Road to Indy: F1 Has A Lot To Learn
IndyCar has been causing a lot of sensation for the last few years. Compared to F1’s somewhat predictable seasons lately, IndyCar has produced exhilarating championships. We can pinpoint most of F1’s issues to insane power unit advantage, dirty air making it impossible to overtake without an artificial method, dull track designs, pay-drivers, and much more.
IndyCar on the other side, has homologated chassis, two engine manufacturers that follow strict design specifications, a mix of ovals and old school race tracks, and a group of drivers that are incredibly fast.
USF2000: The Journey Starts Here
Road to Indy is a driver development program sanctioned by IndyCar. It started in 2010 as a ladder system in which young drivers from all parts of the world can climb through series all the way up to IndyCar.
The Road to Indy has 4 series including IndyCar:
USF2000 National Championship
Indy Pro 2000 (Pro Mazda Championship)
Indy Lights
IndyCar Series
The USF2000 National Championship takes place mostly on race tracks and street circuits, although there is a 0.7-mile oval called Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis. The drivers start their journey here at a young age. 15 years of age is the average for this category. It is important that developing race drivers get a grasp of healthy competition in a proper open wheel race car, instead of a kart. The car is the Tatuus USF-17 with a Mazda 2-liter engine, producing 175 bhp with 13in slick and rain tires manufactured by Cooper Tires. The whole package meets all FIA safety requirements through ACUUS and some of these regulations even surpass the standard to meet US safety ones.
You can learn a lot by experiencing how a race weekend unfolds in a multi-round championship. It is not just getting in the car and racing, you actually have to deal with off-track factors as well, so getting exposed to this kind of environment is crucial in a driver’s path to becoming a professional race driver.
Winners of each series are granted a scholarship to race on the next step for a whole season. For example, a USF2000 winner gets to race on Indy Pro 2000 for a year. This goes all the way up to IndyCar.
Indy Pro 2000: An Evolved Challenge
In this series, drivers are faced with an upped challenge compared to USF2000. They race on similar tracks but get a chance to race on a proper 1.25 mile oval, the Gateway Motorsport Park in Madison Illinois. They even race on Road America, one of the US most historical tracks, often called the Spa (Francorchamps) of America.
The car is the Tatuus PM-18, an evolution of the previous series, capable of producing 275bhp in a 2-liter Mazda engine. It uses a fly-by-wire throttle system and Cosworth provides the engine management system. One of the things to consider is that this chassis and the one used in USF2000 features adjustable wings, suspension, etc. So the drivers get accustomed to setting up the car based on the track’s features and conditions. It is important that developing race drivers learn to read and feel the car, and adjust the setup based on their preferences.
Indy Lights: Tough Competition
This is Tier 2 of the Road to Indy. From this point forward, IndyCar is the next destination. In this series, drivers face tough competition and some proper racing. Race tracks are similar to Indy Pro 2000 with a selection of some great venues like Road America, Laguna Seca, and the Indianapolis Grand Prix Circuit.
The car is different for this series. It is a completely different monster with a chassis developed by Dallara Automobili and a turbo charged 2-liter engine manufactured by AES (Advanced Engine Research). This engine is capable of producing 450bhp and features an additional 50bhp in a “push-to-pass” button on the driver’s steering wheel.
We have seen drivers like Oliver Askew, and Patricio “Pato” O’Ward be crowned champions in this category with good results in IndyCar. O’Ward won Indy Lights in 2018. He now races with Arrow McLaren, and Askew, incidentally, is his teammate. Pato won the Genesys 600 at the Texas Motor Speedway on May 2, 2021. He has had very good results in his 2 years at IndyCar.
Oliver Askew won the 2017 USF2000 Championship, and the 2019 Indy Lights. He has gotten very consistent results in his IndyCar career.
Indycar: the final destination
IndyCar is one of the best racing series not only in America, but in the entire motorsport world. It features one of the most difficult races on the planet, The Indianapolis 500. For this top Tier Series, Dallara manufactures the chassis with all the safety specifications for the category. Some experts even state that IndyCar’s safety standards are higher to the ones of Formula 1. This is due to the nature of the oval races.
Honda and Chevrolet provide the 2.2-liter V6 twin turbocharged engine, capable of producing 550bhp and up to 700 depending on how the turbo boost is adjusted. McLaren Applied Technologies provides the engine management system.
A mixture of ovals, street circuits and race tracks provide an entertaining championship every year. It is common to see different winners in each race, although we’ve seen Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) deliver some consistent results recently. What makes IndyCar exciting are the action packed races with many overtakes, even on the top positions. There is also a closer driver-car relation, with drivers usually pushing to the limit. Oval races are the most exciting to be honest. Seeing those machines achieve speeds over 300mph and race so close to each other is exhilarating. Oval races are usually very competitive and with little room to breathe.
The Indianapolis 500: The Greatest Spectacle In Racing
Every year since 1911 by the end of May (Memorial Day weekend in America) the event has taken place. Drivers usually prepare for a month in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with orientations, refreshers and the likes prior to taking place in the qualifying. Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso gave it a try in 2017 with a DNF due to a crash, in 2019 he failed to qualify and in 2020 he finished 21st.
Indianapolis 500 is one of the toughest, most overwhelming races in motorsport. It can be as draining and dreadful as the 24 Hours of LeMans. The race is 500 miles or 200 laps long, and usually lasts around 3 to 4 hours. This event is certainly one of the highlights of the motorsport industry each year.
In retrospect, we can see that IndyCar has solidified its seeder series since 2010, and has produced many excellent drivers, and has grown the sport immensely. The competition in IndyCar is intense, and rookies have proven their worth every year. Surely F1 has a similar program with F4, F3, and F2, but it is nowhere near as compact as the road to Indy. F1 seems to disintegrate this mostly when young, talented drivers try to secure a place in F1. Teams opt for sponsors and cost coverage rather than giving out a spectacle. It seems that Formula 1 needs to shake the rules a bit when it comes to costs, sport, and entertainment for their fans. The disparity of teams performance is baffling, and also how susceptible they are to regulation changes.
What do you think on the Road to Indy? Is Formula 1 good enough these days? Is it entertaining to you?
Let me know in the comments down below.
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