IndyCar vs Formula 1 car: Technical Comparison

formula one and indycar to the untrained eye the two racing categories might look well the same they're both incredibly quick single-seater racing cars piloted by some of the world's best drivers that's more or less where the similarities end indycar is a very different breed to f1 altogether teams buy in their cars rather than develop them themselves and there's just two engine suppliers on indycar's books instead of the four manufacturers the f1 has involved furthermore indycar racing has a significantly complex history the carte irl split of 1996 could be worth a video all on its own and the eventual reunification of teams after champ car was bought out in 2008 all add to the series rich tapestry with indycar receiving a surge of popularity around the world in recent years fernando alonso's appearance in two indy 500s sort of the likes of marcus erickson felix rosencrist and roman grosjean defecting from f1 formula e to join up and the addition of supercars champion scott mclaughlin perhaps it's time to compare this year's f1 title defender the mercedes w12 and indycar's title defender scott dixon's chip ganassi racing machine side by side overall the cars don't look dissimilar but work to very different concepts both have slightly raised noses to open up the floor to clean airflow for example but indycar has a few extra differences with its rear wheel guards and lower engine cover to help mitigate things like drag as formula 1 focuses on making its side pods smaller and smaller each year indycar's side pods are much rounder and don't endure that level of development for some stats indycars are around 770 kilograms which is heavier overall than an f1 car at 752 kilograms in 2021. an f1 car is 2 meters wide around 5.5 meters long and pushes out around a thousand brake horsepower it can also do over 350 kilometers an hour in low drag trim an indycar meanwhile is about 1.9 meters wide 5.1 meters long and can produce up to 700 horsepower depending on the turbo boost but in oval trim it can theoretically hit 370 kilometers an hour thanks to the reduced aerodynamics one of the biggest visual differences between f1 and indycar is the difference in choice of head protection system f1 added the halo to the 2018 regulations to ensure the drivers could be protected from impacts and debris indycar's head protection device has the frame of a halo within it but the series employs the aero screen which adds a reinforced polycarbonate windshield to further protect the driver inside this was introduced for 2020 and although drivers reported that it made the handling a little different they found eventually they didn't notice it although the aeroscreen reduced driver cooling the drivers are connected to an air pump to keep them from getting too hot as we all know aerodynamic development within the bounds of the regulations is relatively free in f1 teams come up with different aero packages for different circuits depending on whether they're low drag or high downforce venues and tailoring the cars to everything in between indycar has just two aero packages to play with both distinctly different as they're tailored for very different events the standard aero kit is employed for all road courses and the short ovals such as gateway on the 2021 calendar and provides the most amount of downforce overall this comes with a full three element front wing although the third is often removed for short oval races along with a full sized rear wing and dipped wheel guards to improve the overall downforce formula one cars meanwhile have five wing elements in total featuring a straighter end plate which feeds airflow around the front tyres an f1 front wing also has exposed tips which aerodynamicists like to use to generate vortices to protect the rest of the car from the front tyre wake but for the large ovals and super speedways such as the crown jewel indy 500 the arrow is stripped back for pure speed the front wing is completely trimmed back to its main plane and the rear wing is cut down to a deltoid shaped wing for balance moving on to the car's floors indycar has a hole at the front of the side pod to minimize the chance that the car can become airborne in a heavy incident formula one cars as of 2021 use flat floors with a diffuser at the rear but for 2022 will transition to a venturi tunnel arrangement to reduce the reliance on the overbody wings producing downforce this is something indycar already does with two tunnels that sweep between the rear wheels to assist the expansion of airflow with a larger expansion area the cars generate enough downforce to keep the cars on the road even when trimmed out for the super speedway events however an f1 car generates much more downforce compared to an indycar especially given its open development overall formula one uses the turbo hybrid engine formula underpinned by a turbocharged 1.6 liter v6 engine the hybrid components include an mgu-k which regenerates energy from braking and deploys it an mguh which regenerates energy from the turbo off throttle and helps to spool it up as a driver accelerates and a battery pack to store that recovered energy currently formula one has four manufacturers developing powertrains mercedes ferrari renault and honda although honda's powertrain will be taken on by red bull from 2022 although indycar also employs v6 engines these have a displacement of 2.2 liters and have a twin-turbo arrangement the turbos are supplied by borg warner which also lends its name to the indy 500 winners trophy both chevrolet and honda supply indycar powertrains chevrolet's engine is designed and built by illmore while honda's us-based performance development arm produces the honda units indycar will move to hybrid powertrains in 2023 with displacement to rise to 2.4 liters in addition to the hybrid systems on board there's also a difference in fuel between the two series formula one's rules mandate that 5.75 of the fuel currently used must be from a sustainable biological source but from 2022 the plan is to increase that to 10 percent for the next engine cycle expected to be in 2025 formula 1 hopes to ensure that 100 of the fuel is from an e-fuel or renewable synthetic composition indycar already uses e85 fuels with 85 bioethanol and 15 gasoline with the bio component produced from corn the series has also suggested that it would like to switch to an e-fuel in future which have been fated as a carbon neutral drop in fuel that could theoretically help motorsport shift away from hybrid components formula one also has power steering while indycar doesn't meaning the drivers have to work harder at the wheel but the indy car formula is much more simple and so setup rather than development is key pirelli supplies three compounds of tyre for each f1 race redwood softs yellow walled mediums and white walled hards indycar has just two supplied by firestone for the rodent street races the red wolf soft alternate tyre and the whitewalled primary hard tire tires for over courses are different and are of a single type with slightly larger diameters on the right hand side to account for the oval banking indycar also has fuel stops which has not been part of formula one since the end of 2009 and so the dalara chassis they use have a smaller 70 liter fuel tank an f1 car has just over 1.5 times that given it's permitted to have 110 kilograms of fuel on board the car but just how different are they in terms of performance by way of measuring that between the two categories let's look at a venue that they both visit the circuits of the americas in austin texas formula one last visited the circuit in 2019 where charles claire set a one-minute 36.169 second lap during the race indycar was 12 seconds slower at that track that year with winner colton herter setting a one minute 48.8953 second lap time on route to his first win a second slower than lmp1 car but on the flip side indycar did take a slightly more lacks approach to track limits the formats of the two series differ too f1 in 2021 has 23 races spread across five different continents while indycar has 17 races spread across the usa and canada and spans purpose-built circuits ovals and street courses formula one has ten teams with two cars each while indycars has teams running as many as five or six cars at select events cars can run part-time in indycar while some drivers opt to avoid the oval rounds and share their entries with another driver ed carpenter for example only races for his own team at the oval rounds and shares his car with conor daly in the 2021 season so if you're a formula one fan and fancy dipping your toe into the world of indycar there's lots of different things to enjoy you might spot a few familiar faces all looking to try their luck in the us of a and sure indycar's machines are a little slow than f1s but there's certainly no lack of action or excitement in indycar today with the drivers constantly on the edge and the technology being pushed to its limits in both series both cars represent different pinnacles of motorsport engineering [Music] you

Channel: Autosport

Views: 868,594

Keywords: f1, f1 news, formula 1 news, f1 2021, f1 2022, autosport, f1 2021 news, f1 2022 news, f1 world championship, f1 regulations, f1 rules, f1 car, formula 1, formula one, formula 1 teams, formula one car, formula 1 2021, f1 team, f1 driver, race, motorsport news, fia, formula one racing car, race car, mercedes, w12, indycar, indycar vs f1, comparison, indy 500, indy500, scott dixon, chip ganassi racing, ntt indycar series, indycar 2021, grand prix, f1 vs indycar, indy car

Id: Zs-trk42vFo

Length: 9min 1sec (541 seconds)

Published: Thu May 27 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/SCarolinaSoccerNut]

One thing I'll say: the CART-IRL split is less an addition to the series' rich tapestry as much as it was a petty and self-destructive civil war that left the sport in ruins.

[u/mazarax]

Well made video! I learned a lot of new stuff, mostly on IndyCar.

[u/phucyu138]

What's there to compare since they're two totally different cars with two totally different purposes that achieve the same thing which is television viewership.

But as far as action goes, there is no comparison. Indycar blows F1 away in that regard.