Alternate tires mystify some of IndyCar's best

Tire Befuddlement Syndrome is alive and well in the IndyCar paddock after some of its best drivers were left mystified by whatever it was they missed while trying to extract front-running speed from their Firestone primary and alternate compounds during qualifying at St. Petersburg.

“The [car] felt great on the prime run, and then we went to reds [alternates], and I couldn’t get the rears to switch on,” said Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood, who owns four street course wins and watched as teammate Marcus Ericsson qualified second.

“It felt like I had no grip out there. It’s still early, and with the way the track conditions were changing, it was tough to get a clean read. We don’t have a big reference yet on the alternates, so we’ll look at the data tonight and get ready for tomorrow.”

Like Kirkwood, who was expected to fight for pole, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward was another title contender who should have been in the battle for the top starting position. Instead, he’ll roll away in eighth, well below what he and the team envisioned.

"I think we missed the track evolution there a little bit, and our balance fell off from the perfect window,” O’Ward said. “The car definitely didn't have more in it, and it's about where we have been today - sitting in eighth and flirting with the final transfer. I'm very happy with the car on primary tires. The soft tires have just been more difficult, as it's been for us in the past. We need to dive into that and see what's going on because I do think the car was capable of being a bit higher up."