F1 cars (past and present) vs Indy cars. | FerrariChat
Buy

F1 cars (past and present) vs Indy cars.

Discussion in 'F1' started by johnireland, Oct 11, 2025 at 1:59 PM.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

  1. johnireland

    johnireland F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Mar 19, 2017
    9,088
    Los Angeles, CA
    Full Name:
    John A Ireland
    #1 johnireland, Oct 11, 2025 at 1:59 PM
    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.
     
  2. jgonzalesm6

    jgonzalesm6 Two Time F1 World Champ
    Rossa Subscribed

    Oct 31, 2016
    24,813
    Corpus Christi, Tx.
    Full Name:
    Joe R Gonzales
    #2 jgonzalesm6, Oct 11, 2025 at 2:33 PM
    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.
     
    mdrums and william like this.
  3. johnireland

    johnireland F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Mar 19, 2017
    9,088
    Los Angeles, CA
    Full Name:
    John A Ireland
    #3 johnireland, Oct 11, 2025 at 5:10 PM
    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.
     
  4. jgonzalesm6

    jgonzalesm6 Two Time F1 World Champ
    Rossa Subscribed

    Oct 31, 2016
    24,813
    Corpus Christi, Tx.
    Full Name:
    Joe R Gonzales
    #4 jgonzalesm6, Oct 11, 2025 at 5:30 PM
    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.
     
  5. william

    william Two Time F1 World Champ

    Jun 3, 2006
    27,946
    #5 william, Oct 11, 2025 at 6:24 PM
    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,
     
    LVP488 and jgonzalesm6 like this.
  6. 375+

    375+ F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Dec 28, 2005
    13,937
    #6 375+, Oct 11, 2025 at 7:47 PM
    And really what is the purpose?

    Somewhere in between might work?
     
  7. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Ten Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 30, 2007
    100,506
    #7 GuyIncognito, Oct 11, 2025 at 8:49 PM
    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.
     
    SS454, Jack-the-lad, LVP488 and 4 others like this.
  8. johnireland

    johnireland F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Mar 19, 2017
    9,088
    Los Angeles, CA
    Full Name:
    John A Ireland
    #8 johnireland, Oct 12, 2025 at 1:04 AM
    I'm just looking at the videos and saying that I'm surprised Indy cars do so well in these demonstrations...whether real or simulated based on data. Basically, as pointed out, Indy car is spec car racing with only two engine options. F1 is going to end up the same way through its own path of bad management and overcomplicated technology. Bottom line, I'm just not as impressed with today's cars, drivers, and races, as I was in the past. In all honesty, the think the modern safety features have hurt the quality of the sport and of the drivers. The risk of death and serious injury put the sport of auto racing on a different...on a highter level. Now, making a mistake costs you some free practice time and/or it cost the team money to rebuild the car. But hey, its just money. There is no more real 10/10ths racing...flat out, yes, but not 10/10ths. The history of auto racing, going back to the early 1900s, was about how much did you really love speed, how much were you willing to risk to be the fastest one on the track. I don't think there is a driver on the F1 grid today, with the exception of Alonzo, who has the real balls of a race driver.
     
  9. Bas

    Bas Four Time F1 World Champ

    Mar 24, 2008
    43,103
    ESP
    Full Name:
    Bas
    #9 Bas, Oct 12, 2025 at 7:09 AM
    Exactly this. The only place where an indycar will beat an F1 car is at a proper oval and it has it's oval aero package installed.

    Indycar is about the same as F2 speeds on any normal racing track.
     
    jgonzalesm6, LVP488 and GuyIncognito like this.
  10. william

    william Two Time F1 World Champ

    Jun 3, 2006
    27,946
    #10 william, Oct 12, 2025 at 11:21 AM
    Colton Herta should do alright in F2 next season then. :)
     
    Bas and GuyIncognito like this.
  11. Mitch Alsup

    Mitch Alsup F1 Veteran

    Nov 4, 2003
    9,756
    #11 Mitch Alsup, Oct 12, 2025 at 11:41 AM
    The first comparison has Benneton in high DF configuration and IndyCar in low DF configuration.
    This is not anything close to a fair comparison.

    The second configuration has Monza in 1965 configuration.

    Blah, blah, blah, blah, ...

    Trying to compare the incomparable is a waste of time.
     
  12. Jack-the-lad

    Jack-the-lad Seven Time F1 World Champ
    Owner Silver Subscribed

    Jun 22, 2004
    79,601
    Danger Close at Moot Pointe, Gulf of America
    #12 Jack-the-lad, Oct 12, 2025 at 12:05 PM
  13. SS454

    SS454 Formula 3

    Oct 28, 2021
    2,271
    Full Name:
    Chris S
    #13 SS454, Oct 12, 2025 at 3:14 PM
    I've done a lot of physics work on Racing Simulators over the years and typically I put zero trust in any of these comparison videos as most of the time the physics are WAY off. Many of these downloaded cars for Assetto Corsa or whatever sim I find the cars to be way too fast from the developer. There is no way, me an ordinary guy that races on a sim for fun from time to time can be 5 seconds faster than real life. Or the power, the downforce or the drag will be wrong. It's quite hard to get it reasonably accurate across the whole setup window too.

    As far as I know there were two times where Indy/Champ cars could be compared to F1. COTA as mentioned before. But also in 2002 around Montreal.
    Pole for Champ car: 1:18.959
    Pole for F1: 1:12.836

    Using real life setups, an Indy car would destroy an F1 car around a big oval like Indianapolis. F1 simply doesn't have a minimal downforce package to run high speed ovals.

    Gil De Ferran still holds the closed course speed record of 241.428 mph average around California Speedway in 2000 during the Champ Car season.

    Around a road course, it typically isn't even close. F1 is much faster. Obviously it can depend what year or generation of F1 car vs which Indy or Champ car. But there are many many years of F1 cars that are faster than the fastest Indy or Champ car.
     

Share This Page