outright pace wins the race.”
