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You rarely get a driver that isn’t desperate to win an award when it’s on offer.
But when it comes to rookie of the year honours in IndyCar, there’s a definite divide between the infectious enthusiasm of teams and drivers in America willing to take to social media and complain about not winning it and the seeming indifference from some of those from outside of the States towards such a title.
That’s not to criticise either approach. It’s a cultural difference that exists across most sports, not just motorsport, between America and other countries.
IndyCar rookie of the year standings
1. Christian Lundgaard 283
2. David Malukas -11
3. Callum Ilott -93
4. Devlin DeFrancesco -106
5. Kyle Kirkwood -126
IndyCar offers a rookie of the year for its season and for the Indy 500, with Jimmie Johnson winning the award at the 500 and the season-long series is being led by Christian Lundgaard with David Malukas in hot pursuit with two races to go.
Earlier in the season, Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Lundgaard told The Race his big target was being the best in his team rather than the rookie honours, and that makes a lot of sense. Surely every sportsperson wants to be the best, not just the top newcomer? That’s the sort of mentality that’s needed to reach the top.
But, and it’s a big but, the rookie of the year title in IndyCar inspires the team in the form of incentives for winning it and in terms of motivation for every person involved with the team. It’s an honour that’s worth racing for and goes on a resume for a life time.
“I don’t think it’s a big topic in Europe,” Danish driver Lundgaard said when asked about the title by The Race.
“For sure the team has pushed me further and further to understand how much it actually means.
“Coming into IndyCar, I hoped to be in a better position at this point in the season than we are. You can only hope for the best. I think we’ve had our ups and downs, we’ve had good weekends, some worse ones.
“You only get one shot at the rookie championship. You have to make the best of it.
“Unfortunately, David is pushing me extremely hard with his pace. I think it’s going to be a tight battle at the end.”
Lundgaard’s closest rival Malukas – who has discussed the title more than Lundgaard it feels like this year – proved how big rookie titles are when he and his team reacted negatively to the rookie missing out on rookie of the year at the Indy 500 earlier this year.
Dale Coyne with HMD driver Malukas was the top finisher but the award also considers media and fan interaction, sportsmanship and positive influence on the event, and Jimmie Johnson was deemed the winner.
It caused quite the stir.
Coyne tweeted it had been “robbed” and Malukas said it “stings”. Fellow rookie Romain Grosjean led many social media users supporting Malukas and Coyne.
Since then Malukas has gone from strength to strength, capped off with a first podium at Gateway and rumours he could move to a bigger team in a reshuffle potentially triggered by the Alex Palou lawsuit drama.
Lundgaard’s also secured a long-term contract extension at his team and has trounced team-mate Jack Harvey who also came to the team this year, and has been on par with Graham Rahal in recent months.
Malukas feels his team – like Lundgaard’s – has pushed him towards the rookie title and reminded him of its importance.
“It’s always been in the back of my head,” said Malukas.
“It wasn’t kind of my main goal. My main goal was to enjoy the IndyCar experience and learn as much as possible.
“Dale [Coyne, team owner] was in my ear every day, We need this rookie title, go and get it. He was pushing me and driving me forward.
“Lundgaard definitely has been pushing us 100%, especially after the IMS performance [when Lundgaard finished second at Indianapolis]. I was like, ‘Man, how am I supposed to get a podium? That’s going to be tough’.
“Part of the push in Gateway was having that in mind.
“Dale is always in my ear that we really need it. A lot of pushing going on. In Gateway we succeeded under the pressure.
“Hopefully we can carry that into the last two rounds.”
Malukas’s admission begs the question, is the pressure placed on these drivers worth it based on what this award offers?
Unlike the championship title where you know the strength of the competition each year, the level of the rookie of the year classes rises and falls each year.
But that’s rarely remembered. Rookie of the year is still an honour and always an impressive thing to have on a resume.
Even the award itself has its drawbacks. While the 500 has been criticised for taking more than just the result into consideration, the season-long award only takes into account the championship.
While Callum Ilott is miles behind in the points, has what he has done at the only one-car team in the field actually been more impressive than his rivals? Based on Lundgaard and Malukas’s podiums and peak performance the answer may well be no, but surely it deserves to be considered?
It’s a brilliant conversation starter and something that drivers have with them forever. Whether it’s perfect or flawed, desperately coveted or ignored amid striving to do better, it creates fantastic storylines each year, and this year is no different.
