IndyCar: Marco Andretti Going Back To Driving School

Marco Andretti will be re-enrolling in the Rob Wilson’s Driving School, as he attempts to recapture the perfomance that produced fifth in the IndyCar championship back in 2013.

On the back of arguably his worst IndyCar season, with highlights including two sixth places, the Andretti Herta Autosport driver, who is about to embark on his 15th season in IndyCar, will be keen to not repeat the result. Elsewhere on the track, Andretti will be remembered in 2019 for a viral clip of him controlling his rear-wheel drive IndyCar in the wet on slick tires during the Detroit GP double-header.

He ended the season only 16th in the championship, but during late-season switch-up in race engineers with teammate Zach Veach, both drivers provided an increase in form for both, with Mark Bryant switching to the Gainbridge car of Veach, and Garrett Mothersead rejoining Andretti.

In an interview with Motorsport.com, Andretti spoke about how a change in attitude was needed.

“[Mothersead] knows it’s Sunday that counts, but being critical of myself, qualifying has killed me. Because it’s a big track-position dependent sport so you can’t start at the back and have a magnificent race unless there’s rain and a lot of yellows. My racecraft is pretty good and we go forward more often than not, but we have to start ahead of the eight-ball. So he’s happy with me on Sundays but we have to make Saturdays better.”

“Garrett was there with Blair in 2013 and we did a lot of things that year which we’re going to try to do this year and absolutely wring it out. I think my worst year in my career happened at the worst time, and I had one of my worst nightmare races [Indy 500] on the 50th anniversary of [grandfather] Mario’s win there. So we’re up against it right now, and we’re trying to wring everything out and I’m going back to Europe [to Wilson’s driving school] before the season starts.”

Andretti pointed out the cars sensitivity as a key factor for his decision.

“The reason I go is because I think the type of car I drive there – it’s a streetcar pretty much – exaggerates your inputs so much, and it really makes it obvious what you’re doing with your footwork and with how quick your hands are, and if you need to slow yourself down.”

“For me, it’s a lot about slowing down to go fast, which for a driver is a little bit counter[-intuitive]. It exaggerates your inputs and it’s very easy to overdrive those types of car, so if you can bring yourself into that realm, there are ways you can find grip from a car, rather than go right over the tire which I have been doing in IndyCar a lot. You can look and say I just need to drive harder, but a lot of the time it’s just the opposite.”

Rob Wilson established his racing career in America, appearing in Indy Lights and NASCAR before making moves to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Since retirement, Wilson has found success as an instructor at the Skip Barber Racing School, before becoming a coach for aspiring young drivers, teaching Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen, David Coulthard and Andretti himself over the years.

As the team expands for 2020, Andretti joked that the biggest issue will be the long nights examining everyone’s data during the Month of May. At 32 Andretti is well aware of the march of time on his peak performance.

“I think 2008 and 2013 I probably did my best job as a driver and we had a lot of races escape us there. Mindset-wise, I’m not hiding from the fact that I’m up against it and we need to perform right now, and need some trophies. I requested it from the team, because I want to exhaust everything I can do as a driver not just physically. It’s such a long off-season, longer than usual because of parts availability [aeroscreen] meaning testing got delayed. And I can’t just run on the treadmill – I’d go crazy – so I’m doing everything in my power to maximize this year. It’s a very important year for me.”

However, he admitted that the newcomers to the sport, such as Colton Herta, had reinvigorated the series veterans or “old guard.”

“There’s a lot to learn from these guys, especially Colton. I think Indy Lights grooms some really good drivers. If you watch their onboards [in Lights], they’re all over the place, and then they get in the IndyCar and they’re comfortable with a setup that perhaps we’re not comfortable with. So [Lights] really grooms them and we’ve seen a lot of talent come out of there. It kinda whips us into shape to just shut-up and drive rather than trying to achieve a perfect racecar every time.”

With Herta’s former Harding Steinbrenner Racing team merging fully with Andretti Autosport after the conclusion of the 2019 season, Michael Andretti’s squad will run five cars full time next season as well as having a technical alliance with Meyer Shank Racing creating large program of drivers for Michael Andretti to work with.