Simon Pagenaud on ups and down of crash rehab: 'The injuries don't show on the outside.'

Simon Pagenaud says he's making "major progress" more than six months removed from his massive crash July 1 at Mid-Ohio that left the IndyCar veteran with debilitating concussion-like symptoms and ended his 2024 season. However, the 39-year-old says he's still uncertain whether he'll man a race car in 2024.

The ex-Meyer Shank Racing driver posted his first significant health update in more than four months Monday morning, via a video posted to his personal website. The message was both overwhelmingly thankful to outsiders' support in recent months and brutally honest as to his personal health.

"I'm making major progress, but unfortunately, the injuries don't show on the outside. I actually feel really great, physically, but it's on the inside, so those are the frustrating injuries, because you don't get to see them heal," Pagenaud said. "Time makes a difference, so I'm having to be very patient and do a lot of rehab. I'm getting stronger every day with that.

"However, it goes up and down, and some days you get better, and some days it's a regress, but overall, I just wanted to reassure everybody that, as you can see, I'm doing well. It's just, to be at the top level, you have to be 'great', and I'm working on that. I'm working on getting myself back to 100%."

From July: After heavy crash, Simon Pagenaud's status for Mid-Ohio race uncertain

Pagenaud's No. 60 Honda suffered a manufacturer brake failure during Saturday morning practice at Mid-Ohio July 1 in one of the most treacherous, high-speed portions of track on the IndyCar calendar: the start of the 'Esses' at the entry to Turn 4 following a long straightway after the Turn 2 hairpin. Pagenaud was traveling roughly 180 mph when he stomped on the brakes and received no pressure. His car then flew off a downward-sloped grassy runoff and began a sudden clockwise spin, eventually landing right-side-first in a gravel runoff — contact that sent the Dallara chassis into nearly seven barrel rolls before it came to rest upside down against a tire barrier.

IndyCar's AMR safety team was on the scene almost immediately, and Pagenaud was quickly helped from the cockpit and walked away under his own power. After he was seen and released from the mobile medical unit by IndyCar medical director Dr. Julia Vaizer, Pagenaud told reporters he "felt fine," though he wasn't initially cleared to return to the cockpit. Pagenaud returned Sunday morning to be reevaluated, but Dr. Vaizer again declined to sign-off.

From July: Daly to race for Pagenaud after Meyer Shank Racing driver's crash

Pagenaud told IndyStar later that morning he'd expected to be cleared to race that afternoon, but added the violence of the crash and the untold number of Gs he sustained likely played into the medical staff's caution in declining to let him return so soon. He did add then, though, the series medical staff had "no doubt" he'd pass the necessary tests 10 days later that would've allowed him return for the next race on the streets of Toronto\. In the days after Pagenaud returned to his North Carolina home, unfortunately, that prognosis proved false, as his symptoms worsened and then persisted throughout the final two months of the season.

"The IndyCar medical team has been phenomenal in helping me and connecting me with the right people, and I do a lot of work in the background that, right now, no one gets to see," Pagenaud said Monday. "I just want to thank everybody for the support, and I want to reassure everybody that I'm not forgetting about all the support and all the fans out there who've been so supportive.

"I keep working hard and pushing, and I'm very hopeful to get stronger and be better soon."

In the wake of his accident and uncertain racing future, MSR team owners were reluctantly forced to move on from the driver who, at his signing in the fall of 2021 following the end of his seven-year Team Penske stint, was seen as the foundational piece to MSR's hopeful short-term growth, with his love for tinkering with setups and wealth of knowledge on the engineering side. Pagenaud finished 15th in points with seven top-10s and a single podium during in 2022, but his 2023 campaign — and prospects of maintaining his ride — had already looked grim before his crash. Entering Mid-Ohio, he was outside the top-20 in points with a best finish of 13th and three DNFs eight races into the 17-race slate.

More than a month after Pagneaud's crash, MSR announced that Helio Castroneves, who was promoted to a full-time role the same offseason as Pagenaud's hiring, would step into an Indy 500-only role while taking a minority ownership stake in the team. At that mid-August news conference, MSR announced its IMSA ace Tom Blomqvist would man one of the team's full-time seats for 2024 and beyond. Less than a month later, the team confirmed Felix Rosenqvist would slide into the other, signaling the end to Pagenaud's tenure with MSR. The team used a combination of Blomqvist, Conor Daly and Linus Lundqvist to finish off the year in the No. 60.

More: Rosenqvist signing confirms end to Pagenaud's MSR tenure

Only two full-time seats (both belonging to Dale Coyne Racing) remain unfilled on the 27-car grid for the March 10 St. Pete season-opener, and it would seem clear from Pagenaud's message that he's not a serious candidate for either ride.

This May's Indy 500 field is filling fast, too, with three part-time drivers (Castroneves, Ed Carpenter and Kyle Larson) already confirmed, and Marco Andretti believed to be returning with Andretti Global. Dreyer and Reinbold has said it will field two cars — likely for Conor Daly and Ryan Hunter-Reay — with Abel Motorsports aiming at returning with RC Enerson. Potential extra cars for AJ Foyt Racing and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing could bring the field of potential entrants as high as 36 for the 33-car field, with accomplished veterans like Takuma Sato, JR Hildebrand and others waiting in the wings.

Whether this round of free agency and 500 entries passes him by or not, Pagenaud assured his fans Monday he's working on a return.

"Don't get me wrong," he wrote. "This is not the end, as better times are ahead."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar: Simon Pagenaud making 'progress', return from crash uncertain