The sheer number of teams being caught breaking the rules in IndyCar this year is taking its toll on the paddock.
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has decided his team needed a "whistleblowing hotline" for his employees to flag when they've been asked to do something that "isn't right".
Now that's not to say Brown thinks his team is cheating, and McLaren hasn't been involved in any serious issues this year.
But he's still taking serious action - inviting concerned staff to contact him or team principal Tony Kanaan directly - which paints a picture of the feeling in the paddock and maybe points to there being some unnerved team principals in the series right now.
"What I've done with the team, and I've reiterated it now, is: here's how McLaren goes racing, here's what's acceptable, here's what's not acceptable, and here's a whistle-blowing hotline," Brown explained.
"So if your boss tells you to do something that you know is not right, here's my phone number or here's Tony's phone number.
"I've gone in and preached many times, but I took the opportunity just so it's totally clear to everyone at McLaren.
"And it doesn't mean you're not doing a ride-height wrong one day or a wing angle - you are going to make mistakes, that happens in sport.
"But there's a difference between that and ‘let's go design, manufacture, build something'. There is no, ‘I put it in the wrong bowl'."
IndyCar's month of controversy
- Penske qualifying scandal repercussions
- Penske sacks senior staff
- 2024 Indy 500 winning car admission
- Penske drivers' contrasting reactions
- Andretti and Prema lose Indy 500 results
- IndyCar's plan to tighten its tech
The Indianapolis 500 in particular - partly because of its nature as the most popular IndyCar event with the biggest spotlight - produced significant scandals, with Penske and Andretti sanctioned for modifying parts which are purposefully protected in the rule book and not open to modification, while Prema Racing was pinged for a front-wing infraction that may well have been naivety caused by the team competing in an oval race for the first time, but equally was a part incorrectly sized.
This has almost certainly led to team bosses throughout the paddock - such as Brown - reiterating what is and isn't acceptable for their racing teams.
Penske's Indy 500 qualifying scandal initiated the firing of the team's senior management: its president Tim Cindric (with the team since 1999), managing director Ron Ruzewski and general manager Kyle Moyer.
That showed how seriously Roger Penske was taking the transgression, which had made it two too many for Penske after the push to pass scandal from 2024.
Penske having modified rear crash structures against the rules at the Indy 500 also flagged up the need for IndyCar's technical inspection process and procedures to be reviewed to avoid similar incidents happening in the future.
Despite the modified attenuator being spotted in pre-qualifying inspection, the #12 car was passed and allowed to head out to the pits for qualifying, before the following #2 Penske car was failed and then the #12 team was informed its car would fail post-session scrutineering.
Brown was part of a meeting with IndyCar senior leadership in Detroit that covered matters such as the calendar, need for a new car, and technical inspection, which is often shortened to ‘tech' in IndyCar parlance.
"Obviously tech's the big conversation, so I think we need both a lot more investment in tech and technical inspection," said Brown.
"We need templates, we need lasers, we need videoing. We need investment in that so you can do a better job looking back, looking forward."
IndyCar is already exploring changes to technical inspection and also how to implement a more outward, visibly independent structure for its governance.
Brown said he has "no doubt" that Roger Penske isn't intervening directly with scrutineering or race control, but every time there is a problem with Team Penske, people use it to complain about the fact that Penske owns the championship and also owns a race team that competes in it.
"Perception is reality," Brown uses this phrase to eloquently explain the nuanced view that, whether Penske is intervening or not (he believes he isn't and there's certainly no proof to suggest it is) there are people who will accuse him of it and pedal that narrative when the opportunities arise, simply because they can, or they are not Team Penske fans.
As I've written countless times in the last month, it would be better for Roger Penske to have the independent bodies in place so that his and IndyCar's name are not dragged through the mud every time this kind of thing happens.
In terms of how the independent part of it would work, Brown reckons "it's more about who can tell them what to do, and as long as whoever can tell them what to do, that body of people are independent, and you need to have some sort of majority, super majority, then I think it doesn't really matter who pays for it".
Doug Boles had only been in a new role as president of IndyCar - he was already Indianapolis Motor Speedway president - for a few months and is the person tasked with overseeing these changes.
He's been given a "s**t sandwich for dinner" reckons Brown, having to deal with all of these enormous issues so early in the role.
Technical inspection will be one of his priorities now. Finding an existing independent body - like the FIA for example - would take time and be expensive. Starting a new body from scratch would also be time consuming and expensive. There's no way to cut corners.
As Brown alluded to, there's a long list of things to sort so this only adds to the pressure Boles is unfortunately under.
IndyCar desperately needs a new car, this being the 13th season of the current one, but until the engine manufacturers commit, it's hard to finalise that car. Brown says "I feel Chevy feels very committed to the sport", hinting McLaren's partner wants to stay, but said he didn't know about Honda because he is not supplied by it.
With the calendar attracting some bigger events and the series working on more of those for the future, the car, engine manufacturers and technical inspection process are the big topics in IndyCar right now.
It's lucky to have Brown, who even called out other team owners after the Detroit meeting.
"I'm disappointed in some of the team owners that when The Captain [Roger Penske] is not around, they say one thing, and when The Captain's around, they say another.
"And I think that does a disservice, actually, to Roger, because he probably gets conflicting information."
Whether you agree with Brown and his views on IndyCar - he has too many of them to outline in this feature alone - he says what he thinks without hesitation and more people doing so is never a bad thing when so many questions over the series' future are undecided.
