NTT IndyCar Series' Hybrid Delay Raises Anticipation, Concerns

• Will Power, of Team Penske, says after considerable testing that the hybrid-engine-powered car IndyCar hopes to debut in 2024 carries “a lot of potential.”

• Meyer Shank Racing’s Tom Blomqvist and Felix Rosenqvist and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong are familiar with electric-engine technology as former ABB FIA Formula E Series racers.

• Scott Dixon, who’s pursuing a seventh series crown, calls the unique powerplant “a pretty trick system."

Romain Grosjean was baffled.

Back in early December, during the NTT IndyCar drivers meeting, the Juncos Hollinger Racing driver said his colleagues were asking questions about “the hybrid,” and recently he confessed, “I had no idea what they were talking about.”

Now he knows they were curious about the cutting-edge collaboration by Chevrolet and Honda—a 2.2-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 engine with hybrid technology whose debut has been scheduled for sometime after the May 26 Indianapolis 500.

Grosjean said he’s “definitely kind of happy that it's been postponed.” And the consensus among drivers as they prepare for the March 10 season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., is a pragmatic concurrence.

Delay a 'Right Step'

Veteran series racer and four-time Indianapolis winner Helio Castroneves said the delay of the hybrid engine’s emergence in competition was the proper decision. Some had expressed frustration with Honda’s concern about costs and hints that it might consider leaving the series it has supported for three decades, since 1994, when its engine-supply contract expires in 2026.

But Castroneves was optimistic the project would move forward despite supply-chain issues and that the manufacturers would land back in their cooperative groove, aiding each other and the teams to field a powerplant that is ready for prime time.

“I see that we're taking the right step, Castroneves said. “Sometimes manufacturers want to make things happen, but we've got to work as a group. They might threat[en], they might push it, but at the end of the day, we're all working together. It's the right thing to do instead of having half of the field or the entire field having issues.

“We've got to take our time. Because of that, we don't want to ruin the biggest race of the season, which is the Indy 500, so we want to take our time to make sure that it happens. It's not only that – it's the supply issues for a lot of the teams who hardly have the equipment from [chassis builder] Dallara and the gearbox. It's been a challenge from that aspect,” he said.

Nevertheless, he said, “It was the right thing to do, the right decision... and I fully support it. The series is taking the right steps, going (to) modernize, make the cars a little bit better, according to what the trending is going. I'm sure in the future we're going to have a new car, but... we can't just go in and make things happen.”

Team Penske’s Will Power, who has had considerable experience in testing the revolutionary engine, said, “I think IndyCar wants it to be absolutely bulletproof when it's introduced, so I think they made the right decision there.”

'Detriment to Teams Who Didn't Get to Test It'

Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Graham Rahal had no hesitation championing the hybrid’s delay.

“I 100% support it. Personally, I think it was going to be a major detriment to the teams like Rahal Letterman Lanigan who didn't get to test it. It was going to be a major advantage to those who have tested it and had knowledge of it,” he said.

“I'm sure IndyCar is doing (its) best. I know they got a lot of heat for that deal, but I don't think people realize how hard it is right now to get vendor support. I own a massive business outside of racing, and getting parts is damned near impossible and has been for two years—and it's not getting better. Getting suppliers to deliver has been a major challenge, and unfortunately, IndyCar got stuck in that. They're going to follow through. We're going to make it happen this year. But I think it was 100% the right thing to do to delay. We would have been in serious trouble at St. Pete if we tried to make this happen,” Rahal said.

Power’s teammate, Scott McLaughlin, said, “I think the category has done the right thing from a competitive standpoint. It does suck for everyone that we haven't been able to get the parts and whatnot in time, but I think doing the right thing to keep our world-renowned competitiveness.”

Two factors dominate the latest conversation: the lack of equal testing among the drivers and the impact a midseason debut of the engine will have on the championship chase. At least in the preseason, as late as mid-January, many drivers had not gotten an opportunity to drive with the unique, hybrid-boosted engine package.