INDYCAR 2016 driver review: Mikhail Aleshin

Just when you thought that the Verizon IndyCar Series had run out of ways to surprise, 2016 came along. The championship was won by a guy who looked all at sea 12 months earlier, his closest rival didn't even participate in the first race, and the winner of the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 was a recent F1 refugee who apparently figured out how to make a car work without fuel.

Twenty-four drivers made at least three starts during the 2016 season, and each one is a story. Join RACER.com each day as we retrace their journeys.

MIKHAIL ALESHIN

NO. 7 SCHMIDT PETERSON HONDA

Preseason hopes: "Maximum time on the podium - the top step of the podium".

2016 Best result: 2nd (Pocono)
2016 Championship position: 15th (347 points)

One podium, two top fives, and 15th in the points. Is that really representative of Aleshin's season?

PRUETT: It's a perfect representation of Mikhail's second 'rookie season.' Yes, he returned to the same SPM team where he impressed everyone in 2014, but this was his first season with aero kits (despite his one-off last year at Sonoma), and we shouldn't underestimate the learning curve that was involved with all the changes since his first go-round in the series. He also worked with a new engineer in Blair Perschbacher, and we know how the driver/engineer relationship takes time to jell. Provided he's back with SPM in 2017, and with Perschbacher on the timing stand, expectations for Aleshin will be much higher.

MILLER: Hell no. He had Mid-Ohio in the bag going into his final pit stop before getting KO'd by another car in the rush hour madness of those tiny boxes, and wound up 17th. And he was clearly the fastest car at Pocono most of the day until an untimely chassis change slowed him down before he charged back to second place. He led 120 laps in those two races and looked mighty comfortable out in front, and he will win a race in 2017. The stats may not show it, but he was a top 10 driver all season.

Might Aleshin be better on ovals than road courses or street circuits?

PRUETT: I don't think so. I believe it has been easier for his natural aggression to be rewarded on ovals; he's the second coming of Tomas Scheckter (I'll let you decide whether that's a good or bad thing) and brings a rare brand of fearlessness to the art of turning left. In this day and age where oval success is heavily reliant on the car, having a solid team like SPM to give Aleshin strong cars has also helped support the notion he's better on ovals than road/street circuits. Drop him into a car with a team that has struggled on ovals, and I doubt we'd be having this conversation.

There are more variables to get right on the roads and streets, and natural aggression isn't necessarily what will help at a Long Beach or Toronto. With greater consistency shown outside the ovals, and a cooler approach (he could learn a lot from former teammate Simon Pagenaud in both areas), Mikhail would be better everywhere.

MILLER: Yes, because it suits his aggressive nature, and engineer Blair Perschbacher has made him more and more comfortable. Winning the pole position at Pocono illustrated just how far he's progressed, since mastering the Tricky Triangle can be difficult for the 10-year veterans. He likes a neutral car, fast corners and making daring passes, so the more ovals the better. He's a road racer by trade, but clearly enjoys turning left all day. "I love ovals," he said after running fifth at Iowa. It shows.

Is Aleshin's talent somewhat overshadowed by his bravery?

PRUETT: Piggybacking off the last question, Aleshin strikes me as someone who would benefit from the bookish approach taken by the best in the series. Driving is only part of the game for the Dixons and Powers and Hunter-Reays, which means that if he wants to improve, slaving over the small details, spending countless hours in the shop with his engineers and crew, and treating the sport like a 365-day job will only help.

Aleshin has immense natural talent, but is he working harder than the championship contenders to fill in all the minute gaps that are required to become a complete driver?

MILLER: When he was sliding through Turn 1 at Indy last May it got everyone's attention and they talked about it for days, but the fact he never hit the wall was even more impressive. He's pretty unflappable in any situation but qualifying seven times in one day made him smile, not retch, and his go-for-it attitude would make Gordon Johncock happy.

Were there any signs that missing most of 2015 hurt his performance this year?

MILLER: You certainly expected him to take a few races to shake off the rust, and it did in qualifying, but he seemed more focused and hungrier than when he showed up in 2014. He's got an amazing drive to succeed balanced by an even-keeled attitude and a perverse sense of humor.

Aleshin actually had fewer top 10s this year than he did in his rookie season. Can we just blame that on the Honda aero kit?

MILLER: That's probably fair. He spun a lot during practices at street and road circuits so you have to think they were a non-stop exercise in experimenting but he got taken out at Texas by another driver and had a tire explode at Watkins Glen to go along with his spin out and crash at Indy, so three DNFs and one in a double-points race is tough to overcome.

PRUETT: I'd say the aero kit era certainly didn't make things easier for any Honda driver to earn top 10s outside of the superspeedways, but it's also a convenient excuse. Considering Chevy only had 10-11 cars in action at most rounds (barring the Indy 500), and the four-car Andretti/Honda team was out to lunch on far too many occasions, it gave SPM and Rahal Letterman Lanigan prime opportunities to be the top Honda teams at the finish line. Sure, the Chevy-powered drivers comprised most of the top 10 wherever the series went, but there were always a handful of top 10 spots for Hondas and I would have expected a few more to go Mikhail's way.