How Penske denied faster Rossi the IndyCar title

"Bloody hell, Tim Cindric is going to win this championship, isn't he?" one reasonably unbiased media member exclaimed at Texas Motor Speedway back in June, as Andretti Autosport's Alexander Rossi flashed past the chequered flag less than a second behind Penske man Josef Newgarden. "That's the second time in two weeks that he's managed to pull something out of his ass that gets Newgarden ahead of Rossi."

It's fair to say that Rossi shared that observer's sentiments, and it's not hard to see why.

In Detroit, last year's championship runner-up Rossi had been leading race one when Penske president and Newgarden tactician Cindric had called in his man from third place... just a lap before the full-course yellow flew for second-placed Scott Dixon crashing out after making a rare error.

The field bunched, Newgarden cycled into the lead as everyone else of significance hit the pitlane, and over the course of the remaining laps in a shortened race on a damp track, Rossi couldn't find an opening with which to make one of his typically bold passing manoeuvres on the 2017 champion.

The next day, in the second race at the Belle Isle track, it was Newgarden who blundered into the tyre wall, Dixon who won, but Rossi couldn't take full advantage, salvaging only fifth.

A week later at Texas, Rossi appeared destined for at least a podium on a night when Newgarden seemed set to finish in the lower reaches of the top 10.

But having gone off strategy with an early pit visit, Cindric was able to delay Newgarden's final stop and, as everyone else pitted, the Penske driver suddenly had a clear track on which to set some searing times in clean air and was able to emerge ahead of Rossi and in the lead. Try as he might, the Andretti pilot could not find a way back around his bete noire.

That is not to say that Newgarden is an unworthy champion; far from it. But Rossi was even better

At Road America, Rossi dominated just as he had in Long Beach back in April, but Newgarden took a podium, and the pair were just one place apart in Toronto. Then Newgarden dominated at Iowa Speedway while Rossi could finish no better than sixth.

In retrospect, it's pretty easy to say it was game over from that point, for Rossi never really gained traction thereafter. Sure, Newgarden exchanged fourth place for 14th and a trip to a gravel trap at Mid-Ohio after a ludicrous misjudgement on the final lap, but then Rossi was wiped out in an opening-lap crash at Pocono.

That is not to say that Newgarden is an unworthy champion; far from it. While he didn't impress quite as much as in his first title year, his consistency resulted in his racking up 12 top-fives (including four wins) from the 17 races - a near-Dixon-like accumulator of points.

And if he uncharacteristically soft-pedalled in the final two races, well, sotto voce was what the occasion demanded and almost every driver would have done the same in those circumstances.

But Rossi was even better, despite leading 'just' seven races to Newgarden's 11, and 182 laps to Newgarden's 490. The ex-Formula 1 driver's bravery as he tried to compensate for a pace disadvantage to eventual winner Simon Pagenaud in the Indianapolis 500 was as breathtaking as his determination to salvage something from Austin, after the caution period denied him a certain win, given erstwhile leader Will Power's non-finish.

Rossi was criticised on occasion in 2018 for being overaggressive when making passes and running too near his own limit, therefore risking errors. In '19 he seemed to get it just right, knowing exactly when and how hard to push and rarely leaving himself vulnerable to others' indiscretions.

This was particularly admirable from Toronto (race 11) onwards, when Chevrolet, the supplier to the rival Penske squad, took a step forward in terms of torque and fuel efficiency (and possibly horsepower, depending whose opinion you sought) and became a match for the Honda used by the Andretti team.

At the top end, Chevy was already more than a match for Honda, as Rossi had discovered while trying to hang on to Pagenaud at Indy.

After his desultory year of 2018, when he could rarely find a confidence-inspiring set-up for running his car on the edge in qualifying, Pagenaud and his engineer Ben Bretzman told people they'd made a breakthrough at the Sonoma finale last year, and eventually that did become apparent in '19.

That pace took a while to shine through due to errors and red flags caused by others in qualifying sessions, which initially consigned him to the lower half of the grid. But Pagenaud's beautiful yet aggressive drive in the wet at the IndyCar Grand Prix on the IMS road course was a confidence-building breakthrough, and his sheer composure in the Indy 500, despite Rossi's pressure, signalled that he was back in business.

There was clearly more work to do - he was slow in qualifying at Detroit, Road America and Portland and somewhat anonymous on race day at Mid-Ohio, Iowa and Gateway - but he was also brilliant in Toronto and fast at Pocono and Laguna Seca. On his best days, Pagenaud looks like the polished yet also aggressive performer we saw at Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and then in his 2016 title-winning year.

Dixon's attempt to win a sixth IndyCar crown was generally as impressive as you'd expect, and he relished being able to pool information with a genuinely fast team-mate, Felix Rosenqvist. Even though the Swede's speed initially gave him a little trouble, Dixon learned well and improved himself, as all the greats do.

Herta crashed into IndyCar's old-boys club with the same impact as a 20-ton meteorite landing in a church hall on bingo night

"Felix is fast but we knew that ever since he first tested for us a few years back," Dixon said just past mid-season. "He's made a couple of rookie mistakes, but he's got a really good way of breaking down technical areas he wants to focus on, probably because of all his experience in other series.

"I'd say it's actually because he's a rookie - but a really good one - that he's been able to help the team and help me. He's got a fresh perspective on it all."

Dixon's main problem was that most of his chief rivals learned from his amazing consistency in 2018, and did well to emulate it. So when he got caught up in someone else's accident at Indy (double-points) and had to pit for repairs, and then made uncharacteristic errors in two of the next three races (hitting the wall in Detroit, squeezing down on Colton Herta at Texas), he rapidly fell from second in the championship to fourth.

Thereafter, the Chip Ganassi Racing star was back to his consistent best, but mechanical issues at Gateway and Portland sapped any remaining momentum.

Power was wretchedly unlucky to miss out on wins in the opening two races (wrong tactics in St Petersburg, mechanical failure and a badly timed caution at Austin), but he then didn't help himself with little errors at Long Beach and the Indy 500, both of which cost him top-three finishes.

In Detroit he was scintillating on both days, but scored only one podium after a pitstop faux pas by the team in the other race, and then he made a complete mess of Toronto and blew at least two runner-up finishes at Iowa and Gateway.

Power admits he should have been more canny and less desperate in seeking his first win of the season. If he can quell his tendency to allow frustration to induce errors, expect a very different 2020 from the '14 champion.

With three poles and two wins in his rookie season, Herta crashed into IndyCar's old-boys club with the same impact as a 20-ton meteorite landing in a church hall on bingo night.

Casualties in terms of reputation and value included certain long-time series veterans who suddenly appeared overrated and dispensable, and recent rookies who had hitherto been regarded as promising but now looked mediocre.

Herta and eventual Rookie of the Year Rosenqvist immediately got with the programme, survived tricky spells where they were clearly trying too hard, and wound up seventh and sixth in the overall standings respectively.

Herta, of course, became the youngest ever IndyCar winner and while rumours swirled sporadically about the legality of his car (nothing illicit has been proven, incidentally) there are plenty who believe he really is that good.

Certainly Michael Andretti does, which is why he's got him locked down for 2020 in Andretti Autosport 'proper' after a season as a 'satellite' entry with the Harding Steinbrenner Racing squad.

As for Rosenqvist, he had to be calmed down a little, but didn't allow himself to be fazed into driving too far within himself as he rebuilt his confidence, and by the end of the season he looked as fast as he had at the start, but now with a veneer of maturity.

Takuma Sato made some typical blunders but fewer of them, and drove a brilliant race at Barber Motorsports Park and a weird but impressive one at Gateway to chalk up two wins for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, which still doesn't consistently perform as well as it should, given the squad's braintrust and the talents of Sato and Graham Rahal.

Good surprises came in the form of Santino Ferrucci's excellence on ovals and Jack Harvey's much-improved pace as his outings for Meyer Shank Racing became more frequent.

Disappointments included how frequently Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports looked anonymous without Robert Wickens in the cockpit, and how disrupted Carlin's season became due to driver changearounds.

Now it's time for the engineers and drivers to relearn their cars with the new weight distribution provided by the aeroscreen. The off-season could be as much fun as the season just gone...