What I liked (and didn’t like) about IndyCar’s new hybrid engine

LEXINGTON, Ohio – IndyCar’s race weekend at Mid-Ohio ushered in a new era for the sport, with a technological upgrade not seen since the debut of the 2.2-liter twin-turbo V6 engines the year of Dario Franchitti’s last Indianapolis 500 win and Ryan Hunter-Reay’s lone title (2012).

The new Energy Recovery System launched with sizable input, collaboration, expenses and sacrifices from Honda, Chevrolet and IndyCar, and though the series is far from the first to embrace electrification in racing — NASCAR, the loudest, most unapologetically old-school series around, debuted a wholly electric prototype stock car this weekend in Chicago — the way it went about ushering it in was smart and unique.

That it came without a brand-new car, as was promised in 2019 during IndyCar’s hybrid announcement, meant the technology had to be shaped by the series’ past and present, instead of its future, but the fact is it can finally get the ball rolling for what this could look like in 3-5 years’ time. As is often the case in the sport, hybrid in IndyCar in 2024 isn’t perfect, the best or the most advanced, but there’s hope for those willing to hold onto it.

After a weekend on the ground at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for IndyCar’s hybrid rollout and speaking with members of the paddock, here are my six biggest takeaways about its short and long-term impact:

Drivers use it every lap

One thing I was genuinely uncertain of: How much would drivers actually use this technology? IndyCar parameters allowed for roughly two full drains of the 20 supercapacitors’ state of charge in the Energy Storage System. But as eventual race-winner Pato O’Ward explained to reporters earlier in the weekend, an optimal use of the system, along with perfect execution of one’s other tools in the cockpit, had the ability to deliver a 0.15-second faster lap time.

With the risk of making mistakes trying to use the ERS that could cost a driver a couple of tenths of a second – how often would drivers roll the dice?

From my quick rewatch of O’Ward and polesitter Alex Palou during the first stint of the race, drivers weren’t shy. Over consecutive hand-time laps, both drivers could be seen deploying their ERS – signaled by NBC’s red and green lights that lit up TV screens like a Christmas tree – in the 6.5- to 8-second ranges, nearing the limits of the per- lap maximums.

NBC’s approach to telling that story was quite interesting – featuring a green overlay with a lightning bolt icon over individual drivers’ rows on the broadcast timing graphic whenever they were regenerating their hybrid systems, and a red tint with an arrow when they were deploying energy. With how often the system was in use across the 27-car field, and with the field strung out across the 2.2-mile track, the graphic was in a constant state of change – perhaps overly so. At times, I’d argue it was a bit distracting, though if I watch a couple more races, I might get used to it. I’m interested to see if and how NBC’s producers will make any adjustments to the feature.

Onboard starter avoids late-race caution

The race saw zero cautions once it finally went green – two laps late after the failure of Scott Dixon’s hybrid system left him stalled on-track during the warmup laps – because of a success of one of the ERS’s most important features.

With the system’s power bank never dipping below 30 volts outside an emergency, drivers have the ability to reboot their cars if they spin or slide off-track and stall, as Romain Grosjean did with four laps to go. It’s a small issue that would previously require the AMR safety team to refire the car and trigger a several-lap caution period. With the field so strung out at that point in the race Sunday, a caution would’ve almost certainly led to the race ending under yellow.

The feature had been buggy on Friday during practice, leading to IndyCar officials to disable it as engineers dove into the software to correct the glitch. Nolan Siegel made the manoeuvre successfully during Sunday morning warmup, followed by Grosjean’s use of it during the race. With IndyCar yet to adopt its own version of Formula 1’s virtual safety car, which limits the number of times the premier motorsports series has to hold lengthy yellow flag periods, this facet of hybrid technology in IndyCar is the next best thing to maintain the flow of races.

The feature, though, is not allowed in pitlane, meaning that the unusually high number of stalled cars in pitlane led to some longer stops for drivers who struggled to find first gear, and some who ultimately needed to be refired by their teams rather than being able to do so by the push of a button.

After nearly five years, it’s arrived: Explaining IndyCar’s new hybrid system

Hybrid did not improve the racing

One quote last week from Mark Stielow, GM’s director of motorsports competition engineering, remained ingrained in my head as I formed expectations for the impact of IndyCar’s new hybrid technology:

“We want it to be good racing, and we want the units to not interfere with the race,” he said. “(And we) want it to be used by the drivers to make the racing more dynamic and more interesting for the spectators.”

While recognising that Sunday was the system’s debut and the remaining eight races on the calendar are but the first half-season of the bespoke system’s use, one can categorically say its debut did nothing to spur more exciting racing.

IndyCar passing stats at Mid-Ohio since 2021:

>>2021: 204 total, 151 for position

>>2022: 183 total, 149 for position

>>2023: 158 total, 120 for position

>>2024: 116 total, 78 for position

Yes, Sunday’s race had the fewest caution laps over that span (two), and a newly paved track led to tires that didn’t degrade (for some) nearly as sharply, which in theory might lead to less passing. But that theory didn’t pan out after repaves at Road America or Laguna Seca last year – the former which saw passes for the lead more than double from 191 (2022) to 386 (2023), and the latter which saw them drop only slightly (286 vs. 264).

There’s a load of untapped potential for the system – including power levels that could be game changers in two years. But Sunday, without NBC’s neon graphic, nonstop references to the technology by the booth and a small sticker on the rear attenuator of all 27 cars, I’m not sure a casual observer would’ve had any clue of IndyCar’s historic race day.

Failure of Dixon’s car tarnished the race

That is, except for the orange and blue No. 9 PNC Bank Honda that sat idle in the middle of the track just as the green flag should’ve been waving to start Sunday’s race. The abrupt sputtering of Dixon’s car on the warmup laps, forcing him to be towed back to the garages before his hybrid system was recharged and the six-time champ sitting 3^rd in points rolled out 22 laps down, was one of the few outwardly impactful moments the hybrid system had in its debut.

By ensuring Dixon’s 27^th-place finishing position without any other cautions or mechanical failures during the race, his hybrid system’s brief glitch left Dixon 39 points further behind current points leader and CGR teammate Alex Palou. What Sunday morning appeared to be a three-horse race for the Astor Cup now has the defending champ positioned as the clear front-runner, 48 points clear of 2^nd-place Will Power as the series enters its oval-heavy stretch.

IndyCar news: Hybrid system glitch derails Scott Dixon’s Mid-Ohio race during technology’s IndyCar debut

By no means is Dixon out of the hunt yet, as one of the few drivers not named Josef Newgarden to have won oval races in the last three seasons. But that failure highlights the worry that became obvious in December when IndyCar officials announced an unprecedented midseason introduction of new technology.

There were multiple flawless tests including most (or all) of the 27-car field having been held in the last month. And yet, stakeholders knew there would be nothing like a true race weekend to push its limits. In a series where engines under regulations dating back to 2012 still blow up, Dixon’s fixable failure was relatively small.

That it happened at the season’s halfway point, instead of the season opener, makes it tougher to overcome and more difficult to look past.

Will there be a difference on ovals?

The vision of what the impact of this technology could be on road and street courses is clear: Years 2 and 3 of hybrid technology in IndyCar could be one where drivers have almost a never-ending push-to-pass system.

There’s even a chance, series president Jay Frye said last week, that the system could replace push-to-pass; its current power settings around 60 horsepower are capable of reaching 150 within the current framework. Supercapacitor technology could also elevate the system’s capabilities.

But there’s a strong belief within the paddock, according to multiple team officials and drivers IndyStar spoke to over the weekend, that the technology’s positive impact on ovals will be minimal at best.

“It doesn’t really do anything on ovals,” O’Ward said Sunday post-race. The reason stems from the system’s lesser ability to add impactful speed and power at high RPMs (meaning high speeds) – especially in incredibly short bursts. Palou said Sunday that teams have been told that the amount of energy allowed to be deployed per lap will be understandably much lower on ovals – which makes sense when running lap times that are one-third or one-fourth the time it took to circulate -Ohio.

On Sunday, drivers had a maximum of 8-9 seconds of energy deployment permitted per lap, so we could be talking about 3 seconds or fewer.

With that comes a car that has taken on roughly 100 pounds more weight than a season ago, on a track that has been partially repaved in sections – leading to much faster speeds during testing a couple weeks ago, but also to a much less bumpy and abrasive track, which limited tire degradation and, in theory, may limit passing opportunities. Firestone is said to have been tinkering with another potential compound, but it’s unknown what effect that new tire will have, along with altered downforce levels that some worry will make cars worse in traffic and hinder passing.

Tire concerns continued with initial tire testing last month for IndyCar’s season-finale in Tennessee that saw multiple failures, according to a source. The issues have raised the likelihood that IndyCar and Firestone will undergo a second tire test, potentially meaning the loss of an expected full-field test at the venue the series hasn’t visited since 2008 and where this year’s championship may be decided.

‘Combatting the change’: How introduction of hybrid will (and won’t) change IndyCar in 2024

Positive, but expensive, future

Momentum and planning continues to build for a wholesale change to IndyCar’s chassis it has raced since 2012, according to sources briefed on those conversations, with an arrival as soon as 2027. That new car would allow all the piecemeal changes that have been affixed to the Dallara tub over the last decade-plus to be designed into the framework of the car at the outset – including safety upgrades, the aeroscreen and IndyCar’s next generation of hybrid technology.

The plus side? It will give those in charge of envisioning the series’ next car model the freedom to incorporate hybrid technology in the most powerful, efficient, space-sensible way possible – potentially opening up the use of battery-powered systems used elsewhere in motorsports, rather than supercapacitor technology.

It’s possible, though, that this innovation, along with the brand-new parts teams have attempted to stockpile in recent months (spending $2 million-$4 million in the process) could have a short shelf-life. That means that just as the series and its manufacturer partners begin to find the limits of this system, it’s likely to be retired for a very different chassis.

In short: the time between IndyCar announcing its plans to go hybrid and that project’s launch is likely to be longer that the use of that system, before another round of eye-watering bills to pay for team stakeholders.