The 22-year-old Briton’s thoughts come in wake of last Saturday’s IndyCar round at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, which saw Race Control call a local yellow despite Alexander Rossi’s #20 ECR Chevrolet being stalled on the frontstretch for multiple laps before upgrading to a full course caution as Rossi exited his car on a hot track with rivals buzzing by at roughly 170mph.
“He was on the main straight with a lot of room, so I can kind of see why IndyCar didn’t throw it initially,” Foster said.
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“Maybe they thought he stalled and was going to get going again. I don’t know. For me, when I saw it, I wasn’t shocked by it. But I was like, ‘Yeah, we probably should have thrown the yellow’. I never passed him because immediately when he stopped, we boxed because we knew it was going to go yellow. So, I never actually saw where the car really was.”
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IndyCar and IndyCar Officiating updated operational procedures and announced on Tuesday morning that moving forward pit windows and running order will no longer be under consideration for waiting to throw a full course yellow. Local yellow procedures remain unchanged, with the initiation of a full course caution based primarily on driver status, vehicle position and condition, the location and readiness of safety personnel, recovery access, and the speed differential between affected cars and approaching traffic.
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Foster, driver of the #45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, noted the importance of safety. He also pointed to a similar incident that happened last year at World Wide Technology, where he was slow on the frontstretch but was clobbered from behind by then-race leader Josef Newgarden on Lap 130, sending the Team Penske ace into a terrifying flip on the wall between pit lane and the track.
Safety is the priority, and Foster doesn’t mind FCY
Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
“Based on everyone’s opinions, yeah, safety is number one priority,” Foster said. “I mean, you never know. There could be guys racing down there following someone and pop out at the last minute trying to overtake, and then there’s a car stopped. Definitely the right call to be a bit more adamant.
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“I mean, we had this issue last year with my crash at St. Louis when Josef hit me and was in the lead and flipped. Same thing; they took so long to throw the yellow.”
There is also the thought how the cautions help shake the race up, with Foster pointing to NASCAR as an example while also leaning on how it changed up Saturday round on the IMS road course.
“It doesn’t kill the race to throw the yellow,” said Foster, the 2024 Indy NXT champion. “I mean, NASCAR does it for fun. So I don’t think it’s a bad idea to have yellows. It makes the racing more interesting.
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“And actually, that yellow made the race what it was last weekend. Without that yellow, (Alex) Palou would have just won the race and f***** off. Whereas we had a good race between (David) Malukas and (Christian) Lundgaard and Graham (Rahal) was on the podium. So for me, if we feel like a yellow could be necessary, just throw it.
“It’s better for safety. It’s better for the racing. It gives me a break in the car because God knows we need it sometimes with how physical these things are. So yeah, I think it’s a good idea.”
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