There was a lot to unpack from the horrifying multi-car crash late in the running of Sunday’s IndyCar Series round on the Streets of Toronto, with Arrow McLaren team principal Gavin Ward feeling “sick” about the circumstances.
On lap 73 of 85, six cars piled up in Turn 1 in the shadow of the city’s signature Princes’ Gate, which was ignited after Pato O’Ward locked his rear tires on corner entry and spun into the outside wall, where he remained prone to oncoming traffic.
Despite eight cars passing by, Marcus Ericsson was on the outside of the corner and had to resort to hitting the outside wall in avoidance of spearing O’Ward.
Moments later, though, a trio of cars led by Pietro Fittipaldi whipped around corner and violently hit the front of O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, including Santino Ferrucci – who launched off the nose and into the catch fence before his No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet came to rest upside down on-track.
While all drivers were able to walk away from the carnage, both O’Ward and Ferrucci were critical of the lack of yellow flags.
Massive accident late in the #IndyCar race at Toronto! 🤯 It started with @PatricioOWard spinning, but ended with @SantinoFerrucci going airborne and upside down!
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) July 21, 2024
🎥 @IndyCar pic.twitter.com/UtxISHGxZ0
Arrow McLaren team principal Gavin Ward shared his frustrations with Motorsport.com after the race, and gave an update on the cars of O’Ward and rookie Nolan Siegel, who was also involved in the incident.
“First and foremost, I was most concerned about, we know how serious it is when a car gets up in the catch fencing in IndyCar or any racing series,” Ward said. “I’m just glad Santino is alright; that could have been hell of a lot worse.
“Yes, I can confirm we have at least one write-off of a car. One might be repairable, but it’s done for the year. And we got a bruised-up driver to go with one that’s recovering from a broken thumb from earlier in the weekend, so it’s been a pretty hard weekend overall here.
“Sick from the incident. Pato thought the yellow was exceptionally late. Theo (Pourchaire, his team-mate), I haven’t seen his onboard, but we thought he did not see a yellow. We’ll review his video.
“Reviewing out No. 6 car video (Siegel), definitely no visible yellow as he entered the corner into Turn 1. So, I’m sure there’ll be disagreements out there, but in my opinion, the series needs to look at how they can do that better.”
There was a radio call from Ferrucci after the crash noting that he was OK, with the spotter apologizing and mentioning he could not see that corner from his vantage point atop Hotel X next to those from the rest of the teams.
After consulting with several spotters on Sunday after the race, Motorsport.com learned being blind to that corner was a common theme.
“I’m glad you mentioned the spotter viewpoint and it’s good to hear that corroborated with what our spotters shared with us, which is that they couldn’t see that area of the track,” Ward said.
“I know that they would have liked a location where they could have spotted at the exit of the corner; that’s where you could’ve put a spotter. So, yeah, I think we should look at whether we can do a better job for that because it certainly played a role here.”
And Ward noted that he expressed those thoughts with IndyCar race director Kyle Novak and series president Jay Frye, but wouldn’t get into the details of what was said.
“I think it’s best to leave those conversations when you work together with the teams and the series to try and make things better, so I won’t really get into that detail,” Ward said. “I’ll let them comment on it.”
However, Motorsport.com understands that Ward was dismissed from the post-race conversation with Frye and Novak.
When Motorsport.com approached IndyCar’s hauler seeking comment, Novak was leaving and did not provide one.
Afterward, background was provided to Motorsport.com from an IndyCar representative, noting the waving local yellow condition – both the light panel and the cloth flag at the marshal’s post – in Turn 1 waved as Ericsson made contact with the outside wall and O’Ward.
It was at this point a full course caution was declared, which is understood to be prior to Fittipaldi, Ferrucci and others taking part in the incident. With only seconds to react between additional contact, reaction time by the local volunteer marshals and series personnel played a factor.
It is understood that IndyCar is continuing to process and review all data and observations of the incident.
