Breaking down the incident between the two drivers that drastically altered the outcome of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

The end of the first Indycar race of the season was nothing if not explosive. With three laps to go, Alexander Rossi and Robert Wickens vied for the lead as the field resumed green flag running after caution. But the two collided going into turn one, an incident which demoted Rossi to 3rd place and removed Wickens from contention all together.

At first glance, the incident appears to be cut and dry. Rossi, under heavy braking under the notoriously slick landing strips of St. Petersburg's airport runway section of the track, lost control of the car ever so slightly, sending him careening into the side of Wickens and sending the latter spinning around.

However, a more complete analysis of the wreck tells a different story.

The green flag drops. Wickens gets a bad run out of the final hairpin, allowing Rossi, whose tires were several laps older than Wickens to be able to make a run on the rookie Canadian driver.

Rossi begins to make his move. He glides over to the inside line of the track, aiming to take Wickens into turn one. Wickens begins to make a defensive maneuver but thinks better of it, not fully committing himself to a swipe right across the track. He instead adopts a middle line, in between an outright defense of the inside line and the more preferred line of entry on the outside of the corner.

Under braking neither car changes direction. Wickens keeps on his middle line while Rossi, already committed to the inside attacking line maintains his course as well. However, Rossi is able to brake later, drawing him up closer to Wickens and able to get the crucial 1/4 of his car alongside the Canadian driver.

Why is that 1/4 important? Because Indycar's rulebook clearly states that if a driver is able to put a quarter of his car alongside the car in front of him, he/she should be given deference in terms of racing line. In layman's terms, if a trailing driver is able to put 1/4 of his car next to the leading driver, the leading driver has to give him adequate room going into and through a corner.

Rossi commits to his move and brakes heavily into turn one. While from the snapchat, it looks good for Rossi, this is also where it begins to go back as he loses grip over the uneven and slippery landing strips that make up the main straightaway.

Notice too Wickens's line. While it is still relatively early in the corner, if his line were continuously extended through turn 1, it would not appear that he would be giving Rossi any room, instead clipping the apex and forcing Rossi onto the grass. Now, because it is early in the corner and there is still time to adjust his line, Wickens is not at fault, but it is something worth noting.

Rossi begins to slide outright. Having locked up on the landing strips, the Andretti driver briefly loses control of the back end of the car. Rossi is forced to correct his error, altering his line into the corner and giving him a significantly wider line than anticipated. No longer able to clip the apex and position the car as he wishes, he turn in compromised.

Wickens, in turn, appears to have altered his line, perhaps giving Rossi just enough room to make it by had he not slid.

Rossi recovers from his slide, but having his racing line altered by it, is not able to exert the kind of car control that Wickens's aggressive turn in would need him to. Wickens's line now seems more aggressive, barely leaving any room for Rossi to get by even had he not slid under braking. If Wickens's line were continued onward, it would appear that he would cut Rossi off regardless of the American's bobble under braking. It would appear, based off these overhead shots that had Rossi been able to continue like normal, he would have not been able to complete the corner with four tires on the tarmac and instead, been forced to run up and over the curbs or perhaps even up onto the grass.

Contact! Unable to alter his line now, Rossi bumps into the side of Wickens. Wickens, either because of the contact or because of necessity, alters his line and takes a wider approach, giving Rossi more room on the inside of the corner, but it is too little too late as the two have already collided.

Conclusions

There you have it a breakdown of the accident that ruined what have could been a fairy tale day for young Robert Wickens and a textbook example of driving excellence from Alexander Rossi.

So who is to blame?

Despite the immediate outpouring of anti-Rossi sentiment over the incident, there are actually two sides to this one. Yes, Rossi lost control under braking, forcing him to alter his line and run slightly wider than the perimeters given to him by Wickens.

That said, Wickens too is not blameless. Had Rossi not slid going into the turn, there is a reasonable argument to be made that Wickens line would have made it impossible for him to make a clean maneuver, despite clearly being within Indycar's regulations to leave him one.

All in all, and although this might be a cop out to say, this was a racing incident. Neither driver was completely in the right or completely in the wrong, which is why, ultimately, Indycar decided to not take action against either Rossi or Wickens.

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