That is a pretty solid theory and something I really hadn't considered, but it makes absolute sense. Especially when F2 offers more points than IndyCar at present.
How big is it getting ? Popularity wise . It’s always been popular with some , some of my cousins in Rockford Illinois are real petrol heads and like F1 , but Indy and NASCAR were King . I am going back a while , I went to the Indy 500 time trials the day after Scott Brayton was sadly killed .
I have some colleagues and friends who have recently become F1 fans.. I know at least 2 of those came in via drive to survive. The crowds are massive, and generally people are just more aware of it. A few years ago I could have mentioned F1 and nobody would have a clue what it was.
i dunno but theres more than just indy as well. this little thing called formula E thats being deliberately held down F1 isn't the "best" 20 drivers, its maybe 7 or 8 then the kind of drivers who wouldn't compete or pay to get in and money talks. Theres so much average red bull academy and pay drivers that sorting the muck from the brass is not hard. Max Verstappen - clearly top talent has made his errors and learnings in the full glare of f1. Charles Leclerc - clearly top potential and fast but error prone. GP3, F" champion, pushed on early and it does show in the errors. Sergio Pérez - Mid tier - would he win in indy? i doubt it. more red bull pushing. George Russell - Top potential but a bit nice. F4, GP3 and F2 champion. Needs to keep doing what he is doing and hope merc improves. Carlos Sainz Jr. - Mid tier - would he win in indy? Lewis Hamilton - Clearly top talent Lando Norris - Top potentialm MSA, formula renault, toyota and F3 champion. F2 second place. only 22 and IMO what should get to the grid not the others. Needs some luck now. Esteban Ocon - Mid to low tier imo, jump the f2 step Fernando Alonso - Former top talent who went and dipped toe in Indy - old stager Valtteri Bottas - Mid tier driver who got lucky to be given best car by a huge margin as no 2. Pierre Gasly - another red bull academy driver who was driven on probably too quick a couple titles and then in to the top tier and dropped back. is a race winner but not a top talent. Kevin Magnussen - Mid/low tier driver who's made plenty of errors but has shown he is more than able to beat the shouldn't be here types. Sebastian Vettel - Have to wonder. he basically beat mark webber. 4 titles and so many errors since. (and before) almost like as if is was mid to upper tier rather than top. Daniel Ricciardo - Mid tier driver who's very popular. Mick Schumacher - Shouldn't be there, there cos of his name but lacks that killer edge. Yuki Tsunoda - Decent at times. stroll bad at times. jumped the queue imo into F1 for no reason other than pay. Zhou Guanyu - not that bad but another pay driver whos pre f1 career is not glittering. Lance Stroll - Daddy's boy. wouldn't make it in indy imo. Alexander Albon - another red bull academy driver pushed forward probabaly too quick and had ups and downs. Probably fairly mid tier and no worse than gasly really. Nyck de Vries - the latest old stager to get a chance. multiple titles behind him, formula 2, formula E, formula renault. A classic, has talent but not the backing driver. the type to make far fewer costly mistakes unlike the masses of red bull junk and pay drivers. Nicholas Latifi - Joke, how the **** is he still in a car Nico Hülkenberg - Mid tier journeyman whos done a lot of racing formats, has shown he's capable numerous times. Formula bmw, A1, F3 euro and masters, GP2, le mans champion.
All these ‘low talent’ F1 drivers who wouldn’t make it in Indy. How would you have rated, for example, Sato and Ericsson as F1 drivers?
Sato? Well unlike the modern game he spent a long time in f3 in various guises and won a couple of things before moving to f1 with what have to be considered back marker teams. Frankly he was quite, well.... all over the place. Bit of a lunatic tbh imo. While he had the big win in the 500 he didn't exactly win much consistently in Indycar did he? Maybe his style.suited the ovals.i don't know. You'd have to tell me. Ericsson is another with a long list of lower tier drives and some successes before moving into f1 with the back markers. He did alright but thst means getting the odd point in really poor cars so he displays a bit more ability than some of the lunatic pay drivers we see like marzipan (pun intended) Latifi or stroll. Difficult to judge guys jobbing in the back markers except against team mates and by the mistakes and errors. Saucer has le clerc and then chose to put giovinazzi in the car as they.changed name yeah? Same as norris and Russell and the guys who actually show they can mage a race season and win in the lower tiers first, I reckon both of the above had the experience to grab their chances when they came in Indy.
Confirmed calendar for next year 2023 F1 calendar 5 March: Bahrain (Sakhir) 19 March: Saudi Arabia (Jeddah) 2 April: Australia (Melbourne) 16 April: China (Shanghai) 30 April: Azerbaijan (Baku) 7 May: Miami 21 May: Emilia Romagna (Imola) 28 May: Monaco**** CONTRACT RENEWED UNTL 2025 **** 4 June: Spain (Barcelona) 18 June: Canada (Montreal) 2 July: Austria (Red Bull Ring) 9 July: United Kingdom (Silverstone) 23 July: Hungary (Budapest) 30 July: Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps) *****. Contract extended by one year **** 27 August: Netherlands (Zandvoort) 3 September: Italy (Monza) 17 September: Singapore (Marina Bay) 24 September: Japan (Suzuka) 8 October: Qatar (Losail) 22 October: USA (Austin) 29 October: Mexico (Mexico City) 5 November: Brazil (Sao Paulo) 18 November: Las Vegas 26 November: Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina) 24 races , about 5 races to many for me
The maimi one still looks ridiculously forced in. It makes no sense in terms of cost. We are seeing an away trip moving from furthest away back to az. Canada also stands out like a sore thumb. Both should be in line with americas
It's actually more environmentally friendly/cheaper than pushing all the American races together. It minimises how much equipment has to go by air freight, and allows more to go by sea freight. Apart from the cars, the teams have 5 identical versions of the rest of their equipment, which can travel the world by slower sea freight. The kit used in Australia is then shipped to Canada and on to Singapore, for example. If you put Miami, Vegas, Montreal, Austin, Mexico in a short space of time, you'd either have to ship all 5 kits to North America (causing problems elsewhere) or move all of the kit between two of those races by air freight, at a significantly increased cost/environmental impact.
but that is not 100% of the shipments either. I get your point about packing up and moving but at the same time moving north to south for example in America is "truckable" rather than has to fly. the reality is you send the kits to Miami and there's on in Az but the car has to fly anyway i guess and all the crew etc etc. I just think they stand out like sore thumbs. But then. Two middle east races and then a third right at the end (cos they paid to have it) the two are followed by long haul to Australia and then they start moving a long way back and there has to be a lot of unavoidable flights there but they should be as short as possible no? or does that matter? Even mapping the europe races it looks a bit mad Monaco to spain.... break to go long haul.. austria, jump to uk, back to east in hungary, then back westto belgium, then to netherlands, then to italy I mean if you were really cost cutting wouldn't you try to go from say spain to monaco then to italy, then austria then Hungary then back to belgium and netherlands together then hop the channel to uk? just to minimise distances travelled? this is more about burning fuel moving. then apply the same logic to the USA. the distance form uk to hungary is as far as you would drive in mexico to austin? Or miami? however then is that the "cheapest" way or the most "environmental" way.... I dunno. the local hubs of course makes sense to me to reduce the costs further for standard elements and rigs
Sure I'm not suggesting the calendar is as efficient as possible, but there's plenty of real-world obstacles too. Miami has to be fit in around the NFL season (Sept-Jan), you can't put Montreal late in the season with Vegas, COTA and Mexico, because the track will be under a foot of snow. Abu Dhabi is paying a huge hosting fee for the season finale, etc.
Probably not wrong. Another race for the sake of a name and a crappy backdrop. Criminal when there are so many good tracks here.
I'd love to see an F1 race at Road America, one of my favourite tracks. Daytona Road course( with the nascar layout so the banked turns don't completely kill the tyres) would be pretty cool too.
Yeah... All those and throw Barber in too. Would love to see F1 cars back at Laguna Seca too, but considering they're like small busses now,. Prolly wouldn't work.
Can't help but feel that if Laguna Seca was dropped into a gulf state and a £25m race fee was offered, it would get Grade 1 pretty quickly. It can't be any less safe than the Saudi Arabian track.