Tag: Fireston Grand Prix ofSt. Petersburg

Shanks Brings Knowledge, Passion, Ideas

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Photo by Joe Skibinski, Penske Entertainment

“We are going to blow the doors off Indy,” Eric Shanks, CEO of FOX Sports, told the assembled media last Saturday at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.. Shanks joined IndyCar CEO M ark Miles and IndyCar President Doug Boles to talk about the direction FOX planned to take their coverage of the series.

Shanks, who owns a motor home across the street from IMS on Georgetown Road, has attended the 500 as a fan for more than 20 years. He understands that a broadcast partner’s obligation isn’t just the Indianapolis 500.

-” …we also wanted to make sure that our
focus is not just on Indy. So, you see what we’re doing
here. You’re going to see what we’re doing at Thermal,
Long Beach, as it goes out. But we are going to blow the
doors off of Indy. We’re going to bring everything that Fox
has to bear.”

Shanks takes a driver centered approach to his network’s coverage.

“The really cool thing about this series is it really is all about
the driver. The cars are so similar, and there’s an
enormous amount of engineering that goes into these
things, but at the end of the day it’s how aggressive, how
smart, how strategic are these drivers. These drivers are
elevated more than any other series in the world probably.”

“Honestly,” Shanks continued, “what I would love to see is the relationship with Fox help teams get new sponsors, help the league get new sponsors, because that’s what sets us off on this flywheel,
right, is economic success. Every sponsor that comes on
then uses their voice to actually market the sport as well,
and I’m kind of hearing this from teams, too. They’re
hearing better conversations with people either wanting to
buy in or sponsor, because they believe in the trajectory
that these guys have built and the media trajectory as well.”

FOX plans a mass marketing campaign to promote the 500, involving fox affiliates nationwide.

“I think what you’ll see around the 500 is much more of all of our local stations all over the country really dive in and our marketing team
will be working with each of them,” Shanks said.

Shanks wants to make the sport more approachable, and his driver centered approach is a big part of that.

“I would say everything that we’ve done technology-wise
here is to make the sport more approachable. As much as
it’s easy for me to watch, I just put myself in fans who are
trying to get into this, and first and foremost, they need to
know the rules, so we’re going to have a lot of technology
to show the car and what the rules are and the impact of
that, but then also just who is in what car, right? So, I think
that will go a long way highlighting how easy it is to attach
yourself to the drivers and to this sport.”

We saw some of this approach in Sunday’s broadcast, when blurbs appeared explaining a rule, and a cartoon representation of a driver accompanied their name. I think photos would be better, and I hope to see some of the kinks worked out by Long Beach.

Shanks has lofty goals, and he seems to be really invested in IndyCar both as a network executive and as a fan. when these two sides of Shanks clash, I hope the fan wins.


St. Pete Wrap Up

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I watched the race replay on YouTube yesterday, and it confirmed a few things that I suspected.

Pit stops hurt Colton Herta badly. I hope his team can get it together because he has a strong enough car to fight for the championship. He now has a significant gap to make up given Alex Palou’s consistency.

Tire strategy made the race compelling for a diehard fan, but if I were watching as a casual observer, I may not have stayed until the end of the broadcast.

I learned this morning that race day attendance was 165,000. I would like to know the total for the weekend. Television numbers are not out yet.

Speaking of television, a few notes about the broadcast. Much willecho what others have said.

The IndyCar on FOX debut was a solid extra base hit, probably a double. The commentary was very good. James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell seem to have stepped up their game from NBC. Will Buxton had a decent first outing.

Pit reporting was solid with veterans Kevin Lee and Jamie Little. Jack Harvey’s debut was very good, and I’m sure he will improve each race. During the media scrum on Friday Harvey took copious notes and asked questions of drivers. He was well prepared.

The biggest presentation issue I had was when Newgarden’s pass of Dixon wasn’t shown live because they were covering a pit stop. All pit stops are pretty much the same, and we don’t need to see all 27 cars pit two or three times a race. It’s okay for the first stop, but late in the race just show the leaders’ stops, especially if they pit together and race off pit road.

Graphics

As many have pointed out, this the network’s biggest issue at the moment.

The scoring pylon is a bit too large. We nee to see which tire the cars are on and the intervals between positions. Spots below the top 5 need to rotate more often. Fans want to see where their favorite driver even if he isn’t contending. The lap counter seemed to come and go.

Fox fell into the trap every other network has in switching from counting laps to showing how many laps to go. It reverted to the lap counter. I think most fans are smart enough to count.

FOX did show some informational tidbits in the lower right hand corner, such as how many cars pitted during the caution. More things like that would be fine.

The telemetry display is a nice feature, but I wonder if teams afre happy with their sponsors names being blocked while it’s running. I think some kind of workaround is needed. I found it hard to get used to yellow for accelerating and blue for braking.

One thing I did not miss was the ERS deployment display. I never thought last year that contributed much to my understanding of the race.

I think FOX overall had a very good debut, and I’m sure we will see improvement every race. I want a perfect telecast by the Indianapolis 500. Eric Shanks talked some about that on Saturday at St. Pete. I will share that later this week.

Quick Thoughts- St. Pete

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It took 75 laps to make it a race, but what had been a processional event got suddenly interesting as Sting Ray Robb held up leader Alex Palou and allowed Josef Newgarden to inch closer. The early caution changed the race long term as several drivers ditched the primary tires. The move worked out for many of them.

Another near miss for Scott Dixon. Had his radio worked, he might have scored his first win at St. Pete. He ends the day with his fifth runner up, eighth podium, and 11th top five in the season opener. In the post race press conference Dixon said that he stayed out a lap too long, and was caught in traffic.

Of the top five finishers, four started the race on alternates and pitted during the only caution.

Alex Palou begins 2025 where he ended 2024- leading the points. Palou used an undercut pit stop to get to the front.

Pato O’Ward finished 11th after starting 23rd. O’Ward pitted during the first lap caution and pitted three more times during the race.

Bad Weekend– Will Power has had some rough weekends, and this one has to rank among one of his worst. A hybrid failure cut short Friday’s practice. He failed to make Round 2 in qualifying. This morning there was another hybrid issue in warm up. Power’s race ended just three corners into the race when he was caught up in the incident with Nolan Siegel and Louis Foster.

Strong team debuts– Alexander Rossi finished 10th in his first race for ECR. Rinus VeeKay came home in 9th as he begins his stint at Dale Coyne Racing.

PREMA had a solid debut with Callum Ilott finishing 19th and Robert Shwartzman 20th. Shwartzman was the top finishing rookie.

Keep an eye on Meyer Shank this season. Marcus Armstrong led three laps before a broken tow link ended his day. Felix Rosenqvist finished seventh.

Colton Herta had a disappointing day as he caught the wrong end of the pit cycle. he definitely had a car better than 16th. Teammate Kyle Kirkwood finished fifth, his fifth top five and 11th top 10 in his last 18 races.

I haven’t heard attendance figures yet, but I think the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg set another record.

That will do it for me this weekend. Thanks for following along. I will have more thoughts after I watch the FOX broadcast of the race.

Warm Up Complete; Let’s Race

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Four teams had drivers in the top five in this morning’s St .Pete warm up session. Josef Newgarden was fastest at 1:01.1952, 0.35 seconds ahead of Scott Dixon. Newgarden turned his quick lap on primary tires, Dixon was fastest on the alternate tire.

Alex Palou, Felix Rosenqvist, and David Malukas completed the top five.

Front row starters Scott McLaughlin and Colton Herta finished 21st and 10th respectively.

Results

Race Day at St. Pete!

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Today’s Schedule:

All Times Eastern. Warmup and Indy NXT race on FS1. IndyCar race on FOX with pre race beginning at noon.

After 167 long days, IndyCar races again this afternoon with the 21st Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Drivers predictions for the race range from interesting to chaotic. Tires are the major concern. Firestone has created the wider gap between alternates and primary tires that the series requested. Some drivers aren’t sure the alternates can last a full fuel stint, and others say the primaries are degrading faster than usual.

Marbles could be an issue on track andfit should be fun for the fans watching how the different strategies play out.

Pato O’Ward will be coming from 23rd and will have to pick his way through field to get to the front. Will Power in 13th will be another driver to watch.

In the end, I like Colton Herta to end up in Victory Lane.

FOX Debut

FOX begins its coverage of IndyCar today. I am eager to see the replay later this week. I watched the replay of qualifying last ight, and I liked much of what I saw, but the still have some work to do.

I thought the booth was great. Will Buxton did a fine job, an James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell seemed to have stepped their game a notch too. I really like the telemetry graphic, which appeared as a faux dashboard. I like that it showed the car’s track location and he distance to the next turn. The driver portraits were a nice touch, although some were a bit cartoonish.

I thought Jack Harvey had a fine debut as a pit reporter. I could sense his nervousness, and he asked safe but good questions. I’m sure he will grow into the role and relax as the season goes along, but he is off to a great start.

For qualifying FOX needs to indicate which tire a driver is using, and also display the pace in comparison to other drivers. The scoring pylon wasn’t even on during McLaughlin’s last lap in the Fast Six. I wanted to see if he was on track to get the pole.

I will be back later with warm up results and tire selections in a bit, then a quick race summary after the race. Look for a more detailed analysis tomorrow.

Ericsson Tops Practice

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Marcus Ericsson led morning practice as IndyCars teams prepare for this afternoon’s Firestone Grand prix of St. Petersburg qualifying. Ericsson’s lap of1:00.5151 edged Rinus VeeKay by 0,09 seconds. Ericsson set his quick time on primary tires while VeeKay was on the alternates for his best lap.

It was a very good session for Juncos Hollinger Racing. Conor Daly was fifth and Sting Ray Robb finished the session in seventh. David maluks, in his first outing for A. J. Foyt Racing, wwas 10th’

Josef newgarden was the quickest Penske driver in 14th. Will Power stalled in turn 1 early in the practice, which brought out a red flag. Scott McLaughlin ran some very cautious laps’

A second red flag just past the midway point flew because of a track surface issue in turn 12.

Each of the Andretti cars has led a practice segment the last two days.

Qualifying begins at 2:30 pm Eastern on FS1.

Results

Kirkwood Tops Opening Practice

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Kyle Kirkwood had the overall fastest time in the season opening practice session for the Grand Prix of St. Pete. The session consisted of a 45 minute session followed by two 10 minute sessions, each for half the field. Kirkwood’s fast time of 1:00.4409 came in first 10 minute session.

Colton Herta and Scot Dixon did not come on track until the last 10 minutes of the main practice.

Alex Palou led the long session and Colton Herta had the fastest time in the second short period.

Three spins mared the practice. The two Meyer Shank cars, first by Felix Rosenqvist, and then one by his teammate Marcus Armstrong, resulted in no contact and the session did not stop. The first 10 minute period ended when Scott McLaughlin hit the wall and had damage to the left front. McLaughlin still ended with the third best lap.

This looked to be the biggest Friday crowd I have seen at St. Pete. The turn 10 grandstand was quite full.

That will do it for The Pit Window today. See you tomorrow for qualifying.

Results

St. Pete Preview

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Today’s Schedule: All times Eastern.

Indy NXT and IndyCar practices on FS1.

And so it begins. Another IndyCar season is a little more than 48 hours away. Off seasons seem to get longer with each passing winter, and to arrive at the St. Pete track on Friday of Race Weekend is the true beginning of spring.

2025 brings a new television partner, FOX, which has done an amazing job with promotions since January. I hope the momentum continues through the season. Sunday’s broadcast will be their first big test.

The 2025 season brings a few rules changes. IndyCar will allow drivers to start a stalled cr on pit lane with the self starter of the hybrid component. Last yearthis was not allowed. This makes sense.

Tire allocations have changed for road and street courses. Teams now have an extra set of alternates and one less set of primaries. The new allotment may allow teams to be more aggressive in qualifying and still have a set of new alternates for the race.

The extra alternate set may also play into race strategy. Teams that didn’t advance in qualifying were thought to have a bit of an edge because they saved a set of alternates. That advantage is now neutralized to some extent.

Rookies

Three rookies- Jacob Abel, Louis Foster, and Robert Shwartzman, make their IndyCar debuts this weekend. Only Shwartzman has not raced at St. Pete before.

I always find it fascinating to watch how rookies do at St. Pete. I remember Robert Wickens did pretty well his rookie year here.

In addition to rookie drivers, IndyCar has a rookie team. PREMA makes it series debut with Shwartzman and Callum Ilott. I look at this race as shakedown for them. Anything inside the top 20 would be a good showing.

No Change at the Top

Team Penske has dominated this event, winning seven of the last 10 races, They have not won the last two. Marcus Ericsson won in 2023 driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, and Pato O’Ward won last year for McLaren after finishing second to Ericsson the year before. I look for another O’Ward victory Sunday.