IndyCar fans have been left so many questions to ponder after last weekend’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. In no particular order, we wonder if Andretti Autosport had pitted Romain Grosjean a lap earlier in his first stint – before his green alternate Firestones gave up and lost him time – whether Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin would have been unable to get in front of him for the middle stint and therefore unable to wrestle for the lead at the start of his final stint, ergo RoGro wins.
We wonder whether Colton Herta, had he hung back from his Andretti Autosport teammate in cleaner air in the opening stint, could have made his greens last longer, lost less time before pitting, and then been able to tackle Grosjean or pick up the win in the event of the Grosjean/McLaughlin clash. Equally, had he not been nudged into the wall (inadvertently) by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon on the opening lap, would Felix Rosenqvist have been in second to take over the lead from Arrow McLaren teammate Pato O’Ward when the latter’s Chevy had a quick burp four laps from the end? And of course, it’s anyone’s guess as to whether O’Ward, without his “plenum event”, could have held off eventual winner Marcus Ericsson all the way to the checkered flag.
