Formula One had its first weekend of a doubleheader in Austria and Red Bull started with Max Verstappen picking up the victory, his fourth of the season. NASCAR had a doubleheader at Pocono, and there was a gearbox issue and fuel mileage deciding the race. Ryan Norman announced he would be making his IndyCar debut next weekend at Mid-Ohio. IMSA had a lengthy qualifying session at Watkins Glen. The World Rally Championship visited Kenya. Garrett Gerloff became the first American on the MotoGP grid since 2016. I have completely neglected the MotoE championship and Assen was round four of that season. June is almost over, and the halfway point of the year is upon us. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
IndyCar's Rock and a Hard Place
Here we are in the middle of 2021, the tenth season of the DW12 chassis and the 2.2-liter, V6-engine era of IndyCar, and after a decade with these technical regulations, IndyCar has been in great shape for years.
For the last few seasons, we have been talking about this being a golden age for the series. Between having historic drivers in Scott Dixon and Will Power competing against an emerging next generation led by Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi with a wave of even younger and just as talented drivers behind that pair of Americans, IndyCar's long-term future is promising.
And we haven't mentioned the racing. The DW12 chassis has produced staggering racing across the board. Street courses are passing frenzies. Belle Isle, of all places, has become a fun track. We have seen better racing at Mid-Ohio and Laguna Seca, two tracks once viewed as not being the liveliest venues for IndyCar and requiring re-configurations to become suitable venues. Ovals have been stellar from thrilling races at breathtaking speeds at Indianapolis, Pocono and Fontana to dicey races at Iowa and Gateway.
On top of all of that, IndyCar is becoming a destination series with drivers now viewing it as a serious option. Not long ago, Formula One drivers were not looking at IndyCar as a possible landing spot when they lost a ride. In recent years, Marcus Ericsson and Romain Grosjean have joined the series and expressed love for the series. Grosjean called Road America one of the most fun races he has ever had in his career. Kevin Magnussen stepped into an IndyCar as a substitute, a cameo appearance that was unheard of as recently as five years ago. Jimmie Johnson is even in the series on all the road and street courses.
Yet, despite all the excitement around IndyCar and increased interest, IndyCar is being overtaken as Formula One is seeing larger growth in the United States.
Formula One television ratings have shot up in the United States and races are drawing over a million viewers in their live television slot in the morning. Meanwhile, IndyCar has remained in the same ballpark it has always been in. There might be some growth, but it is marginal in comparison and overall viewership is behind Formula One, the series once considered a distant third in this country. Formula One hasn't even had a live race on network television yet and on ESPN and ESPN2 alone, Formula One is beating IndyCar's average, and IndyCar has had six of its first eight races on network television.
Netflix's Drive to Survive series has converted people into full-time viewers of Formula One. They are not interested in how the racing is because they have bought into the story and the drama. The intrigue is there. And though Formula One is frequently put down because of its racing product, the 2021 season has had plenty of thrilling races already and we aren't even at the halfway point in the season. With a possible championship battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton going to the wire, Formula One could have a record-shattering year in the United States.
And Formula One is growth despite the absence of an American driver. Hell, Americans didn't even need Haas to be competitive to get interested. Drive to Survive presented the drivers as people and the audience fell in love with the story. Americans don't need Americans to fall in love with a sport. Soccer has been growing in this country over the last two decades and while the likes of the U.S. national teams on the men's and women's level both have played their part, people will tune in for a thrilling UEFA Champions League match or a UEFA Euro knockout game or even a World Cup match between two European countries or a top South American country and a European country in droves.
Americans help, see what Christian Pulisic's presence at Chelsea has done especially as Chelsea won the UEFA Champions League this year and Pulisic played a key part throughout that competition and was a substitute in the final.
But Americans are not required pieces and we are seeing that with Formula One. Americans can relate to Hamilton, Verstappen, Daniel Riccardo, Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly and the rest of them even though they all come from different countries.
While Formula One is bursting onto the scene, the American-based IndyCar feels like just another series. NASCAR is still king, and NASCAR is having successful new events in Austin and Nashville. Formula One is already in Austin and may soon have a race in Miami. IndyCar will be adding a new street race in Nashville, but it also lost Iowa, lost Austin, Richmond's return has been indefinitely delayed, and IndyCar is struggling to keep its head above water as the series navigates these rocky times. While Formula One is adding Turkey to its schedule in place of a lost round and could also possibly add a second race in Austin, IndyCar has decided not to make up the lost Toronto round and the 2021 season will be one fewer race than originally schedule.
IndyCar might be a fun series with great racing, and it might be getting more respect than it has at any point over the last 30 years, but it just doesn't seem to matter. While the likes of Johnson and Grosjean add recognition to the series, IndyCar does not have as great a wave of momentum behind it as Formula One does right now.
IndyCar has its own lot of young and likable drivers. There is an emerging core of drivers that could be around for the next 20 years. The competition is every part as fierce, and arguably more so, and yet IndyCar is still IndyCar. The masses have abjectly rejected the series regardless of its quality. IndyCar has almost failed selling itself despite the product being equal to or greater than both Formula One and NASCAR.
Even after the great Road America race, The Athletic's Jeff Gluck omitted mentioning it in his weekly Top Five column. The NASCAR weekend from Nashville and the French Grand Prix were mentioned, but IndyCar wasn't. In fairness to Gluck and everyone at The Athletic, they have had broader motorsports coverage over the last year and IndyCar has been regularly mentioned in Gluck's Top Five column and on The Athletic's Teardown podcast, but last week, despite having Álex Palou win his second race of the year, stealing one from Josef Newgarden and Team Penske when Newgarden had a mechanical issue on the restart with two laps to go, and Palou took the championship lead with that victory, it couldn't even get a blurb.
I am not sure what else IndyCar can do. In three years, Formula One has flipped itself from deep niche to trendy in the United States with people who had never once engaged with it openly talking about it. And Formula One wasn't even trying to do that. It allowed Netflix to film a series, most of the teams bought in, and it caught the attention of the masses. It was a low risk bet and it is paying off.
It could have been IndyCar. There was nothing stopping the series from taking such a chance. It really had nothing to lose, and yet IndyCar, as IndyCar does best, remained stagnant. I think too often IndyCar cannot see beyond its Midwestern homestead. It lacks the ambition to be greater than it is because it does not want to lose its roots. The only problem is the roots have shriveled to half its original length. Its reach has been far from great for the last 25 years. It has needed to branch out and engage with people from afar and IndyCar is either unable or unwilling to do it. There is almost an unsubstantiated hope IndyCar will one day just blossom again purely from a nostalgic society that will see how great and meaningful IndyCar and the Indianapolis 500 once was and people just reincorporate it back into their lives.
That's not going to happen. There is no aligning of the planets that will lead IndyCar back to general appeal. It requires work and presenting the series as something worthy of interest. But IndyCar has missed its chance. Formula One took the docuseries bet and is reaping the reward. A spin-off, or more accurately a knock-off, of Drive to Survive is not going to be as close to as successful. Although, we do live in a world where there are 800 real housewives shows, so maybe IndyCar having a trashy stepsister series to Formula One's Drive to Survive could work, but I doubt the appetite is that large for docuseries revolving around motorsports series. People likely get their fill on Drive to Survive alone.
IndyCar has a lot going right for it. As a motorsports series, there is not much more you could ask for, but despite all it does on track and who is driving in the series, IndyCar continues to struggle presenting itself to the masses and attracting an audience. I don't want to say I never thought IndyCar would fall behind Formula One in the United States, but IndyCar could quickly become the third-most popular series behind one that only visits once a year and whose drivers only see it as a vacation spot and not home. Five years ago, that didn't seem like a possibility, but Formula One flipped the script and despite not having any deep tie to the United States it is making in-roads while the domestic IndyCar appears lost in its own backyard.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Max Verstappen, but did you know...
Fabio Quartararo won the Dutch TT, his fourth victory of the season. Raúl Fernández won the Moto2 race, his third victory of the season. Dennis Foggia won the Moto3 race, his second victory of the season. Eric Granado won the MotoE race, his second victory of the season.
The #55 Mazda of Harry Tincknell, Oliver Jarvis and Jonathan Bomarito won the 6 Hours of the Glen. The #11 WIN Autosport Oreca-Gibson of Tristan Nunez, Thomas Merrill and Steven Thomas won in the LMP2 class. The #74 Riley Motorsports Ligier-Nissan of Felipe Fraga, Gar Robinson and Scott Andrews won in the LMP3 class. The #3 Corvette of Antonio García and Jordan Taylor won in the GTLM class. The #96 Turner Motorsport BMW of Bill Auberlen, Robby Foley and Aidan Read won in GTD class.
Alex Bowman and Kyle Busch split the NASCAR Cup races from Pocono, their third and second victories of the season respectively. Austin Cindric won the Grand National Series race, his fourth victory of the season. John Hunter Nemechek won the Truck race, his fifth victory of the season.
Yann Ehrlacher and Attila Tassi split the World Touring Car Cup races from Estoril.
Sébastien Ogier won the Safari Rally, his fourth victory of the WRC season.
Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar spends the holiday at Mid-Ohio.
NASCAR Cup Series returns to Road America for the first time since 1956.
Formula One remains in Austria for the Austrian Grand Prix.
IMSA will run a sprint race on Friday evening at Watkins Glen.
Superbike returns to Donington Park.
GT World Challenge Europe has a sprint round in Misano.
