The championship IndyCar is experiencing, as almost every season nowadays, a particularly balanced and exciting battle for the conquest of the title. After disputing the first ten races of the 17 scheduled in the championship, in fact, seven different drivers took turns on the top step of the podium. The only two who were able to repeat themselves on more than one occasion were the two standard bearers of the Penske team, Josef Newgarden (author of three victories) e Scott McLaughlin (two hits). Neither, however, currently leads the general classification, which sees the American stationed in fourth position with his box mate even seventh. The championship leader is instead Marcus EricssonSwedish former F1 acquaintance.
The driver of Chip Ganassi’s team was particularly consistent in his performance, finishing out of the top-10 on just two occasions (against for example the four of Newgarden) but above all managing to hit the ‘right’ victory. In fact, the former Sauber driver won the Indianapolis 500 mileswhich in addition to being considered the most prestigious in the States even of a title victory, guarantees double booty in the standings. This custom was introduced starting from 2014. That year it was valid for all the 500-mile races on the calendar, while from 2015 to 2019 the double points bonus was also awarded on the occasion of the last GP of the season, regardless the duration of the race and the track on which the event took place.
From 2020 onwards, however, the legendary Indiana race has become the only one worth double compared to all the others on the calendar. The successes of Sato in 2020 and Castroneves in 2021 did not concern drivers vying for the general classification, as happened this year. There was no shortage of overseas controversy precisely for this system of awarding points and Ericsson himself ended up in the crosshairs of critics. On Twitter, in fact, several users have pointed out that, without Indy’s double points, the Scandinavian would be leading the championship on equal points with Will Power and the top five would all be collected in 11 points. So instead the Swede is at +35 on Power alone.
Annoyed by all these ‘ifs’, Ericsson vented on the popular social network underlining how the rules are the same for everyone and were known since before the 500 miles. “‘Ericsson is leading the championship only thanks to Indy’s double points’ – wrote the Ganassi team driver, sarcastically quoting his detractors – yes, this helped. But we had a very good season, plus an accident in Long Beach while we were in third place. We don’t make the rules. The same goes for everyone. We go on like this for the rest of the year. And to be clear. It wasn’t a dig at Jack Benyon (the tweet’s author). It’s just that in general I’ve seen a lot of comments like this after the Indy 500“Concluded Ericsson.
“Ericsson only leads the championship because of double points at Indy” yes it helps. But we’ve had a very strong season + crashing out of LB whilst running P3. We’re not making the rules. Same for everyone. Bring on the rest of the year! We can do it @CGRTeams 💪🏻 # ME8 #INDYCAR https://t.co/3qMCRhSU36
– Marcus Ericsson (@Ericsson_Marcus) July 18, 2022
#Double #points #controversy #Ericsson #rebels #FormulaPassion.it