This past weekend, IndyCar trialed a new rule that forced each driver to complete two stints on each compound of Firestone tire instead of the typical one set each.
There was initial skepticism that the rule would make any difference at all, but the result was that nearly every driver had to complete one stint on a used set of alternate compound tires.
Those used tires fell off quickly for those that were not carefully managing wear rates, leading to some consequential changes of the order including Alex Palou’s pass over Graham Rahal for the lead.
After the race was complete, Pato O’Ward told media that he would like to see the new rules applied to more events. Specifically, he believes the changes would have large effects on the season’s upcoming street courses.
Even though he feels it will make the drivers miserable at some points as they race around on the less preferred tire, he argues there would be a large uptick in passes due to differing strategies.
“I think we went into [the new tire rules] with a lot of unknowns,” said O’Ward. “I think a lot of people are, like, ‘Ah, it’s going to be a red race.’ Some guy said, ‘Oh, no, they’re going to deg.’
“I think the black [tire] was a lot better than what we thought, or at least from our camp. I think here it obviously puts some uncertainty in people’s decisions, so to kind of see how aggressive you wanted to be with it.
“I really think in our street course compounds, if [these rules] would have been in effect in St. Pete and Long Beach, everything would have looked completely different. I think that would have made even better racing, more passes because now you’re forced to do the greens.
“You don’t get lucky with the first yellow falling down and you’re, like, ‘Oh, let me get off of them and just run a full black race.’ No, you still have to run another set. You’re going to be miserable at least another 20 laps.
“I think we need to push IndyCar and force them to enforce this rule for Detroit. I really think that rule is going to switch things in the racing, and I think it’s going to produce a race that is so much more entertaining.”
For the moment, the rules introduced at the Indianapolis road course were only in effect for that one event.
IndyCar has yet to announce if the test run will result in more permanent rule changes or if they would be considered for the season’s upcoming street races in Detroit and Toronto.
