Simona De Silvestro gives her view on the ‘amazing’ Indy 500 field of drivers; among them is Scott McLaughlin, who she raced against for years in Supercars and is now making his mark in the States. It’s all part of the fourth edition of the Brick by Brick with Simona exclusive column, presented by Chevrolet.

It’s Thursday evening here in Indy and that means it’s almost time for Carb Day, or final practice before the 500.

It’s one last chance for all us drivers to get comfortable with the car and be ready to rumble come Sunday (Monday morning AEST).

Something that’s really cool about every Indy 500 is just how amazing the field of drivers is and this year is no different.

As I wrote about yesterday, the team at Paretta Autosport share an association with Team Penske and that’s been so helpful.

You need every bit of help you can get at Indy because there’s just no weak links in this field. I mean, right next to me on the last row of the starting grid will be Will Power!

Then there’s Scott Dixon at the other end, and a whole heap of drivers in between who have done so many great things in their career.

I got an early reminder when I tested here in April and had to do my refresher and there was Helio in it and Montoya. It’s kind of pretty crazy when you think about it, that we’re doing the refresher together!

And then you look up the list, it’s cool.

The field this year is really tough, really tight, so from that point of view I think it is going to be a really good race.

And of course there’s a familiar face in my Team Penske team-mate Scotty McLaughlin, who was really the guy to beat in Supercars when I was in Australia for a few years.

It’s awesome to see how he’s been going this season.

I think we all know how good he is but for him to pick up the IndyCar stuff that quickly is really impressive and it’s quite cool to be racing against him again and be team-mates as well this time.

Having him around and seeing his work ethic and all that, it’s pretty special. That’s why the guy is so good.

Oh and hey, on the topic of Supercars, I think the Bathurst 1000 is kind of comparable to Indy from the atmosphere and all of that.

I’m so happy I did Bathurst because the first time I went there in 2015 I could see it’s one of those really cool races you want to be a part of.

I definitely want to do it again one day. With COVID right now I think it is a bit difficult but honestly I would love to come back to do the 1000 for sure.

But right now, all my focus is on Indy and this weekend and trying to make sure Beth and the team get the results they deserve.

Two hours of running on Carb Day tomorrow can’t come fast enough.

Catch you afterwards,

Sim