Herta incident leads to reconsideration of IndyCar pit lane hybrid rules

Colton Herta's quick reaction saved the Andretti Global driver from losing a lot of time when his engine stalled in Portland on Sunday. It also sparked an interesting discussion within the NTT IndyCar Series that will lead to changes.

Herta's final pit stop went according to plan until his engine stalled and he crashed while trying to pull away in his No. 26 Honda. He was in fourth place and fighting for a podium position, and the stalled engine could have ruined his chances of a good result.

But thanks to his quick hands, Herta reached the switch on the bulkhead that instructs the energy recovery system – more specifically, the motor generator unit – to rotate the Honda's crankshaft, ignite the 2.2-litre twin-turbo V6 engine and launch from its pit box before the No. 26 crew could manually start their Honda.

Unfortunately for Herta, it is not allowed to move the self-start switch up in the pit lane.

The ban on using the ERS in any form in pit lane, from generating energy to starting the car to operating in all-electric mode, is governed by two rules, and Herta's violation was covered by the second rule, Rule 14.23.1.8, which was released before the first hybrid race at Mid-Ohio in July and states: “The use of hybrid engines for starting in pit lane is not permitted at any time without prior approval from IndyCar. Outside starters only.”

After discovering the illegal self-start, IndyCar penalized Herta and required him to give up his track position to the car behind him – which was being lapped. This equated to a loss of approximately five seconds. This is the estimated time saved by using the MGU instead of waiting for a crew member to connect the external starter to the car and complete the manual process.

After the race, Herta said he had not known about the existence of Rule 14.23.1.8.

“We had a little moment in the pit lane where I think I slipped the clutch a little too quickly and the car stalled right there,” he said. “Then I didn't realise that you can't start the car in the pit lane, so we got a little time penalty and had to drop back.”

When I spoke to some of the other drivers after the race, there was a general sense of confusion and surprise at what Herta had achieved. Most of them didn't know that they could start their own car from the pit lane.

At the first hybrid event at Mid-Ohio and the second at the Iowa doubleheader, IndyCar's race control team was busy remotely disabling and activating the ERS units as drivers entered and exited pit road. Just as race control can turn the push-to-pass system on and off through signals sent to the cars via the MyLaps timing system, race stewards use the same MyLaps communication path to revoke drivers' ERS usage as they enter pit road and re-enable it as soon as they cross pit road.

This practice became evident during qualifying in Iowa, as repeated communication problems resulted in all drivers, from Herta to Dale Coyne Racing's Jack Harvey, attempting to qualify without their ERS units being activated by race control.

As Arrow McLaren team principal Gavin Ward told RACER afterwards: “Just leave them on. They've caused more problems than necessary because it's so complicated about when the system can and can't be used. That's because they activate it via the timed and special stages and the pit lane beacons. Disabling or enabling it has caused some problems at recent events and in my opinion there's no real reason why they need to turn it off. And if you don't want people starting their cars with it in the pit lane then people will just use (external) starters like we've already done.

“I think they're afraid that drivers might try to use it in the pit lane, look at the dashboard or get distracted by something while they're driving down the pit lane. Well, they already have to get hundreds of horsepower out of their engine and do a lot of complex things extremely well, so I think they can trust them to just be sensible and not use it when they shouldn't. And if they do, there are penalties.”

After feedback from Ward and others in the paddock, IndyCar listened and stopped the practice of turning the units on and off. And in Herta's case, during the first few hybrid IndyCar races, he would have reached for the switch in pit lane and gotten no response from the MGU.
But thanks to the instruction to keep the ERS units on at all times, the Andretti driver was able to flip the switch, start his car, drive off, and incur a minor penalty as a countermeasure.

One enterprising team owner told RACER after the checkered flag that if the only downside to getting around the rules by stopping in the pit lane and starting yourself is losing a position, then teams would be happy to break the rule and serve the penalty, as it could save time compared to sitting around waiting for the crew to get the external starter over the wall and hook it up to the gearbox.

IndyCar's no-start rule was put in place for safety reasons, to ensure that all crew members have control of their car and know when to leave pit lane. But in the days and months ahead, there's more to watch out for than just giving up a position, as Herta was ordered to do by race control.

A move from forfeiting all positions gained by illegal self-starting to a harsher drive-through penalty would be an appropriate escalation that would deter wanton disregard for the rule. And if IndyCar went in the opposite direction next year — with half a season for pit crews to familiarize themselves with the hybrids and their capabilities — allowing self-starting could also be on the postseason list for consideration by the series.