What happened to Pocono and why should it change?

On Sunday, August 18, five cars, a red flag and a driver taken to the hospital to inspect a non-fatal injury involved five more cars during the first IndyCar race on the Pocono Raceway. Let's describe what happened and why.

As soon as the green flag rang in Pocono, a battle for position in almost the entire field began at the famous tri-oval. While Simon Pagenaud quickly took off from the peloton at the start, Alexander Rossi, qualified for second place, slowed down and lost several positions. Takuma Sato and Ryan Hunter-Reay stepped in to take advantage of Rossi's misstep.

Hunter-Reay took the inside line as Sato was moving out of Rossi as they entered corner 2. They were now running on three widths.

Now this is where things start to become contentious.

The video of the incident shows Sato coming down to try to pinch Rossi – and to avoid hitting the back of Scott Dixon – but Sato had not yet come out of him. Rossi took evasive steps to try to stay out of the way, but Hunter-Reay was on the way. All three came together, sliding from the inside to the outer wall.

James Hinchcliffe, who was closely following the trio at the time, had nowhere to go. He crashed directly into the mess.

Felix Rosenqvist has also been caught. Although he managed to avoid the kind of frontal collision that put Hinchcliffe out of the way, he still cut the wreckage. It was enough for his car to fly into the capture gate where he had traveled several meters before slowing down.

The dust is cleared. The cars of Hunter-Reay and Sato had become entangled, Sato upside down. Hinchcliffe and Rossi were tangled up nearby. Rosenqvist's car had traveled so much on the track that it took several minutes before safety vehicles could reach it.

Rossi, Hinchcliffe and Hunter-Reay were able to get out of their cars without assistance. Sato needed help to get himself extracted because his car was upside down. The four drivers were quickly released from the medical center. Rosenqvist also needed help to get out of the car. He was then taken by ambulance to the hospital for a series of prior checks and was medically cleared.

After the event, images appeared to show repairs made by attaching a spare door to the damaged fence. During the intercom, it was reported that photographers at the scene helped remove the carbon fiber from the fence.

The reaction of the fan and the driver was fast.

Max Chilton, an IndyCar rider who chose not to compete in the oval races for the rest of the season, was one of the first to denounce the track. There was then Robert Wickens, who spoke against Pocono for the first time since the accident that left him with serious injuries to the spine, took place there last year. The former IndyCar driver, Sage Karam, suggested that it was time to stop running at Pocono – which would be his local trail if he continued to run.

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After leaving the medical center, James Hinchcliffe made strong criticisms (well in the context of race drivers normally very discreet) after being released from the medical center:

I am angry at IndyCar. I do not think they run this race well.

The races resumed after 50 minutes of red flag, but many viewers struggled to do so comfortably:

During the past five years in Pocono, there have been three serious accidents: one in 2015, which resulted in the death of Justin Wilson, one in 2018, which resulted in very serious injuries for Wickens, and the most recent of which weekend. It's a very, very bad record.

There is only one big problem. Many people do not see why this is a problem.

Quite a large contingent of racing enthusiasts see nothing really, deeply false with continuing to run to Pocono. These accidents are just coincidences it could happen anywhere, they argue. His not a problem of Poconoit's an ubiquitous problem – and if we stop running in Pocono because it's dangerous, we'll just have to go ahead and stop the race completely. It was, overall, an incident caused by overly aggressive driving and can not be the fault of the track.

I strongly disagree with this contingent.

Yes, too aggressive driving is a hallmark of motorsport – dangerous, too. Yes, this type of driving can cause serious injury or even death. However, the series and track involved in this type of hazardous accidents must analyze them with a critical eye in order to understand how they can do better. Accidents of this type, as well as the consequences of serious injuries and ludicrous repairs, must be taken from the warning: much remains to be done. The answer should be to work harder, do not to be complacent.

I did not hide the fact that more needs to be done to make the oval races safer – and by that I am very specific about Pocono. Texas Motor Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Gateway, Fontana, for example, they have all lived through dangerous times, but there is a reason why you do not hear people protesting them today. This is because these lanes have either responded to dangerous incidents by improving the safety of the track, or they simply do not reappear on time.

I have been competing in the IndyCar race in Pocono every year for five years. I saw Wilson die. I saw the accident of Wickens. I saw the crash last night. I've also seen IndyCar respond incredibly slowly with some kind of head protection or debris deflection. I saw Pocono repair their track with remnants of old doors that he had just had. Frankly, I could not believe that the fans, the series and the track were complacent enough that the same type of poor quality repairs after the accident could be repeated, namely that we were supposed to just swallow the air. excess risk because it is our duty as a runner. Fans.

Next year, IndyCar will adopt a stylish screen, its response to the halo of Formula 1, to protect drivers. Pocono is currently not confirmed in the 2020 program, with the replacement of the Richmond Raceway. Two positive gestures guarantee pilots and fans that IndyCar does not have to be so dangerous.

Danger will always be part of the race by its very nature. But innovation is too. If we want to praise IndyCar's vast track record of improving safety, beyond many other racing series, we must demand that IndyCar continue to do more to maintain this legacy in the future. .