2017 IndyCar Driver Reviews: Part 4

Hey hey hey!

Welcome back to my blog and my fourth and final installment of my 2017 IndyCar Driver Reviews!

Let’s just get right to it shall we?

Simon Pagenaud

The 2016 IndyCar champion came back this season wanting to claim a second championship.

He drove just as smart and precise and he did last year, but he was out done by his teammate Josef Newgarden who just happened to drive a little bit smarter and a little but faster than Pagenaud.

Let’s be real, Pagenaud didn’t make one single mistake this season. He completed every single lap this season, which I believe he was the only driver able to accomplish that feat this season.

But that being said, all of it was only worth 2nd in the championship this season.

Newgarden just had an edge on him, he made a couple mistakes this season, but he also took risks, like that move at Pocono (which helped him win the championship). We didn’t see Pagenaud making moves like that this season..

I’m guessing (and hoping) Pagenaud will take all of this into account during the off season and mull it over and come back with a vengeance next year.

I guess we will have to just wait and see.

Mid term Grade: B

Final Grade: A

Spencer Pigot

Everyone knows I’m a Spencer Pigot fan.

I don’t know why, but I just really appreciate his hard work and effort and I think he has a lot of potential.

I mean I wrote a whole freaking blog about him, so yeah.

I think this season Spigot was really able to capture a lot of people’s attention with his driving ability.

He never failed to impress by how fast he could make his way through the field.

However, his results fail to show the great drive that he is with only 3 top 10 finishes in his 12 starts.

More times than not he was a recipient of ECR’s bad luck.

But even so, Pigot proves to be one of the most appreciative and positive drivers in the paddock.

I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen Spigot upset or heard a bad word come out of his mouth.

Like how? I don’t understand but I think it’s a great quality to have.

Anyhow, I’m beyond excited to see what he’s going to bring to the table next year as a full-time driver.

I’ll be cheering him on like crazy!

Also, I think its important to note that this season, for the first time ever, Spencer Pigot lead a lap in an IndyCar race: that’s a pretty great accomplishment for a second-year part time driver I’d say.

Midterm grade: B

Final Grade: B

Will Power

Yet again, another driver that I love, this blog is full of them.

Year after year after year Will Power shows himself as a serious contender in IndyCar.

I mean, 3 wins this season with 6 poles, 9 top 5’s, and 10 top 10’s and 5th in the championship?

Considering all of the mishaps Power has experienced this season, I’d say he was able to be pretty dang resilient.

What else can I say?

The guy did a pretty flawless job of driving this season.

AND he took the time to come and hang out with us at Road America so..

I think he deserves pretty high marks.

Midterm grade: B+

Final Grade: A-

Graham Rahal

I’m not a Graham Rahal fan, but I am able to appreciate the guy, he drives decent, but I am not a fan of his attitude. Is anyone really?

I do have to note that he pulled of a pretty good double header at Detroit, he drove his butt on so hats off to him.

But besides that, Rahal really hasn’t done much to impress me this season.

I feel like usually he has some pretty notable drives that stick in my mind, but I really can’t think of any this season besides for Detroit.

I mean the results bode well, 6 top 5’s and 12 top 10’s, but they just are not memorable to me.

It will be interesting to see how he performs next year with a teammate, he no longer will be the shining start, sole priority to the team.

I’m curious to see how well Rahal will handle that..

I can promise you he won’t be happy if Sato stats showing him up.

Ha. Maybe that’s why they signed Sato, to protect Rahal’s ego.

Midterm grade: B

Final grade: B-

Alexander Rossi

So if you missed my blog earlier this summer where I apologized to Alexander Rossi for basically hating him for the past year, well now you know that I basically despised Rossi for a year for winning the 100th Indy 500 the way he did, but I apologized and no longer hate him and Rossi says we’re all good so it’s all good.

Anyways, slowly, over this past season I’ve become an alexander Rossi fan.

He’s shown mw that he’s not just the guy who won the Indy 500 from a fuel strategy, but he’s a guy who has a lot of racing potential.

mid-season he became a consistent pick in my fantasy league.

And when he won his first Indy car pole at the Glen, I called it before it happened and I was just as happy as he was to see him win that race the next day.

I had been waiting for him to win all season, I knew it was inevitable.

Alexander Rossi really showed us this season what he was worth.

I mean, he can still smile more, but you know.

Midterm grade: B+

Final grade: B+

Takuma Sato

One things for sure, I am not a Takuma Sato fan.

Never have been never will be.

He’s always been my consistent pick for first out and still is.

However, Sato showed me this season that he might actually have some potential in him. As much as I hate to admit it.

I mean the guy freaking won the Indy 500, I wasn’t happy about it, but he did it and that’s huge.

But even though this season Sato has showed me some good things to him, he’s still shown me the reasons why I pick him as my first out in the first place.

His two poles he managed this season?

He sank right to the back of the field immediately rather than capitalizing on them.

And do I need to say much more than just the word: “Texas?”

But when it’s all said and done, I’m just interested to see how Sato will fare at RLL next year.

He certainly thrived at Andretti, but will he thrive at RLL or will he just revert back to the same old Sato who crashes a lot.

Midterm grade: B

Final grade: C+

Well thats all folks.

for those of you that stuck around for the last 4 weeks reading my blogs; thank you and I hope you enjoyed them.

This may be the last time I write about IndyCar for awhile. But, we shall see. I do have some other non IndyCar blogs I'm going to write the next few weeks.

But maybe I'll get some IndyCar writing inspiration. Who knows.

Thanks ya'll for reading.

xxkaitlyn

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