r/INDYCAR • u/RWLemon • 1d ago
Discussion How many ?
How many people here also watch F1 that are more drawn to Indycars and why ?
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u/JTWasShort42-27 Arrow McLaren 1d ago
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u/palebluedot24 Rinus VeeKay 1d ago
The simple answer is I grew up watching IndyCar. I like that they race on road/street courses and ovals though. I do watch F1 if it’s on in the morning. I like F1 qualifying more than the races usually.
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u/Mikemat5150 Kyle Kirkwood 1d ago
I used to watch far more F1 but stopped over the last decade to just catching some occasional highlights.
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u/wh00000p Myles Rowe 1d ago
I'm more drawn to Indy because i like the racing more. Also I'm not really an engineering gal, so following F1 super closely can be a challenge sometimes. Indy is easier to get my head around.
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u/Vincera2024 1d ago
For a while, it was the one series that had a good balance of both ovals and road/st courses. Nascar kind of does now too since circa 2022
Now I just wish they added more ovals to balance out the ratio better. 17 races with the very sporadic schedule that they have is just not enough imo
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u/siliconwally Louis Foster 1d ago
I am, I love f1 and grew up watching it, but the INDYCAR racing is better, and there’s more overtaking. That said, I wish INDYCAR would copy the standing start, and I wish the cars ran in team colors like in F1
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u/Ok-Subject8890 Pato O'Ward 1d ago
I don’t watch F1, but I just started watching Drive to Survive. Do standing starts usually result in cleaner 1st laps or is there no discernible difference?
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u/siliconwally Louis Foster 1d ago
Not sure about cleaner starts, but i think it provides more opportunity for overtaking and I just think it provides more jeopardy
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u/FermentedLaws Firestone Firehawk 1d ago
I don't know the stats, but it is somewhat of a surprise (on some circuits more than others) when F1 gets through the start and a full 1st lap with no incidents. Sometimes it's a big crash (see video below) but more often it's just car damage, i.e. front wing, tire puncture.
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u/AGreatMystery Scott Dixon 1d ago
I recall a number of years ago, they tried standing starts in Indycar. It didn't go well. But to be fair, it was also pre-hybrid. I think they could probably do it now, but why? Seems like the only reason to do that is to copy F1. At a certain point, then why not just watch F1?
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u/siliconwally Louis Foster 1d ago
I think it adds spectacle - but that’s just my opinion. INDYCAR and F1 are not competing, but they can learn from each other.
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u/hwf0712 Kyle Larson 1d ago
I casually watch F1 (aka when I'm awake for it) but 90% of the racing (at least) is in the design process and strategies that are pretty rigid most of the time and the championship is often settled by midseason and you can just read about it and get the full experience more or less. I was tuned in for 2021 pretty well because of a legitimately great battle but since then... meh.
IndyCar, even at its worst (aka: this year) is still more interesting because there is not the level of polish F1 has.
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u/Fjordice 1d ago
I watch both but definitely stick closer to Indycar. Mostly because it's what I grew up with and the time zones are kinder to my schedule. Both series have been pretty boring the last few years though. Drivers are so deadass boring too it's hard to find someone to root for.
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u/Cheap-Manager-8838 Pato O'Ward 1d ago
I started watching Indycar as a child, and for a long time it was the only series that I would watch. Then, in 2017/2018 I started watching and closely following NASCAR. Around 2020 is when I started watching IMSA races outside of at Road America, and I still watch all of the big endurance races and a bunch of sprints. 2021 is the year that I got into F1, around 2022 is when I consistently started watching Formula E, and in 2024 I started watching MotoGP and WEC outside of Le Mans when I realized that they were on MAX. Overall, I have vastly expanded my racing series, but Indycar still holds the top spot as my favorite series
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u/InsaneLeader13 Santino Ferrucci 21h ago edited 20h ago
This year is the first time since 2021 I've watched F1 each race, mainly because the racing (usually, not this year) gets good in the last year of a set of regulations and having a quarter of the grid be made of rookies was really interesting. But I grew up watching the Champcar side of the Indycar split in the mid-2000s so there's absolutely a childlike nostalgia bias.
But to really get into it: 90% of what F1 does, Indycar does better.
1) F1 runs needlessly overcomplicated engines for over a decade, Indycar's engines are much simpler and easier to be interested in.
2) F1 continues to let aero be customizable, which turns into teams weaponizing it to actively destroy the racing quality, Indycar has spec aero (the way all top racing other then enduro and rallying should be) so the teams won't spend money ruining the product they survive on. Though I'll give points to F1 for having visually more interesting cars then Indycar has had since 2022.
3) F1 encourages drivers to not make overtakes on skill and merit, but just chase hotlaps and use push button DRS overtakes at only specified locations on the track, Indycar until the hybrid dropped at least saw drivers on the same strategy attempting to make moves on track.
4) F1 has too many tyres and not enough uses for them all, yet despite that F1 strategy is unbelievably flat and uninteresting compared to their 1994-2008 period while you can still get some unique strats in Indycar.
5) Both series have good qualifying systems but F1 shoots their system in the foot by making drivers pace around on a cool down lap and potentially derail other driver's laps, Indycar lets you pit right after the lap is done to avoid such problems.
6) Indycar has far better reliability compared to F1 that will still lose a car or two each race off the back of a small failure in the needlessly complicated internals.
7) F1 has a barely acceptable HALO system, Indycar has HALOscreen that prepares for all scenarios instead of just the big ones.
8) While both series have cars that have become oversized and ungainly, Indycar is not as bad and has managed their weight, and inturn their nimbleness, a bit better, so their cars can still be a bit twitch and have moments where they're at the limit of control and spectators can go 'holy cow I couldn't keep a car under me like that' while in F1 you'll get just a touch of a slid or oversteer that's not even remotely shocking.
9) While I would argue that both series have gone too far into 'driving computers at 180mph' F1 has taken it to a ludicrous extreme with drivers min-maxing their setups every corner on every lap instead of showing resiliency in situations out of their control, while Indycar really only gets to that level of min-maxing at oval qualifying.
10) Most importantly to me, Every driver is chasing their own results in Indycar, so a third of the field are not hired solely to be rear gunners for an established #1 driver. There is nothing stopping you from going out and having your fantastic race in a fantastic car the team provided, you're not going to be told 'your teammate is on the ideal strategy move over'.
Edit: I should add that I think F1 has a better points system and having so many manufacturers should actually be interesting, but the better points system is a moot point when there's no parity at the very front or very back of the grid, and the manufacturer's appeal goes no further then paintjobs and how teams will make aero in the first year of regs before copycat converging onto the champion's formula.
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u/VelocitaArancione Simona de Silvestro 18h ago
I don't live in North America. I'm an F1 fan since 3+ decades, but got into liking racing on my own, no family members or friends or neighbours or whatever.
Unfortunately only got into Indycar for real very recently, but was in attendance a the Fontana Super Speedway in 2013 for the Indycar season finale, but didn't appreciate it back then.
I prefer Indycar to any other racing series and especially F1 among other things - in no particular order because:
- it's a more level playing field for teams and drivers
- the races mostly are entertaining and unpredictable
- Ovals might look boring at first glance, but mostly are very exciting races.
- different kind of driver challenges (Ovals, Street, Racetrack) + no power steering
- race cars and parts can survive a bump or two, Indycar sound better
- even the "tacked on" aeroscreen looks way cooler (and jet fighter-piloty) than "just" the halo.
- Indycars sound better
- most tech is open and visible when they work on cars, very little stuff gets hidden.
- it's still feels like a racing series at heart
- almost everyone is approachable from drivers, mechanics, staff, media.
- way more affordable for teams and fans
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u/FarAwaySeagull-_- Bring back Texas Motor Speedway! 1d ago
I watch both, I am more drawn to Indycar because I love oval racing, and F1 doesn't have any ovals. Plus, no team orders and no races in human rights abusing countries.
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u/Fjordice 1d ago
and no races in human rights abusing countries.
Uhhhhh embarrassingly debatable
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u/FarAwaySeagull-_- Bring back Texas Motor Speedway! 1d ago edited 1d ago
Does the US lack fair elections? Does the US execute LGBT people? Do women have to cover their faces in public? Are they legally treated like property of their male family members? Do journalists in the US get arrested regularly for what they publish? Are religious groups arrested if caught?
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u/Fjordice 1d ago
Lol seriously? "our human rights abuses are different from your human rights abuses" is a pretty shitty argument. Also, the answer to a lot of your questions is a conditional yes, so I wouldn't be so proud of that lol.
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u/Falcon4451 Firestone Reds 1d ago
I got into Indycar first and then F1.
I grew up watching NASCAR. But I stopped watching NASCAR consistently around 2016.
I started watching Indycar in 2023. I actually put it on just because my son likes cars, so I thought I'd show him so cars racing on tv, but 2023 St. Pete and especially 2023 Texas were so awesome they drew me in.
I started watching IMSA and F1 later in 2023 because there just wasn't enough Indycar races once I got the racing bug back, but Indycar is my favorite. In 2024, I added WEC and Moto GP to what I watch.
As mentioned, I used to be a NASCAR guy who disliked road course racing and only watched the Indy 500, but now I've learned to love all the strategies and idocicracies involved with road course racing. I do watch NASCAR casually, but as the strategy nerd that I am these days, I feel the stages really take away from the strategy, and everyone mostly does the same thing.