Chilton blasts IndyCar safety standards
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| Max Chilton |
Former Formula One driver Max Chilton is only a few weeks into his new IndyCar Series career with Ganassi Racing, but he’s already developed some strong opinions, and he’s sharing them.
On the cars: “I knew they always had an amazing amount of downforce. They perform well in the corners. They performed better in the corners, better than I expected."
On U.S. tracks: “You go to some tracks (here) and think, ‘This would never happen in the rest of the world or Europe.' They don’t have the same safety standards, in my opinion, when it comes to certain tracks. I definitely think with certain circuits, (F1 race director) Charlie Whiting would come over and say, ‘Change that, change that.’ I’ve spoken with a couple of drivers that have been doing (IndyCar) for many years, without mentioning names. They go, ‘Yeah, we’ve seen that for years but they’re just not interested in changing it.’"
On the paddock: “It’s quite eerie how welcoming everyone is. I understand why the teams are welcoming, but the drivers? I’m not used to that. All the drivers seem to be best mates and they don’t seem to have other friends. Their best friends are, I guess, their rivals on the track. That’s sort of taken me awhile to get my head around."
On the Firestone tires: “The tire degredation is pretty high, but it’s manageable as long as you drive sensibly, control the wheel spin, you can find ways of extending the life of the tire."
On driving a Dallara: “Dallara always builds a good car, that’s why they’re the most used single-seater tub in the world. There’s a few things I’d change; I’d change things other drivers wouldn’t change. It’s just part of it. Everyone is just a bit different."
On interest in returning to F1: “I’m not going to say I’m never going to back to F1. If I suddenly do amazingly well in IndyCar and it gives me the opportunity to go back to F1, I would jump at it because F1, at the end of the day, was my goal. I still have a lot of unfinished business. Since (I was) a child I wanted to become a podium finisher or a race winner."
On IndyCar as a whole: “Very good. They’re definitely more organized, in my opinion, than other sport when it comes to keeping drivers together, understanding what the drivers want. It’s definitely more of a close field, a close feeling in the IndyCar paddock than Formula One."
On what he would tell Bernie Ecclestone: “Cheapen the prices of a ticket entry. Don’t scare away the young fans. I think Bernie was quoted as saying his target audience are wealthy pensioners. Well, it should be young race fans in their teens, 20s or 30s who are going to become fans for the next 30-40 years. That’s what IndyCar does." AutoWeek