20 May 2021 | James Porteous | Clipper Media

After the pandemic chaos of last year, May 2021 is a Big Month for motorsports.

In F1 the Monaco Grand Prix runs 23 May and Indycar’s Indianapolis 500 is set for 30 May (although fans in the US should certainly check out the extensive daily pre-race coverage running now on Peacock TV).

So, with things at least somewhat more ‘normal,’ it is safe to once again ask the perennial motorsports question: F1 or Indycar?

Below the Two Worlds come head to head, all in good fun, of course.

The Indianapolis 500 is one of the most prestigious racing events in the world, where the cars reach over 230 miles per hour and race nose to tail for 200 laps.

But what would happen if you put an F1 car on the grid? Would be able to go quicker?

Indycar and Formula 1 cars look pretty similar. Both open-wheel formula cars, lots of downforce and both run turbocharged V6 engines. However, there are some pretty big differences.

Indycar is a spec series, meaning that all cars run the same Dallara chassis, the same aero package for each circuit and have the choice of two engines – Honda or Chevrolet. A bit like the Corvette from earlier! [Cheeky mention – not required but would be a cool freebie]

Whereas, Formula 1 is a constructor championship. The cars are made by the teams, with only some components shared between the teams – like Williams using Mercedes engines and Haas running Ferrari components like the steering wheel. Indycar run the series like this to save costs for the teams and encourage closer racing, meaning there are very limited opportunities to spend more money and gain an advantage over other teams.