Drivers praise Markham’s “very well-designed” new IndyCar street course
- Archie O’Reilly
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
Drivers were effusive in their praise of IndyCar’s latest street circuit after the opening track running on Markham’s 12-turn, 2.19-mile track on Saturday morning.
The first practice session of the weekend was delayed from Friday, with an incomplete track build forcing all on-track running - support series included - to be cancelled on the planned first day of the inaugural weekend in IndyCar’s new Ontario base.
The circuit finally gained FIA approval for its safety on Saturday morning, meaning track action could commence without further delays.
“I love it. I think it’s fantastic,” said Team Penske’s David Malukas. “Super smooth. This probably is taking the lead on smoothest street course that we’ve had. It’s a blast. It’s very well-designed. A lot of fun. A lot of difficult corners. From the hairpin to the last section, pit lane through Turn 10, a lot of technicalities we need to fix up. But love it.”
Malukas earmarked the St. Petersburg as the previous smoothest street circuit but was among a host of drivers to praise the efforts of repaving Markham’s streets. That said, there remain occasional, unavoidable bumps, including heading into Turn 10.
“There’s definitely a big bump on entry,” Malukas said. “I love it. Bumps just add technicality. You’re trying to figure out how to get around it from a braking perspective. It’s difficult but I think it’s nice.”
Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong shared a similarly positive sentiment, including against that of IndyCar’s long-standing Toronto circuit, which was replaced as the schedule’s sole Canadian race by nearby Markham starting this year.
“Certainly fun,” Armstrong said. “I liked the track downtown [in Toronto], too. It provided its own challenges; it was concrete mid-corner, every other possible seal in and out. Here, it’s obviously a bit more predictable. Frankly, I prefer this because you can drive it a bit harder, know what you’re going to have in 25 metres’ time. So far, I really enjoy it.”
Naturally, an exploratory first practice dealt drivers some surprises. Even compared to his track walk, Malukas felt differences once on-track on Saturday morning, including on the entry to Turn 10, which is “on edge” compared to “easy flat”, which was his expectation.
In places, the track has also proven a little different to what drivers were led to anticipate from their simulation work, which had used scans from before the repave. But Armstrong gave “kudos to Honda” for their general level of simulator accuracy for a new track, while Malukas equally credited Chevrolet for their work in mapping out the circuit.
“Hairpin is definitely different, for multiple reasons. Obviously a track change,” Malukas said. “Also [on] simulators, it’s tough to picture elevation. On the sim, it was flat; in real life, you get a good elevation going up into the hairpin. Other than that, the simulator was pretty spot on. Some corners feel wider and narrower than others. It’s going to be fun - a lot of fun.”
The hairpin at Turn 5 has garnered particular attention for its unique look, which includes a relatively thin inside wall, tight entry and extremely spacious exit, which could encourage invention through the running of different lines among drivers.
“I feel like it’s the opposite to what we expected,” Armstrong said of the hairpin, aligning with Malukas’ assessment. “I expected it to be grippy up high to make it be able to finish the corner - because it’s obviously so tight, you need to be full up.
“Felix [Rosenqvist, teammate] and I thought the ideal line was going to be up high, wide and handsome. But doesn't seem that way. At least no one’s running up there so there’s zero grip. Even on out-laps, I was following a couple of guys, [Nolan] Siegel and [Josef] Newgarden… I saw two very different lines from both of them.
“Everyone has their own philosophy there. It’s a very tricky corner. Zero grip. You’re like in, sliding mid-corner and sliding out. It’s a bit all over the show.”
Given the hairpin’s narrow entry, Malukas feels it may take audacious passes for overtakes to be executed in what will be an inviting corner for drivers to try and make moves. Armstrong added that he expects there could “be a bit of a traffic jam” on Lap 1 of the race.
“On restarts or starts, if everybody is close and you have a run, somebody gets a little bit of a snap out of Turn 4 into 5, maybe there’s an opportunity to get a move done,” Malukas said. “If it is clean-air running, I don’t think it’s big enough of a run. You can maybe do a divebomb but you’re going to go wide when the other guy does the normal corner.”
Come qualifying, which will be run in the cooler evening local time, Malukas believes “seconds” could be knocked off opening-practice times. Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR)’s Álex Palou holds the current benchmark, having led Practice 1 on a 01:14.9915 hard-tyre lap.
AJ Foyt Racing rookie Caio Collet was second in the practice order, ahead of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Louis Foster - both within one-tenth of a second of Palou’s time. Penske’s Scott McLaughlin and Andretti Global’s Will Power completed the top five.
“With this new track resurfacing, the grip level is so high - and you could feel it,” Malukas said, though this was not necessarily a universally-held view. “Once you’re building some grip down, it is hooking heavily. When you look at lap times, from Practice 1, by the time we get to qualifying, I think it’s going to be a very big difference.”
Armstrong was one driver to oppose Malukas’ judgement of the grip, which appeared to be on show as Andretti’s Marcus Ericsson spun in Turn 4 relatively early in the session.
That moment brought out the first of three red flags, with the following two for debris, including after wall contact for CGR’s Kyffin Simpson, which caused session-ending suspension damage in the initial 40-minute all-car practice running. Armstrong believes more such stoppages could be common come qualifying.
“It was slipperier than I expected,” he said. “I was expecting a bit more grip. Initially, it was like driving on ice. Also a bit of a question mark on the tyres because the [softer] red is meant to be the grippier tire but, from my view, it’s not.
“I imagine it’s going to be a red-flag festival [in qualifying]. Everyone is going to be pushing like crazy. It’s an easy place to make a mistake, especially now with no grip. I expect a whole bunch of people to be doing balls-to-the-walls kind of stuff, crashing.”
Given the postponement of Friday’s running, the schedule for Saturday has become markedly intense. Practice 2 commencing at 14:30 ET (19:30 BST) comes only three hours after the conclusion of Practice 1, with qualifying starting at 18:30 ET (23:30 BST) - an even more slender two-and-a-half hours after the completion of the second practice.
Alongside drivers having to learn to maximise the track, there is only a brief window to debrief and get the car in an ample window for qualifying. Pressure is on for the teams.
“That’s why I speed-walked over here,” Malukas said in the post-Practice 1 press conference. “Normally, I take my time; I’ve been hauling my butt everywhere just to make sure we can get time to debrief. Plans on-track stay the same; off-track, a little more rushed.
“By the time qualifying comes, we should have everything close to where we want it to be. The difficulty is from Practice 1, you’re being a bit more reserved - maybe 80-90% pushing. You don’t want to mess something up today because you will lose a lot of track time.”
Malukas himself finished sixth in the first practice session but was suffering from brake issues, which are pronounced on a day so fraught with the schedule so tight.
“We get into an issue where tyres are ready and brakes aren’t,” said the driver third in the standings. “It’s something that obviously we’ve got to work on. I just lost my temper, which I normally don’t. Now we don’t have a read on the reds and only a few hours to figure it out.”
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