by Alex Johnston For those who didn’t see it; Sunday just past, Marcus Ericsson took victory in the illustrious Indy 500 race for Chip Ganassi Racing. Ericsson’s last gasp defence against Mexican McLaren Arrow SP driver Pato O’Ward saw the Swede take only a second ever win in IndyCar. Those who watched Ericsson in F1 will probably have taken many by surprise, given the fact the former Sauber driver never finished higher than 8th.
Arguably, Ericsson’s most famous moment in F1 stems from a meme worthy moment at the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix when Romain Grosjean, then with Haas but now over in IndyCar like Ericsson, crashed into the wall all on his own behind the safety car. Ericsson, the next car behind Grosjean was given the blame by Grosjean’s engineer prompting a line that would go in F1 comedy history; “I think Ericsson hit us”. Not sure if it made Grosjean feel better or not..
📸 ”I think Ericsson hit us.”
The title question needs answered. So in short, no it’s not. At the moment, the look of the cars from both series look very similar unlike comparing last year’s iteration of F1 car next to IndyCar. Despite this, the cars are very different.
IndyCar is a physically demanding series, like F1 is. The biggest difference of the two is that IndyCar possesses a higher straight line speed, with this year’s IndyCar pole position decided by Scott Dixon’s average speed of 234.046mph(376.661kph) as he lapped the Brickyard. By comparison the highest ever speed recorded by an F1 car in an official session was by Valtteri Bottas who reached 231.4mph(372.5kph) at the 2016 Mexican Grand Prix during a practice session.
📸 Scott Dixon, a record breaking pole position holder in IndyCar.
📸 Valtteri Bottas holds the fastest recorded speed record in F1, when he was with Williams.
Unlike IndyCar, F1 cars are built for speed through corners, while the Formula cars also have a much faster acceleration that their American counterparts.
A number of the current full time IndyCar grid have experienced F1, mostly notably Romain Grosjean and Takuma Sato who raced in F1 a combined 269 times. Additionally there is of course Ericsson who managed 97 races as well as Alexander Rossi who managed just 5. On top of that, Juan Pablo Montoya is a regular part time feature in the series having won in F1 7 times, missing out on the 2003 championship by just 10 points.
📸 There’s a lot of F1 experience in IndyCar, including part timer, Juan Pablo Montoya(above).
As well as those examples, young drivers Calum Ilott and Christian Lundgaard have spent time in the academies of F1 teams Ferrari and Alpine respectively. Meanwhile rising star Colton Herta is a development driver with McLaren and Pato O’Ward has tested for the same team.
A number of the field also completed seasons in the lower reaches of the Formula ladder before moving to America, notably Santino Ferrucci who raced in F2, as well as last year’s IndyCar series championship winner Alex Palou who raced 4 times in the same series after a spell in GP3.
📸 Santino Ferrucci caused controversy when he was in F2, and was also a Haas F1 development driver.
Like F1 with F2 and F3, IndyCar also has a ladder to the series with current drivers like Rinus VeeKay and Kyle Kirkwood completing that path to reach the series.
So to answer the question; no, IndyCar isn’t easier. It’s a tough grid, with tricky circuits and is not dissimilar to F1 in what it demands from a driver physically and mentally. The mix of street, road and course circuits keeps drivers on their toes and challenges them accordingly. I’d argue if you can’t get to F1, IndyCar is the next best thing. It’s a very popular series and that popularity is ever growing worldwide, not just in America.
📸 IndyCar: the next best thing after F1?
It’s also very entertaining, so do watch this weekend’s Grand Prix of Detroit if you’ve got the chance.
Image credit(s): indycar.com, Sky Sports, Formula Motorsport Limited, Fox News.
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