Pato O’Ward managed another second place during last weekend’s Bommarito 500, bested only by Scott Dixon’s fuel saving skills. A race long battle with Josef Newgarden ended after the Penske driver made contact with the wall, but that battle eventually proved to be for second as Dixon drove a signature race. In the end, O’Ward was satisfied with second place, his fourth of the season.
“Good points obviously. It’s another second in the books for us this 2023. Yeah, Scott Dixon decided to do a Dixon today. Whenever they told me, He’s going to try to make it without stopping again, the guy’s going to do it for sure.”
The Arrow McLaren driver lauded Dixon for his skills, accepting the fact that the Kiwi seems to be able to “just do it” when it comes down to fuel saving.
“Well, he just does it. He’s just Scott Dixon, you know? I feel like that’s what he’s best known for.
“He knows how to do it better than anybody with a great combination that he has with his team and car and everything. It’s a bummer that we weren’t even close to kind of even race him,” explaining the elusive skill the Chip Ganassi driver has. “[It] starts with S, ends with N. That’s what it is.”
O’Ward wasn’t surprised by the fact that Dixon is still able to perform as he does.
“He’s a six-time champion for a reason. Yeah, you just don’t run out of talent. You just don’t. You don’t forget it either. So the guy is going to be good until he decides to retire.
“I think he’s got another 10 years, yeah.”
Despite missing out on victory O’Ward had only positive comments for his team and pit crew, but not so much for the backmarkers.
“I’m happy with today. I’m super happy with the strategy. I don’t think we would have been able to make that three-stopper work.
“Yeah, boys were stout in the pits. Super happy with the car. Yeah, a bit annoyed with all the lappers. I’m sure David and Scott are, as well. It’s nothing new, but it has to change. Like, they’re just…”
IndyCar had decided to bring the alternate tyre to Gateway, in an attempt to bring an extra strategic dimension to the race. O’Ward had mixed feelings about it, as driving a second line proved to be next to impossible.
“It brought in some pretty horrendous marbles onto the racetrack, which made the second lane almost impossible to use. I don’t think I was the only one.
“I think not that the blacks don’t create marbles, but definitely this alternate tire was a special add-on to that. It made it pretty hard. The difference in grip wasn’t that big of a difference.
“I think two different tires for the ovals is actually pretty cool. I just think if they want good racing, we can’t be in single file. Then even the lappers can be racing with the leaders,” adding another jab at the backmarkers. “Just get out of the way, yeah.”
While IndyCar doesn’t use a blue flag rule as in Formula 1, the Mexican youngster still felt the backmarkers should just move over, dismissing the notion that perhaps downforce fixes could solve this issue.
“No. Just move. Like, you’re getting lapped, move.”
And while dismissing that the single file racing was the main culprit –“No. Because if they were fast enough, we wouldn’t be catching them.”-, he did feel that this issue is less of a problem on a track with two lanes, like Texas.
“[In] Texas, you don’t need them to move because you have a second lane. But you have nothing to do here,” adding that he didn’t feel the marbles would make it more dangerous to let others by. “No, just slow down in the straightaway and somebody pass by. It’s super simple.”
O’Ward also explained that a part of the issue lies with the drivers being lapped themselves, as not everyone tries to minimise their impact on the race of others.
“I feel it’s more of a gentleman’s agreement, but nobody follows it. I feel like I’ve followed it pretty much my all my career. If I’m not having a good day, I’m not going to screw your race.
“Hopefully that comes in return whenever I am having a good day and they’re not, which has been a few cases. Definitely it’s not everybody. But the consistent lappers, it’s like, Dude…”
Due to inclement weather qualifying for the race was held on Sunday morning, but to O’Ward that wasn’t too much of an issue.
“I didn’t think it was too bad actually. I enjoyed it. I think it was all right. Obviously I’m not the one that’s preparing the car. I’m not the one that’s going to be preparing the car if something happens.
“I think it does bring in a bit of an extra stress because of just how tight the schedule was from qualifying to the race. Especially around this place, if you get greedy, it will bite really quick.
“It’s just finding a fine balance. But I didn’t think it was an issue.”
And the plan for Portland and Laguna Seca?
“I guess just be flexible to the chaos, the right calls.”
