Side cars featured at COTA

There's nothing like the super-light, high-strength Formula 1 cars at qualifying on the Circuit of the Americas. Low fuel consumption, resembling the world's most expensive undercarriages, the machines used by Lewis Hamilton and the rest of the F1 paddock set unachievable levels of performance for all series that visit COTA.

We then have the heavier and slower Indy cars, which make their first visit on the 20-lap and 3.4-mile circuit. After seven years of Grand Prix having served as a unique benchmark, the sight of the best IndyCar drivers – even the best-performing second-tier – attempting to control a squad of 24 bends, throwing, protesting against Dallara DW12, favored a whole new level of appreciation.

Forget the disparity of pole times between F1 and IndyCar at COTA; of course, they are slower, and yes, they are far from Ferraris and Mercedes and Red Bull missile creations. But take a look at the frequency of crazy slips, blockages and off-road excursions, as the combination of a higher weight and a lower ground support, all propelled by approximately 750 hp Chevy and Honda, has turned the facility into the first drifting IndyCar show.

Consider the number of times the IndyCar riders cross each turn, and COTA may have something closer to 50 bends depending on the steering wheel movements. Come watch F1 for the pinnacle of technology and speed. Come watch IndyCar to see the show of drivers fighting to tame open-wheeled vehicles that refuse to behave. This is the show Professional Bull Riders, IndyCar style.

Since all that COTA has proposed since opening in 2012, they have never seen such a rodeo show.

"You realize how fun the place is," said Ryan Hunter-Reay, qualified for fourth place, with a devilish smile. "Especially when you start thinking about turns 16, 17 and 18, under the big tower, we're in fifth gear … turn left in a right turn all the way across … that's" pretty unique. "

"Doing this in an open wheel car … it's definitely a different form of racing than anything that has been done here."

Simon Pagenaud of the Penske team is one of the many drivers who have passed the qualifiers in a fist fight with his car. Starting from the 22nd, it's fair to say that the # 22 Chevrolet got the better of the ace on the course.

"It's very hard to be fast here, because you need good speed, which means good braking stability and good traction," he said. "But it does not work at high speed, because then the back is too strong and does not turn. So, you have to swap some of the rear handle to spin the car. And it's a very interesting exercise all along. Hairpins, fast turns … you never have the perfect car in both types of requirements. But it's the best compromise. You must be fluid. A lot of speed. You must be patient. You can not really push yourself too hard. It's truly pleasent.

Nice, but only if the car responds to the will of its occupant.

"It's tough, and it's a pleasure I enjoy, but I like it when it's good," said Graham Rahal, qualified 10th. "It's like Road America in the sense that every little mistake or mistake is a huge penalty. So for me in qualifying there, I just tried to get an extra 10 feet of braking at the end of the final stretch and everything is stuck and you go for your qualifying session.

"But it's crazy. I mean that it's active, low adhesion. The tires do not have a lot of grip here. I would say it's probably the weakest grip feeling in the car that we have almost anywhere this year. "

Rahal, a long-time F1 fan, says the state-of-the-art IndyCar formula is directly responsible for the big slips and dramatic wrangling shown on NBC broadcasts.

"I just think that, first of all, you do not have driver assistance," he continued. "No power steering, so you see every little movement in an Indy car while the power steering, like in F1 …, in general, when you walk on a sidewalk, you lose some of it. In IndyCar, you feel everything.

"Secondly, it's clear that they have very soft tire options.The cars are very light.The cars have a lot of support.Since 2018 we do not have a lot of support on the cars So you're just sliding, and this track really shows that, I think, to the best of our ability. "

Polesitter Will Power, who played a big sled on Saturday, was able to propel his number 12 to the front row of Sunday's INDYCAR Classic. Rahal, more than half a second slower, was surprised by how similar efforts in the cockpit produced such different results.

"No trick is good here," he said. "But there is a difference. When we struggle here and I do not stop saying, "I need to grip," people are like, "Look at Will Power's hands, for example. They move just as much as yours.

"But the grip level of some cars is different than their configuration. Our car was very good this week, but some are better and some have worse. So you slip a lot, but you have grip if you can find it. You slip into the edge of grip, and very often, to make the time you need, you go beyond that edge. And I really enjoy it.

The COTA 60-lap IndyCar Rodeo starts at 12:30. CT.