Nascar's Kyle Larson is better than Max Verstappen

Disagree.

 

I don't know about that. You have F1 drivers going into other motorsports and some do very well.

I don't see NASCAR or IndyCar drivers going into other motorsports and doing very well.

 

Discussing F1, you won't see nascar or IRL drivers going there because they are not bringing 20 million dollars with them.

Most Indy drivers simply don't go to other series, some that do, do well, and a lot of it
depends on the TEAM you go to.
We've seen Helio do well in endurance racing, we have seen both Earnhardts do well
in endurance and LMP racing - but they were driving for the Chevy factory teams.
A few IRL guys have tried/gotten tests with F1 teams - tail-ender teams.
Jeff Gordon got a test with Williams and knocked their sox off, but F1 wasn't for him,
and for good reason - he's made 300 million $$$ in nascar.

JP Montoya sucked in nascar - we all thought he would OWN all the road courses, and it was far from that.
Tony Stewart has done well in anything he steps into.

AND, I thought we were mainly discussing MAX?

 

Off the rails here.

 

Why aren't American sponsors supporting American drivers to get to F1 ?

Before getting to F1, drivers have to do F3 and F2 to gain some credibility and learn some of the circuits.

That's what most drivers with ambitions do, like the Brazilians, Scandinavians, Australians, etc ... rarely Americans.

 

JJ is the most overrated driver in history. decidedly mediocre when not in a Chad Knaus-engineered Hendrick cup car.

 

Why are you asking me?

First, if you can bring 10 or 20 million, you will only be on a tail-ender team - if that.
Bring 10-20 million to an IRL or NASCAR team and you are on a front three rows team.

Every driver in the world wants to win the Indy 500, I have not heard an American driver
say his dream is to win Monaco, Monza, etc.

Secondly, all the countries you named off - all they have is some faction of motorsports,
and either soccer or ice hockey. (yes, Australia has a few more sports of note)

In America, it is FAR better to play football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, lacrosse,
and a bunch of other sports - in colleges and in the pros, and now that college players are
being paid, I know what I would do.
China, India, Russia have a LOT more people - why aren't they prevalent in F1?

'Ambition' has NOTHING to do with it at all - if I had the 'ambition' and a crapload of money
I STILL would not want to do F1, kudos to those that do.

And lastly, to make it in F1, besides money, it's who you know - and you know that.
50 years ago we didn't have 'Managers' working behind the scenes to get 'their' drivers rides,
today that's all we hear about.

 

You pretty-much nailed it, but even today, karting is getting priced out of existence here.
Looks to me like most parents are steering their kids into soccer, then baseball, basketball, football, volleyball,
anything to get a better shot at a college scholarship.

 

This is such an ageist trash take. “What’s this third pedal?” Absurd.

 

Let's follow your delusion for a moment and assume for a second that Verstappen doesn't know how to expertly drive a 3 pedal, H-pattern car:

How many people have successfully learned to drive 3 pedal, H-pattern cars? That number has to be in the billions, so probably its not as hard to pick up as you think it is.

How many people have successfully learned to drive cars at 5g and at speeds up to 370 kph? That number is in the hundreds ...


Verstappen will perform at least reasonably well in any car you put him in - same goes for Alonso, Leclerc, Piastri, Norris etc.

 

You forgot lacrosse

 

I was talking about American sponsors, and why they don't support their nationals in F3 and F2 to reach the INTERNATIONAL scene in F1 like some other countries did or still do, but restrict themeselves to the home market. It's strange when you consider the US having the biggest economy and being the home of so many multi-nationals.
The F1 audience is in billions of viewers compared to millions only for US series.
This is the reason we don't see much US drivers in F1 (Europe and Worldwide)

Also why when discussing F1 with someone from the States, they always bring their ballgames in the conversation ?
It's comparing apples and pears. Ballgames have nothing to do with F1 !!!
And if "it is FAR better to play football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, lacrosse, and a bunch of other sports" like you say, well, go for it then, but don't expect to see American drivers in F1 !!
People who hesitate between a ballgame and auto racing are not really passionate about F1 in the first place ! We won't miss them !!

Of course talent only don't bring you to F1; you must have the whole package to attract sponsors, be marketable, please the media, etc ...
It's like the movie industry, you have to stick around, relocate, live near the action: that means Europe, not only England, where the majority of F3, F2 teams operate from. The young Brazilians, Finns, or Australians can do it, so why not Americans.
If I look at recent years, you don't see many US drivers there; it looks like their US sponsors aren't interested.

The reason China, India and Russia don't have much presence in F1, is that they don't have a long tradition of motor racing like Western Europe and North America have.

Also, I don't believe "Every driver in the world wants to win the Indy 500",; oval racing is a speciality, it doesn't attract everyone.
The fact that some drivers who failed in F1 won Indy later (Cheever Sato, Rossi, Ericsson) tends to devalue its attraction, although some World Champs didn't manage to win it (Mansell, Alonso).

 

Verstappen is overrated anyway.

 

I keep reading the title of this as "Kyle Petty"...even though I read "Kyle Larson"...nope...Kyle Petty.

sjd

 

His records and consistent lap times say otherwise.

Want a list of those records?

 

Many winners are called "overrated" in our WOKE world.

People simply don't respect success anymore.

 

The first time Kyle Larson laced into the carbon brakes, his head would fall off his shoulders and he’d pass out from the G-forces. What a complete idiot.

 

Yup.

Max has a Dutch license so would have to have done his drivers test (and lessons) in a manual car (or request an automatic, but then he would ONLY be allowed to drive auto's. Which I highly doubt he did).

So this ''thrid pedal'' theory is instantly out the window.

Max has proven to be pretty damn good at adapting to any car he gets given, F1 or other wise...I think he'd be pretty handy in the 70s and 90s cars as well.

 

William- I think the reason you don't see more American drivers in F1 is that the sport is just not very popular here. That may change now that more races are on US soil but kids who are into cars follow the more popular races and racers. If one was to due a survey and rank the most popular sports in this country I doubt F1 would rank higher that 50th or 60th behind American Ninja Warrior and corn hole (don't ask). Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari may help broaden the appeal. Time will tell.

 

Agree. If he was humble, he would be perfect