HEADLINES EVERYWHERE ON A MAD MONDAY

It’s hard for motorsport fans to guess what’s coming next on a Mad Motorsport Monday filled with drama, conflict and even a driving lesson!

Aside from the announcement of a new, recycled, Supercars CEO, overnight scenes in the US have seen Scott McLaughlin write off his potential pole IndyCar, whilst his two Penske Racing team-mates cars were withdrawn from the Indy 500 Top Six pole shootout, after being accused of cheating by opposition team boss Chip Ganassi.

‘Modifications’ to the two cars’ rear attentuators (the rear crash structure) – the team had apparently used filler or putty to ‘smooth’ the airflow across a couple of adjoining elements – were deemed illegal and the Power/Newgarden cars were withdrawn from the Shootout (won by rookie Robert Shwartzman). Whether there will be any repercussions remains to be seen (Penske Team boss Tim Cindric missed the Indy race last year after the team was penalised for a ‘push-to-pass’ infringement at a lead-in race …).

Max Verstappen pulls his race winning move on Oscar Piastri. Photo by Lars Baron/LAT Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Across the Atlantic, Oscar Piastri will be quietly annoyed with himself for the first corner mistake that allowed Max Verstappen to sweep around the outside, into the lead, and on to a spectacular win at Imola.

Oscar was, simply, too conservative going into the opening corner, braking a fraction too early while also having a car’s width of empty track on the outside. Verstappen went for it and, left room by the Aussie, emerged in the lead. (One wonders how it would have ended if the roles were reversed!).

From there, a curious strategy call by McLaren and a perfectly timed (for Verstappen) Virtual Safety Car not only guaranteed the Red Bull win, but quite easily let Piastri’s team-mate Lando Norris into a better strategy option, which earned him second.

Piastri was, of course, honest enough to admit his mistake – a costly one. Had the McLaren emerged from Turn 1 in the lead, it would most likely, in clear air, have led all the way as at Miami a fortnight earlier.

Even championship contenders learn something new every day – it won’t happen again! And fortunately, there’s only a few days to dwell on it  before the teams re-assemble in Monaco for next weekend’s Monaco GP.

Australia’s Will Power was unable to fight for pole. Image: Penske

Back at Indy, Penske Racing faces a busy few days building up a replacement car for McLaughlin who, it has to be said, remained superbly calm during what was a fierce crash, calmly moving his hands from the steering wheel to either side of his helmet for best protection as the shunt evolved (check out the in-car).

The Penske cars will however start from grids 10, 11 and 12 after all the drama, the last three spots on what was a Top 12, which became a Top 9 – assuming there’s no follow-up penalty for the technical infringement.

Shane van Gisbergen at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, NC (HHP / Jim Fluharty)

And across in NASCAR-land, SVG had pole for what was, in effect, the ‘B-Main (that’s Speedway talk) at the All-Star race (North Wilkesboro)  and led it for quite some time before tangling with Todd Gilliland after a stop and failing to make it into the main event ( the US$1million won by Christopher Bell). There was some very direct ‘conversation’ between the two, post-race …

Can the rest of May match the excitement and drama of the first two weeks?

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