Scott McLaughlin slides during IndyCar Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix practice session

Scott McLaughlin had his reflexes put to the test not once but twice, as he had to pull off massive saves at the Barber Motorsports Park. The 31-year-old endured two dramatic moments during the free practice sessions when he temporarily lost control of his car.

The Team Penske driver, who enters the Birmingham race in search of a third victory on the trot at the circuit, lost control of his car and slid off the track on two occasions during the first practice session of the weekend. The first incident occurred at the final corner of the circuit, where the New Zealand driver locked up and lost control of his car as he approached the start-finish line.

McLaughlin expertly avoided any crash from the sliding incident; however, that would not be the last of such events the seven-time IndyCar race winner would suffer. Toward the end of the session, the #3 Chevrolet car experienced another slide into the grass, as his steering wheel snapped while he approached the high-speed corners of the circuit.

The New Zealand driver again avoided a crash, which led to IndyCar’s official X (formerly Twitter) account hailing the immense control McLaughlin had of his car in both situations. Sharing a video of the incidents, the post was accompanied by the caption:

“Most drivers can catch it once... If you're @smclaughlin93, you can do it TWICE 🤯”

Despite his couple of off-track excursions, Scott McLaughlin recorded an impressive lap time during the session. The former Supercars champion finished Practice One in eighth, ahead of 19 other drivers on the grid.

Scott McLaughlin describes a perfect lap at Barber Motorsports Park

Scott McLaughlin during the 2024 Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Scott McLaughlin described what he considers a perfect lap at the Barber Motorsports Park in a recent video. The Kiwi offered a one-word response to describe his feelings about a perfect lap around the Alabama circuit.

Featuring in a video shared by Team Penske on X ahead of the race weekend, McLaughlin was quizzed about a range of questions related to the Grand Prix. When asked to describe his perfect lap around the Barber track in one word, he replied:

“Flow.”

Further elaborating on his one-word response, he continued:

“You’ve got to keep the flow up. You’ve got to keep the speed up, and thankfully, I have had a good car that was able to do that."

Scott McLaughlin boasts fond memories at the Barber circuit. The permanent road course is one of the few tracks where the Kiwi driver has recorded multiple race victories. In 2023, when he picked up his maiden win, he executed a clever three-stop strategy to pass Romain Grosjean and clinch the win. In 2024, he qualified on pole, led 58 laps, and expertly managed the numerous race restarts caused by several cautions to clinch the win ahead of teammate Will Power.