Wickens learning on the job quickly in transition to INDYCAR

With a new series, new car and new team keeping him busy in the offseason, Robert Wickens continues to have difficulty lying down on the job, but not for the reason you might think.

After coming to the Verizon IndyCar Series from European touring cars, the rookie Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver needed to get reacquainted with the more prone position in an open-wheel car. It’s been tougher than he imagined.

While he’s not complaining about feeling a pea under his seat cushion, Wickens jokes that he might be trying his crew’s patience.

“I feel like a huge diva because I am constantly working on my seat and adjusting things and the mechanics are getting a little bit tired of it, but they are putting up with me,” Wickens laughed as he prepares to make his Verizon IndyCar Series debut Sunday in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

“The last time I raced in open wheel was 2011 and I’ve been sitting so upright for so long that I just feel weird laying down so much.”

The 28-year-old Canadian arrives with impressive credentials in both open-wheel racers and touring cars. He won the 2006 Formula BMW USA championship before heading to Europe to race in several Formula 1 ladder series. Wickens took the 2011 Formula Renault 3.5 Series title in a field with four drivers who went on to race in F1, including Daniel Ricciardo and Alexander Rossi (who has since joined Andretti Autosport and won the 2016 Indy 500). After spending a season as a Marussia F1 reserve driver, Wickens joined Mercedes in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) Series. In six seasons, he took six wins and five poles in arguably one of the toughest racing series on the planet.

He’ll need to lean on all his experience as he goes into his maiden Verizon IndyCar Series race on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. To prepare for the weekend, Wickens watched and re-watched recordings of the past five Firestone Grands Prix of St. Petersburg to try to get a feel for the race and how things like cautions can change the outcome. The preparation apparently worked, as Wickens was the fastest of seven rookies and sixth-quick overall in Friday’s practices with a lap of 1 minute, 1.2190 seconds (105.849 mph).

Although Wickens feels confident he’s done all the things he needs to be competitive, his first race in the No. 6 Lucas Oil SPM Honda will be all about keeping things in perspective.

“It’s hard, especially in a results-based industry, but I have learned to not have expectations about results and do it for the love and passion for the sport. As soon as you are disappointed that you are not better because you expected more, you’ve done that because you set yourself up for failure.” Wickens said.

“I know how to drive a road course. … I think we are sticking to our program and making the car better every time, so I think we are looking OK.”

He’s also been picking teammate James Hinchcliffe’s brain to get tips on his new car and series. While Hinchcliffe is happy to help his childhood friend get up to speed, he insisted there have been many instances where it’s been the other way around.

“He’s been an incredible asset over the offseason bringing in some things, whether it’s procedural things or ideas from an engineering side that were commonplace in DTM that we kind of hadn’t really though about over here,” Hinchcliffe said.

“You know it’s good when a guy as experienced as (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports technical director) Todd Malloy goes, ‘Huh, I’ve never thought about that.’ There have been a couple of little things that he’s brought to the table that we are now investigating as a team to make certain areas of our program stronger that we wouldn’t have thought of if he had not been part of the team.” 

On track, Wickens’ biggest issue apart from the cockpit position has been getting accustomed to the differences between the tires on his old DTM car and the Firestones used in the Verizon IndyCar Series. The tires in DTM didn’t appreciate lateral loads, so drivers would brake hard to the apex of corners, turn the car and then stop the throttle on exit. That’s not the right way to work his new rubber.

“The Firestones want almost the complete opposite driving style from what I’ve been used to for the past six years,” Wickens said. “I’m starting to get the hang of it, but definitely for the first few tests I was having to tell myself in every corner to come off the brakes because if I did want I wanted to, I’d be driving the tire wrong.

“I’m still probably struggling a little bit extracting lap time from a new tire, but then once everyone is on 10- or 15-lap old tires, I feel like I’m very competitive. There’s a silver lining to be taken from that, but at the end of the day you have to qualify at least in the top 10 if not in the (Firestone) Fast Six if you want to do anything good in INDYCAR, so we still have to work on that.”

Wickens got his first chance to run on Firestone’s softer alternate tires in afternoon practice on Friday at St. Petersburg. He’ll go through his first qualifying session today (2:20 p.m. ET, streaming live on RaceControl.IndyCar.com). The season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, 110 laps on the 1.8-mile temporary street circuit, airs live at 12:30 p.m. Sunday on ABC and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.