F1 cars (past and present) vs Indy cars.

There are several YouTube videos on this...and in the ones I have seen recently, I'm surprised at how much better the Indy cars are than I expected. Here are some samples for your reactions.

The MOST POWERFUL F1 CAR in History VS INDYCAR On The INDIANAPOLIS OVAL

Can an INDYCAR OVAL beat a Current F1 CAR at Monza Combined ?

Oval INDYCAR vs F1 At Le Mans WITHOUT CHICANES

NASCAR Fan Reacts to F1 VS IndyCar Direct Lap Comparison At CoTA

F1 vs IndyCar | Max Verstappen vs Álex Palou | Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course - 2025 Season

I'm sure a lot of this is computer generated, but it still can be made from real data. The last one showing Max vs Alex Palou is the best...though the Monza one is very interesting.

 

Depends on the era. At one time not too long ago, F1 spent anywhere from $400 million to $450 million(depending on the team) per year on their cars and upgrades.

An IndyCar team spends less than $20 million per year.

It's literally apples vs oranges.

 

All that matters is who is in front at the finish line. Depending on the track, F1 is hot and on it from lap one...Indy cars can take two or more laps to get up to top speed.

 

F1 is hot from lap 1 to probably lap 8, then it becomes a tire management issue (track dependent) and hopefully it goes smoothly from there unless there's a Red Flag, Yellow Flag, or a SC. You gotta have a backup tire compound for those inconsistencies.

The corners is where F1 excels, more so than IndyCar because of the batteries coexisting with the suspension geometry and tire compound(F1 tires take more than a ton of lateral and centrifugal load happening at the same time). Then you have DRS for the DRS zones.


Wait till 2026, when F1 cars have active aero on the front wings and rear wings and floor extends a little more outward from the rear wheels which gives more downforce loading. So many aero bits on an F1 car....its crazy.

 

F1 teams design and build their own new cars every year.
Then, they constantly develop them during the season, and travel to 24 different locations all over the world.

Indycar teams buy turn-key specs car from Dallara, and aren't allowed to develop them.
The same design can last several years. The teams travel to 17 events in the US only .

The engineering, operating and logistic costs are on different scales,

 

And really what is the purpose?

Somewhere in between might work?

 

pole qualifying times from COTA, the only track F1, WEC, Indy and NASCAR have all raced on in recent(ish) times:

F1: 1:32.029, Valteri Bottas, Mercedes W10, 2019
LMP1: 1:44.741, Neel Jani, Porsche 919, 2017
Indycar: 1:46.017, Will Power, Dallara DW12/Chevy, 2019
Hypercar: 1:57.655, Robert Kubica, Ferrari 499P, 2025
Nascar: 2:09.636, William Byron, Chevy, 2024

I'm a big IndyCar fan, but the cars aren't even close. and NASCAR...lol.