[h=2]INDYCAR 2016 Driver Review: Max Chilton[/h] Tuesday, 11 October 2016


Marshall Pruett & Robin Miller / Images by IMS Photo & LAT
MAX CHILTON

NO. 8 CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET

2016 Best result: 7th (Phoenix)
2016 Championship position: 19th (267 points)


After such a promising weekend at Phoenix, was Chilton the biggest disappointment of 2016?
MILLER: Not really, because I don't think anyone's expectations were that high. Rookies today have it much tougher because of limited testing, and there's not as much practice time either, so it's really learning on the fly in an ultra-competitive environment. Even though he had some impressive moments, Chilton pretty much performed like you'd expect a newcomer to.
PRUETT: It depends on how you rated Chilton coming into the season. There are those who believed he was hot garbage (just read the comments section) and others – myself included – who felt he would finally shine in equal equipment. For those who wrote the guy off years ago, his rookie IndyCar campaign was absolute proof of all he lacks. For those of us who felt having a Ganassi Chevy to drive would silence his critics ... it was hard to see how Max's season was anything other than underwhelming.
Grading Chilton's output is best when he's compared to other IndyCar rookies, namely Alexander Rossi and Spencer Pigot. Rossi, like Chilton, knew some of the tracks from time spent in the junior categories, but was on a significant learning curve at far too many circuits. And Rossi was saddled with a Honda aero kit during a year where his Andretti Autosport team struggled mightily. Across 16 races, Rossi's average finishing position was 11.8; Chilton's average, while driving for the defending series champions, was 17.
Even if we strip away Rossi's Indy 500 win and just count 15 of his races, the average only climbs to 12.5. Two drivers, coming off of time spent with tail-end Formula 1 teams, and with a lot to learn in IndyCar, had completely dissimilar seasons. And the guy with the lesser equipment looked like he was in another league.
Pigot, with far less experience than Chilton, did nine races in a combined effort between Rahal's Honda team and Carpenter's Chevy program, and still managed to come out with an average finishing position of 15.8 to Max's 16.8 over that span. And few would accuse Spencer of having the same kind of testing, preparation, or resources at his disposal during his rookie campaign.
It's also worth noting that Chilton had Dario Franchitti as a driver coach/mentor this year. Having seen how much the four-time champion helped Charlie Kimball raise his game at Ganassi (Tony Kanaan even admitted the Scot was teaching him new things after 19 years in IndyCar), and knowing how much feedback, advice, and engineering support was at his disposal from within the four-car effort, it's hard to think of another driver who got less out of more in 2016.
Did he underestimate how tough the transition from F1 to IndyCar would be?

PRUETT: I hope not. Max completed most of the 2015 Indy Lights season with the crack Carlin Racing team (he skipped one round due to a sports car racing conflict), got a feel for the low-pressure and friendlier way we go racing in IndyCar (at least compared to his time in F1), and he had, as I mentioned, the defending series champions providing a Chevy-powered car with the ultimate driving coach and a four-time champion in Scott Dixon whose data was available after every session. Underestimate? I can't think of how it could have been made any easier.
MILLER: I never got that impression. He always seemed very cognizant of the drastic differences in the cars, brakes, tires and so on, and accepted that it was a steep learning curve. If anything I think he relished the fact that, unlike F1, he had a fighting chance everywhere, and maybe was a little discouraged he only finished in the Top 10 twice.
Chilton went into the season admitting that he'd need time to figure out ovals, but expecting to be strong on road and street courses. But his average qualifying positions on the different track configurations were similar – 13.4 on road/street compared to 14.8 on ovals – and his average finishing position on ovals (13. was substantially better than on road/street courses (17.2). What gives?
MILLER: Finishing seventh and running in the lead pack most of the night at Phoenix, plus qualifying fourth at Iowa, seemed shocking until you consider that lots of good road racers adapted quickly to ovals. Making the Fast Six at Watkins Glen and qualifying seventh at Road America was indicative of his strength on real road courses, while they ran him out of fuel at Elkhart Lake and he lost 30 seconds in the pits at Sonoma. Street races seemed to be his biggest challenge.
PRUETT: In a car with a good setup, ovals are easier. Ganassi's cars were competitive at every oval.
What does Chilton need to do differently next year?
PRUETT: Consult a sports psychologist. I'm not kidding, and that isn't meant to be funny. New IndyCar champ Simon Pagenaud works with one, and there are a few other drivers in the IndyCar paddock who seek help to find their missing aggression, to quiet their overactive minds, or improve whatever areas that get in the way of executing at a higher level. Chilton has been very fast, at times, in a variety of cars. If he wants to continue in IndyCar – especially after seeing how brutal the competition is from front to back – he'd be wise to ring Pagenaud, get the name of his sports psych, and spend the offseason trying to solve whatever misfires made him almost invisible this year.
MILLER: He struggled on cold tires, and needs to be more aggressive on starts and restarts. But staying with Ganassi would seem to be a no-brainer because it's all about chemistry, continuity and miles, and he'll not find a better tutor than Dario. By all accounts Max offered great feedback and was really a good teammate, so it's just a matter of gaining confidence and getting comfortable. Racing director Mike Hull said he thought Chilton had "enormous, untapped talent" and it's usually a three-year process to get up to speed and stay there.