There was lots to discuss after the horrific multi-car crash at the top of Sunday’s IndyCar Series race on the streets of Toronto, with Arrow McLaren team principal Gavin Ward left feeling “sick” in regards to the circumstances.
On lap 73 of 85, six cars spun out at Turn 1, within the shadow of town's iconic Princes' Gate. The gate burst into flames as Pato O'Ward locked his rear wheels on the entry to the corner and hit the surface wall, where he was exposed to oncoming traffic.
Despite being passed by eight cars, Marcus Ericsson was on the surface of the corner and needed to hit the surface wall to avoid hitting O'Ward.
Moments later, nevertheless, three cars driven by Pietro Fittipaldi got here off the bend and struck the front of O'Ward's No. 5 Arrow Chevrolet McLaren hard. Also within the automotive was Santino Ferrucci, who bounced off the front and hit the fence before his No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet landed the other way up on the track.
Although all drivers managed to flee unharmed from the carnage, each O'Ward and Ferrucci were critical of the dearth of yellow flags.
Arrow McLaren team principal Gavin Ward shared his frustration with Motorsport.com after the race and gave an update on the cars of O'Ward and rookie Nolan Siegel, who was also involved within the incident.
“First of all, my biggest concern is, we know how serious it is when a car goes into the fence in IndyCar or any racing series,” Ward said. “I’m glad Santino is OK; it might have been lots worse.
“Yes, I can confirm that we now have no less than one automotive that’s going to be written off. One could also be repairable but is prepared for this 12 months. And we now have a battered driver who’s recovering from a broken thumb earlier within the weekend, so overall it was a reasonably tough weekend.
“Sick after the incident. Pato thought the yellow card was exceptionally late. Theo (Pourchaire, his teammate), I didn't see him on the deck but we thought he didn't see the yellow card. We'll analyse his video.
“Reviewing the footage from car No. 6 (Siegel), there’s definitely no yellow flag coming into Turn 1. I’m sure there’s going to be some disagreements, but I think the series needs to look at how they can do it better.”
Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet
Photo: Jake Galstad / Motorsports images
After the accident, Ferrucci radioed that all the things was OK, the spotter apologised and added that he had not seen the turn from his vantage point atop Hotel X, next to the opposite teams' facilities.
After consulting with several observers on Sunday after the race, Motorsport.com learned that it was a typical phenomenon amongst race participants that the corner was not visible.
“I'm glad you mentioned the observer's perspective. It's good to hear that it confirms what our observers have been telling us, which is that they didn't see that area of the track,” Ward said.
“I know they'd like to have a spot where they can look out coming out of the corner; that's where they could put a spotter. So yeah, I think we should consider whether we can do a better job, because that certainly played a role here.”
Ward noted that he shared those thoughts with IndyCar race director Kyle Novak and series president Jay Frye, but he declined to enter details about those conversations.
“I think it’s best to leave those conversations when you’re working with the teams and the franchise to try to improve things, so I won’t get into the details,” Ward said. “I’ll let them comment on that.”
However, as Motorsport.com has learned, Ward didn’t take part in the post-race conversation with Frye and Novak.
When Motorsport.com contacted the IndyCar carrier for comment, Novak was reportedly leaving and didn’t provide any comment.
An IndyCar official later provided Motorsport.com with the background to the incident, noting the yellow flag was flying – each on the sunshine panel and on the canvas flag within the marshal’s box – at Turn 1 as Ericsson hit the surface wall and O’Ward.
At that time, a full caution was called for the track, which is believed to have happened before Fittipaldi, Ferrucci and others were involved within the incident. With only just a few seconds to react between contacts, the response time of local volunteers and series staff played a task.
It is known that IndyCar continues to be processing and analyzing all data and observations related to the incident.
