Laguna Seca’s Zanardi Corkscrew: Where bravery meets blind faith

MONTEREY, Calif. -- At WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the Corkscrew is more than a turn. It is a plunge into the unknown — a blind, steeply falling left-right sequence that can reward a driver with a defining moment or punish the smallest mistake.

“You cannot see the corner, it is very blind and it just goes down a lot,” said Alex Palou, crowned last weekend as INDYCAR’s five-time champion and winner of three of the last four races on the Monterey Peninsula permanent road course.

“So when you’re in the corner you don’t really know where you are at. So it’s very, very blind.”

That uncertainty is what makes the Corkscrew special. 

Drivers crest the hill with little sense of what awaits beyond it, brake hard while the pavement drops away, then try to thread their car through the sequence without surrendering momentum. 

Kyffin Simpson describes the stakes simply: “It’s one of those places where it’s really easy to make big gains or losses, so it’s a very difficult part of the track.”

Scott Dixon agrees that everything begins at the entrance.

“The Corkscrew is actually very tough, it’s quite technical in just trying to get the right braking,” Dixon said. “You can really gain a ton or lose a ton with the braking and I think it’s all in the entry.”

The sensation is unmistakable, even to one of INDYCAR’s most accomplished veterans. 

“It’s kind of cool the first few laps when you are going slow, the drop feels pretty big,” Dixon said. “But once you get into it, it’s really cool.”

For Palou, Laguna Seca is a rare place where the challenge feels as rewarding as the result. 

“It’s my favorite track that we go to, road and street course, apart from the Indy 500,” he said. “Every lap I do there with any car, like even a road car, it’s incredible and I have a smile on my face.”

The elevation changes, the rhythm and the demand for commitment are central to that appeal. 

“I just love how you can push a car, the up and downs, changes of elevation, everything about the place I just love so much,” Palou said.

And then there is the history. 

The Corkscrew is forever tied to Alex Zanardi’s audacious last-lap pass on Bryan Herta in 1996 — a maneuver that remains one of the defining images in INDYCAR racing. Simpson understands why it still resonates. To celebrate this weekend’s dedication to Zanardi, Laguna Seca officials renamed the corner “The Zanardi Corkscrew” and Palou is running a throwback DHL Lightning Bolt paint scheme on the No. 10 Honda to honor the late champion.

“I know it was big for the championship, so legendary in that sense that it was a last lap pass in a very difficult passing zone,” Simpson said. “Those tend to stand out and I think it’s one that people try to replicate more often now.”

Dixon called it “one of the epic maneuvers we’ve seen in the history of INDYCAR racing and maybe racing in general,” while noting the emotion that will surround Laguna Seca’s remembrance of Zanardi.

That is the Corkscrew’s enduring magic: it is part technical test, part leap of faith, and part living history. At Laguna Seca, one corner can still turn a lap into a legend.