What IndyCar lacks that Formula One doesn’t

ST. PETERSBURG — For motorsports fans wanting to see great on-track action, there’s no comparison between Formula One and the IndyCar Series that headlines Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

During Friday’s IndyCar practice downtown, all 27 cars were separated by only 3.4 seconds.

In Max Verstappen’s opening F1 win, the gap between first and second was 22 seconds.

“I think the racing here’s the least of our worries …” said Pato O’Ward, an IndyCar championship contender for Arrow McLaren and reserve driver for McLaren’s F1 team.

The issue, O’Ward said, is everything else around the racing that makes F1 seem like a bigger event than IndyCar. One solution for O’Ward is to amp up the celebrations in Victory Circle.

“It’s a pretty big deal to win an IndyCar race,” said O’Ward, who has won four of them over the last three seasons. “There should be something that makes you feel like you’ve done something that’s a big deal. ... Think deeper. You’ve got to think outside the box.”

Romain Grosjean knows both series; he had a long F1 career and was a key figure in Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” show who’s now entering his fourth IndyCar season.

He summed it up differently: “Why are we not on Netflix?”

IndyCar’s docuseries, “100 Days to Indy,” airs on The CW Network.

Ganassi expands

One of the interesting subplots to the IndyCar season is the different approaches taken by two power teams. Andretti Global dropped from four full-time entrants to three, perhaps giving more resources to each driver.

Chip Ganassi Racing went the opposite way, expanding to five cars: six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon, reigning series champ Alex Palou, Marcus Armstrong and rookies Kyffin Simpson and Linus Lundqvist.

Ganassi, the team owner, said he doesn’t see it as a challenge; it’s more of a redistribution of resource away from other events and toward IndyCar.

“It’s almost easier when they’re all at the same (track) as opposed to two or three different places,” Ganassi said.

20 years

It’s hard to miss the milestone of the Grand Prix’s 20th consecutive running. Photos of the previous winners are on the inside of bridges across the track and displayed at the Mahaffey Theater. Another reminder will come Sunday with the grand marshals — Mayor Ken Welch and his three predecessors (Rick Kriseman, Bill Foster and Rick Baker). They’re the four mayors who have worked with the event in this iteration.

Scott Dixon’s latest honor

Two days after the Grand Prix’s headlining race, Dixon will be on the other side of the state in Daytona Beach to be inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.

Stay updated on Tampa Bay’s sports scene

Subscribe to our free Sports Today newsletter

We’ll send you news and analysis on the Bucs, Lightning, Rays and Florida’s college football teams every day.

Loading...

You’re all signed up!

Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.

Explore all your options

“First, I’m focusing on this weekend,” Dixon said. “I’d like to go into the Hall of Fame with another win.”

He’ll become only the 16th driver and fifth open-wheel competitor to be inducted while actively racing. Another is also a member of this class — NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson, Dixon’s former IndyCar teammate.

Nuts and bolts

• Felix Rosenqvist was quickest during Friday’s practice with a top lap of 1:00.3390. That’s almost a half-second faster than O’Ward. Armstrong, somewhat surprisingly, was third-fastest.

• After Grosjean switched teams from Andretti to Juncos Hollinger Racing, he tried to pick up Spanish as a gesture to co-owner Ricardo Juncos and teammate Agustin Canapino (who are both Argentina natives).

• Two-time Grand Prix winner Will Power said Turn 3 is “a lot smoother” this year because of a tweak to the track. Dixon thought the approach to Turn 4 was a little different, too. That happens at a temporary street course like this 1.8-mile, 14-turn circuit; the roads change every year.

• Gulfport’s Nikita Johnson qualified fifth in the USF Pro 2000 feeder series. … Rookie Nolan Allaer — a former FishHawk Ranch resident — was 17th-quickest of the 21 cars during INDY NXT practice.