A truly well deserved and overdue win for Newgarden. Ferruchi was also strong all day.
Watching the amount of weaving, introduced last year by Ericsson, does give me a coldsweat chill though. It seems like tempting fate and a dreadful, horrible accident right up against the wall separating pit-entry from race track.
It is probably a consequence of everyone in the field being so closely matched when running the same chassis and aero specs, and when everyone can max the speed thus leaving blocking as the last effective tactic against drafting past.
Three red flags is also a symptom of an underlying problem. Why do drivers go absolutely mental for the last 50 laps? I think the reason is the same that I just mentioned in the previous paragraph. That, and desperation.
While the last restart certainly added to the drama and offered a green-flag finish I’m not sure the race shouldn’t just have ended under yellow.
While introducing and policing regulations that would prohibit more that the two customary lane changes; exiting the last corner cutting down on the straight and going high further down the straight preparing for corner entry, and absolutely making the utilisation of the area of the race track right in front of the pit entry a no-go area would initially rob the race of some drama and spectacle, in the long run I think it might just entice or incite just that little extra common sense and reasonable driver behavior possibly saving a life somewhere down the line.
