“Meh” is how one person I know described Prema Racing’s IndyCar debut, and I kind of understand that.
Finishes of 19th and 20th make it hard to argue otherwise, plus the fact Callum Ilott (19th) and Robert Shwartzman (20th) were so close together implies some sort of racing logic - i.e. if they finished so close together, these were the underlying finishing positions Prema must have deserved.
But scratch beneath the surface and there’s plenty to like about its first IndyCar race.
First off, I’m keen not to be labelled the captain and founding member of the Prema Apologist Society.
I had done a bit of that in pre-season, but that’s because it was a) clear to see that after three days of testing it needed more time before a proper judgement in analysis could be made, and b) because just generally the team has been built from the ground up, and that in itself pointed towards the first half of the season probably looking suboptimal in terms of results.
Ahead of St Pete I’d cautioned that the team hadn’t run on a street course yet, and so judging its season potential from here would be wholly inadequate.
In qualifying, like Pato O’Ward - one of IndyCar’s best qualifiers, who ended up 23rd - Ilott had trouble getting the soft tyres in a working window. I think that’s forgivable given the company Ilott was in. And Shwartzman was 18th, a frankly spectacular result given the nine cars he qualified ahead of and their provenance, plus it being Shwartzman's first IndyCar qualifying.
In the race, Ilott started on the harder tyre - which meant he stayed out under the lap one caution and jumped well up the order. But this was a false dawn as the drivers who started on the soft tyre - which proved the winning strategy - were able to pit and ditch it after one tour.
Ilott would have to make the rapidly degrading tyre last a full stint in the race instead, and managed 10 laps, but the damage was done and he was jumped by many on the other strategy.
An error at Turn 10 didn’t help, and his best pitstop, the last one, was only 19th-quickest in the field. His first stop, crucial in terms of strategy, was another three tenths slower, which given that Prema was having to establish all of its pit equipment and protocols from scratch was not that bad - especially when you consider how poor some existing teams have been at pitstops in recent years. But yeah, it was not ideal either.
"It was a solid first race from us today,” said Ilott, who set the 16th-quickest lap of the race.
“There were no big mistakes on anyone's side, aside from a little one I had at Turn 10 which I recovered from pretty quickly. We were P19 and P20 for the team, on the lead lap, which I think is a good start.
“We have some areas where we can work on, but overall the pace was pretty good.
“I think in a different circumstance with this strategy we could have been a bit higher up but we can’t complain at all. We had good pace when we were fighting with the others.
“I’m really happy in general. We will debrief and work on lots of things to take to Thermal [Club, the site of round two]."
Shwartzman was on the correct 'pit after the lap one caution' strategy, but struggled to move forward after losing radio communications.
Scott Dixon, having made his IndyCar debut when Shwartzman was about two years old, also had the same issue and it effectively cost him a race win.
Dixon is the strategy king in IndyCar and losing his radio cost him dearly. So imagine what it did for Shwartzman on the same strategy, which required advice on things like which fuel map to use or what fuel mileage number to hit, or even just when to pit.
"This is the first race and we didn’t have particularly high expectations today, but I think we maximised most of it, what we could,” said Shwartzman.
“We had an issue with the radio. That compromised the whole strategy. I was basically left more or less on my own figuring things out, which was a bit difficult because it’s our first time here. I didn't know a lot of things that were going on.
“I think we could have done a bit better in terms of position, but I tried my best out there and that is the most important thing. We will all now work really hard in the three weeks we have before the next race, taking the learnings from this weekend."
The performance of the team is clearly nowhere near as bad as some people may have feared - and this was on a street course with only a Sebring test to fall back on as preparation.
In a series where the same four teams win most weeks, it was arguably an actually very strong start for this outfit - especially when you consider it lost technical director Michael Cannon weeks before the season started.
