Could McLaren Really LEAVE IndyCar?
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- / davidland
Don't expect McLaren to leave IndyCar in the very near future... but that doesn't mean they won't. Let's discuss.
#IndyCar #Indy500 #McLaren
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Considering they just bought out Sam Schmidt for the remainder of his shares in the IndyCar team I highly doubt they would leave. They probably ditch Formula E
There’s rumors Formula E side of team will partner with Hyundai, Maybe Extreme E will get the axe.
@@Jean.P.Cartier I think Extreme E going would be more likely, it depends on whether they want to commit to it in its new hydrogen era (that's if the series gets that far, I reckon. The fact that half of 2024's rounds were cancelled and the season curtailed just two rounds in doesn't bode well, at least from the outside looking in).
On the other hand they went from paying all 3 IndyCar drivers to selling 2 seats.
But yeah. I think they sell their FE entry to Hyundai instead. Maybe not sell the whole thing, only the naming rights. Kinda like "renting" their team/entry. You never know what could work tomorrow. Even if FE is a failure now exiting it could become a mistake in the future.
@@Willbrse only driver paying for a seat in IndyCar is Siegel. Lundgaard & Pato are salaried
@@Willbrse The situation with FE at the moment appears to be that McLaren would partner with Hyundai, but not until 2028, halfway through the Gen4 ruleset. There's been no indication of McLaren leaving.
Zak Brown has offered his marketing expertise to IndyCar, but has been ignored. Maybe Roger and his team should try listening.
I wish Ford would come back to IndyCar!
I wish Cummins would come back, with a diesel! :^)
Both will never happen.
@@grooviefannever say never... no one saw turbo diesel Audi coming
@@karendarrenmclaren different series, different rules.
@@grooviefan same series.
IndyCar fan first here, IMSA second, but the reality is IMSA is truly in a golden age with manufacturer support while IndyCar is... well, we're doing better than the split years, right?
Would be interesting if Doonan and Penske swapped positions.
@benmalec3258 IMSA is just so good right now. I can't wait to see that Aston GTP screaming across the high banks of Daytona next year. Even the Genesis car is really cool. Great time to be a Sportscar fan
Penske would mess it up Donna is doing a great job with imsa!
Ford preferring LMH over Indycar should be perceived as a slap in the face for Roger Penske and Mark Miles.
Sports cars aside, I expect Ford to pull out of WRC if its next regulations turn out a failure. They've heavily invested in Dakar, yet they only hand out one-year contracts for WRC. Their priorities are pretty straight forward if you ask me.
it's not a slap in the face or anything personal. it's a business decision
Why is it a slap in the face? Sports cars are inherently closer to road cars than open wheel cars and tends to be much better in terms of "what wins on sunday sells on monday".
I love Indycar but they are embarrassing. They are way behind F1, IMSA in their car and innovation. It is a spec series with a beloved and well lived DW12 (2012- yes, 13 years now of the venerable chassis) chassis that has LEGO parts bolted on. Hybrid (spec) is bolted on as an after thought. This hybrid is a joke and pure marketing to say its a hybrid series. The windscreen also bolted on (although smart and great safety idea) to the DW 12. It does need a new chassis with those systems designed into them with some weight cutting to offset the bloated weight that the hybrids have added. That will cost big $$ though. It is a business decision and hate to say it even with the dumb BoP in IMSA its way ahead in innovation and Indycar is way behind right now.
Don't get me wrong.But sportscars racing is always going to be more important to manufacturers than any other series.Race on Sunday sell on Monday.That term was intended for sportscars racing.F1,NASCAR, Indy car is a niche.Nobodys is buying a Corvette because of NASCAR,nobody is buying Ferrari 296 because of F1, nobody's is buying a Honda nsx because of Indy Car.If I'm a fan of mustang,I want to see my favorite car compete against the best.F1,NASCAR,Indy car fans are only fans of the sport.Sportscar racing fans are fans of the sport and fans of the cars these manufacturers are producing and actually buying the cars.Every manufacturer is back home and what actually sell cars aka sportscars racing.
@toomuch535 %100 agree. Comparing sports car racing to F1, Nascar, IndyCar is apples and oranges.
IMSA is crushing it right now,
It would be nice to see Ford back at Indy.
Never happen
Dodge is more likely to be in IndyCar than Ford
@@alistairfannell6694 Dodge barely exists as a brand these days. Ford makes WAY more sense than Dodge.
dodge won't b in indycar. no money
Indycar having almost no innovation did it no favors, imsa/wec made the lmdh package very appealing. Especially imsa, hands down the best sports car association. Good job on Ford, Hyundai and I'm sure McLaren soon for joining in on a great product like imsa and the gtp class
Hopefully Mazda and even lotus join hypercar!
At worst, I would imagine them going back to 2 cars and 4 for the 500. I think the cost control of the spec series makes it attractive to them.
I dont get the constant push to compare manufacturer diversity in IMSA to IndyCar. First off, this was a record field for GTP and they still only had 12 cars. All but 2 of those were factory backed efforts. That wont work in a 30(ish) car IndyCar field. Wide open regs and many manufacturers leads to massive budgets and pushes out private teams in favor of factory backed teams. I want see more manufacturers as much as anyone, but realistically it will never be like IMSA or F1 and that's probably a good thing.
What about GRAND AM style cost cap in Indycar?
@youssefremy6173 Maybe. I don't know enough about Grand Am to comment one way or another. From my understanding (which is limited), F1 has a budget cap too, but teams have figured out loop holes to get around it.
For the record, I'm not suggesting that a total spec series is the way to go. I'd like to see more freedom for the teams to develop their own engine and aero tweaks. But opening the regs up completely isn't the way to go either.
Hard to people to discover IMSA when most of it is hidden on Peacock. Indycar will be on FOX this year. Better exposure for Indycar.
Outside of the US though, all the races are live on UA-cam. In my circle, in Canada, everyone is getting hyped up on IMSA, more so than WEC or Indycar it would seem
IndyCar needs to hit a home run with the new car or they will be in for a really rough ride.
You mentioned something very important that Penske must consider to make Indycar relevant and cost effective is to have an engine formula that they can use the same engines as in IMSA. That could incentive other OEM's to enter Indycar since they don't have to develop another engine. Plus like it or not Penske has to race more ovals, that's what caters to the majority of the viewers.
Odds are they are dropping their gt program. They have had major issues in the states with teams being happy with how they are treated and what support they get. They could drop GT customer stuff and invest it all in the prototype.
Sounds very probable as they are currently embarrassing themselves in DTM, which is the most important GT series on Earth right now.
@JOHANNESwhoelse not to mention just in imsa they had a team jump from mclaren to ferrari in a heartbeat.
@@McLeod917 I thought Phaff went to Lamborghini? On the other side, I think it would make sense for McLaren to do their LMDh project with United Autosports. They already have connections with them through Zak Brown and they partnered with them to run McLarens in LMGT3 last season.
@dominicbarden4436 see that's not even who I was talking about lol. it was Inception racing. and yeah they would work fine. tbh would be nice to just see a mclaren factory squad run in house but anymore idk.
@@McLeod917 Ah ok, I didn't know that more than one team ran McLarens in IMSA last season! Thanks for the correction. If McLaren did decide to leave IndyCar they could transition the former SPM to being a factory IMSA/WEC team.
This isn't up to your usual standards, David. I mean there's the 'potentiality' that the sky could fall at 12:00 midnight. But that's not a logical argument that it's worth considering and/or reporting on. If you get me. I know it's slow season and content needs to content, but you've created a commendably high bar for yourself. IMHO it's not worth going beneath it for one upload. Just my opinion as someone who hopefully has made clear is a big fan of your work.
Do you think United Autosport would move up a class to run those prototype cars? Seems like a natural move with the Zak Brown connection.
Plus they ran McLarens in LMGT3 in WEC in 2024, so the partnership's already there. I think it'd make the most sense.
Ppl keep saying that Red Bull is going to fail with their own engine program but ppl forget for 1 year in 2022 Red Bull Powertrains and Honda switched their roles with RBPT building the combustion engines and Honda just building the hybrid system and they still won the championship, while they did switch back in 2023 but i do think RBPT is completely capable of building a championship winning engine program as long as Ford comes through with the hybrid system
Honda was leaving after 2022 because of their top management wishing to do something else and then Honda did a U-Turn when it got new management before it signed with Aston Martin for 2026
The engine was already developed and a spec was delivered. Assembling an engine is infinitely easier than developing one
@@mathewhosier9739 how much Honda was in that “Red Bull” power unit? Lots, I’d bet. It takes little to maintain that which was invented by others.
@@DanielOliverRacing 👍 exactly
*people
It's a platinum era of Sports Car racing
I can see Pato O'Ward going to Penske if McLaren leaves Indycar.
Pato at Penske would be awesome ngl...he could unleash his full potential
Who gets the AXE at Penske. ??
@@grooviefan only because of age I'd say Power, but that's a though call to replace a legend.......
@@matthanna7162 especially since he was a Championship contender even at his age.
@@matthanna7162 McLaren is not gonna be leaving Indycar anytime soon.
Indycar needs to adopt the IMSA Powertrain. Instant manufacturer involvement
On a surface level that sounds sensible. Once you dive deeper into the engineering that is actually required it's actually not feasible. At least not with a spec chassis. If the chassis became more open to allow that it would end it would more than negate the cost savings of a cross platform engine. It just isn't sustainable.
Here's the problem, the Acura is running the Indycar engine that Indycar gave up on a couple of years ago. Also I think it might be the only IMSA GTP engine that is designed for single seaters.
100% agree
@@wayneconkey3404 which powertrain do you refer to? There are several and none are suitable for Indycar
Sports car racing is awesome. I've always enjoyed it, but these past few years have given me an appreciation for the quality product. I was able to bet on the 24 hours of Daytona this year which was huge. IMSA & WEC both need to tap into the sports betting market. If you don't think it would catch on, just look at F1 and gambling on F1 is vast. Other than that as a racing fan sports car endurance racing is the coolest racing on the planet right now.
Don't forget Robertson Racing's Ford GT in the late 2000s. I know it was not factory/works deal but was still really neat to see.
Ford v Ferrari 2.0 on the way, yeah!
I hope McLaren doesn't leave IndyCar, I love the series, wouldn't be good if a big team with potential just leaves like that
Indycar's issue in a nutshell, remove the livery from all the Indycars mix them up and try to match them with the manufacturer.
Formula E has the same issue, but they are international and can run in city events that petrol engines would never be allowed to run.
You could do the same thing with F1 cars and the percentage of people who could tell the manufacturer is probably in single digits.
David land! If UA-cam makes Brazilian Portuguese dubbing available on your channel, will you make this option available? That way your videos will be easier to watch.
I think if McLaren wants to reconsider and maybe leave Indycar. Its gonna be part by part not all at once. Downsize to 2 cars 1 year, Sell a Stake in the team, Sell the team, Only do a Indy 500 partnership
I doubt it but who knows
This is fundamentally a misunderstanding of McLaren's business model - they don't spend money going racing to sell road cars (like Honda or Toyota do), they go racing to make money. McLaren Racing made £30mil last year, McLaren Automotive lost £23mil - racing is what keeps the company in profit. They will drop Indycar/Formula E if they can't make money doing it. Even if they need capital its smarter to sell a small stake in the F1 team than either indycar or FE.
Exactly. When McLaren had financial troubles a few years ago (coming close to going under in fact) if I remember right it was the automotive arm that bore the brunt of it. They sold off McLaren Applied Technologies and sold a major stake in the Racing division (i.e the F1 team).
How do you find these financial numbers if they’re a private company and don’t release their figures?
"IMSA is the best thing going in North American auto racing ... as far X, Y, Z as eyeballs."
I'm love IMSA. But I'm gonna push back on the eyeballs. Attendance and tv ratings are less than Indycar. AND YES a lot of racing diehards myself included watch on UA-cam with a VPN so we don't show up in the ratings but that faction can't be that high.
Again IMSA is doing great with a lot of things especially with the regulations, manufacturers, car count etc.
But I'm going to push back on the eyeball.
I do the same thing with how I watch imsa racing. Yes it is that high. It's brought up in Sportscar discussion threads. We all hate peacock/NBC coverage.
I really don’t think McLaren are as tied to selling production cars as a company like Honda…. There more like Ferrari, a huge racing brand that makes almost as much money off merchandise and and sponsorships
Yeah most likely, Ferrari started building cars to fund the race team.
I live in a high end car hotspot in the U.S.
It’s amazing how many owners of McLarens, Porsches, Aston Martins, Ferraris, etc don’t have any knowledge or interest in IMSA or sportscar racing. They follow F1 or nothing at all.
Formula E is a waste of money, time and effort.
Haven't watched that in years, don't want to!
I respectfully disagree, but as with anything FE-related, when it comes to the wider motorsport fanbase on the internet I'm clearly in a minority!
100%
Lot of manufacturers wasting money in that series?
They choose not to waste money here in Indycar
Agreed. Literally there isn't a soul that cares about racing electric cars.
I’ve been saying the same things vis-a-vis IMSA to PenskeCar on Racer for the past two years. And every time I do, the PenskeCar loyalists get their racing suits in a wad.
Imsa and wec are both better than NASCAR and indycar over the past few years because they can attract the best drivers and teams to their sport because of the competition and that is something that Indycar and NASCAR haven’t been able to do for the past few seasons
NASCAR viewership have been on the rise for the past couple years. Something I can't say about Indy though
My question for you would be if the McLaren Indycar team shuts down do you have any idea who would come into the sport to take their place or would that just be three less full time entrants in the series & three less seats available for drivers in the series?
It’s up to the shareholders as to which series they deem are the best shop windows for their products. Sports cars makes most sense to me however the legacy in USA open wheel plus the 500 makes indycar highly attractive. Roger needs to check indycar grows nationally.
I feel like if anything does happen in IndyCar, it might just be a case of scaling down, probably to two cars, thereby perhaps freeing up some staff for the LMDh project. I really hope they're not considering a full exit considering they just fully took over SPM. Stranger things have happened though. Some of it could well depend on what state IndyCar is in in a few years time.
If any of their programs are axed in the near/mid-term future, my guess would be Extreme E if they decide not to stay as it transitions to hydrogen power (that's if it even gets there, I suspect). I don't see their Formula E team going anywhere (thank goodness) particularly with recent rumours that they could look to partner Hyundai in that series, and obviously F1 is McLaren's bread and butter.
As a sidenote, love the Lego Gen3 McLaren FE car!
Honestly I think they don't 3 cars being they had so many issues with the 6 car, the 3rd team, 2 cars are fine.
@PaperBanjo64 It's an interesting conundrum. Three cars means more data but there's a higher chance of the quality between cars being different to the extent that one's at the front, one's in the midfield and one's at the back. Streamlining means more focus on less and potentially a better overall performance, if that makes any sense.
To give an example from another series, in 2023, Tickford Racing, who race in the Supercars Championship, ran four cars. Their best performer was Cameron Waters, one of the top drivers in the series currently, who finished in 6th place in the championship. Their other drivers ended up as follows:
Thomas Randle: 13th
James Courtney: 17th
Declan Fraser: 24th
For 2024, the team scaled down to two cars: Waters and Randle. This season just gone, Waters finished 4th in the championship and Randle finished 5th. Obviously, scaling down wasn't the only factor in their improvement, getting more out of the Gen3 Mustang in the second year of this ruleset would've helped, but it could've played a part.
@dominicbarden4436 dump the batteries and hybrid system. In their present form, they are just a failure point and add little to the racing over the present push to pass system.
@ I have to admit, I'm somewhat inclined to agree. Though we have only had half a season of it so far, and we're yet to see it utilised at the Indy 500. I'm willing to give it a full season before fully criticising it.
Great video David!
I hope McLaren stays in indycar
Hopefully they stay long enough for the hybrid switch, which I believe will convince them to stay.
I believe leaving F1 & Formula E would be a mistake considering both series are the most technology advanced series in the world.
The only series I could see them leaving is probably IMSA/WEC maybe do a Le Mans only and focus on their GT4 program considering that’s the closest race car to the street version that people can buy.
Indy Car is still going on? I went to a few races(right before Vegas was pulled)and the stands were empty.
Don't think McLaren going anywhere in open wheel....except Formula E
They're looking at potentially partnering Hyundai in that series, so I doubt it.
I wonder if HMS would buy into the mclaren indycar team? And dosent Zak Brown own an imsa or a wec team? So would he sell his stake to Mclaren or would he sell his stake to someone else to focus on Mclaren's efforts?
I don't understand the dig he said about Penske? Can someone explain? Thanks
Ford wins quickly in categories. You do remember the crapshow of Jaguar in F1? When board members didn't even know who Eddie Irvine was.
Thanks David!
Manufacturers shift racing series everytime throughout the decades. The real reason Formula E seems appealing to manufacturers is because operational budget for a team in a season is 14m € ; far cheaper than F1, WEC & possibly WRC, plus it's an FIA World championship. That's why Porsche were able to sustain their FE & Endurance program.
But if you join F1, like Audi will, they had to sacrifice other racing programs just to maintain their F1 goals. Unless you're a big lucrative manufacturer.
Not really why Audi is getting rid of all the other programs. They just have no money. They can't afford to do all that put it in perspective. GM, Ferrari and Even Ford starting in 2026 will be in prototype(2027 for Ford), GT, formula 1. Plus various other championships around the world that they participate in. Meanwhile, Audi would only be participating in one. Audi just doesn't have the money, making the decision to join even stupider
doubt it but you never know. i dont think it would be good for mcclaren and would be a huge blow to indycar imo
I would be SHOCKED if Ford doesnt announce IMSA as well as WEC soon. They can’t be launching a program like that without getting into an American series.
I'd have thought they'd have announced both at the same time though. Especially since they're building a car to LMDh spec, which means it's eligible for both series.
@dominicbarden4436Even if it was built to lmh rules it’s still eligible for IMSA too.
@@takenoprisoners6604 Is it? I thought LMH was WEC-only. None of the manufacturers using it (Toyota, Ferrari, Peugeot) are racing in IMSA. But then I suppose Aston Martin will be, right, and they're using LMH?
@ Yes, the Aston Martin is debuting at sebring in IMSA which is a lmh. The rest just haven’t, yet.
And how many of the new entree manufacturers are demanding hybrids? As they did for IndyCar, yet, no new suppliers
Are you talking in endurance racing? Probably all of them. Ferrari might not care but literally every other manufacturer produces hybrid road cars. Most are focused on hybrids being the main part of their road going lineups. Sounds like you just have a personal bias to be honest.
@ Hybrids in racing are a double-edged sword I think. F1 has been largely successful with it for the past decade and a half (including the KERS years), WEC's had hybrids for over a decade as well, but IndyCar came quite late to the party so the technology's in its infancy here. And the British Touring Car Championship and WRC introduced hybrid systems in 2022 but both have dropped them for 2025. I don't know where hybrids stand at the moment to be honest.
lets start making the Indycar into a prototype.......but do it slowly so no one notices
The Formula E programme is trying to strike a works deal with Hyundai for the Gen 4 car currently. So I imagine that wil sort the FE programme for some time.
I think Indycar will stay as well just because Zak is invested in the series, he'll find ways of justifying it.
Seems both are pretty safe at the moment
I'd say they're safe. If anything were to happen to IndyCar it'd probably be scaling down to two cars and reallocating the freed-up staff to the sportscar project, similar to Ganassi pulling out of sportscars and reallocating the staff to IndyCar a few years ago.
McLaren needs at least 4 if not 6 GT cars and at least 2 LMDH. Whatever it takes to get that I'm happy. Preferably F.E. gone first.
Dave, too much blather. Get pithy. Your live stuff is great. The studio stuff gets boring quickly.
Indycar needs to get the new car (chassis, engine and hybrid unit) correct on the first try when they announce it otherwise it’s game over for them. F1, IMSA, WEC and NASCAR are leaving Indycar in the dust. Hopefully the Fox TV deal helps things in the USA for 2025. Unfortunately Indycar series is really nothing but a spec regional series at best right now.
Zak Brown has certainly worn out his welcome in America. He’s already pulled out of IMSA David
Mr. Ford was complimenting Roger Penske, who owns the NASCAR champion Ford, for winning overall at the Rolex 24 and saying they will be competing with Porsche Penske for the overall win in Le Mans
What about McLaren Extreme E program?
If any of their racing programs are cut, I think that would be the most likely. Besides, Extreme E will become Extreme H this year as it's switching to using hydrogen power, so it depends on whether McLaren want to go that route. That's assuming it actually happens, given that the 2024 Extreme E season was abandoned midway through. Doesn't bode well for the health of the series.
I hope not and I think them leaving would be not a good look for them since they just fully took over Schmidt but we'll see
Sports car racing is the best racing out there right now.
Imagine Jaguar, with their highly questionable rebrand, joining WEC.....
I hope not but if they do hope somebody buys their charters.
After partnering with Red Bull, Ford clearly wants to get Verstappen involved with WEC in 5-10 years when he leaves F1.
Should they open the Indy 500 for engine builders? Allow a manufacturer to build an engine just for the Indy 500, without having to build engines for the rest of the season. Maybe we see McLaren show up with their own engine. Maybe other manufactures could try out Indycar that way.
Rules won’t allow your idea . You have any idea what kind of money you’re talking and the development time involved ??
I mean, they’ve come and gone before. Which also means they could come back one day.
If Mclaren wants to leave, let it go! Mclaren came to IndyCar knowing what it was and how things work in the Penske administration. They put their foot, their head, their whole body in and now they don't know if they want to leave...if it's for lack of goodbye...goodbye!
Do people want Indycar to resolve 30 years of problematic administrations overnight? Indycar has a lot of problems but for the first time in years I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
McLaren literally just put all of their eggs into the team in terms of investment and bought everyone else out. Makes 0 sense.
I’m thinking Mazda will comeback to imsa and enter a hypercar to go to lemans since Mazda is bringing back a rotary sports car, and also lotus has rolled back their full electric car lineup and is introducing new hybrids maybe lotus could join hypercar as well!
Penske has done nothing. We've had the same chassis for 12 years, just two engine suppliers, and the same dominant teams-Penske and Ganassi-making the series predictable and stale, boring. Meanwhile, what WEC and IMSA have accomplished! Many of those manufacturers could have been in IndyCar. Strip the fenders off those cars, and you essentially have an IndyCar. The series had a strong foundation and a platform to evolve, but it hasn’t capitalized on it. Fox won’t make much of a difference. IndyCar needs real change-perhaps a shift toward electrification..
The 4wd boost change they did with Formula E this season has made the racing insane!
McLaren just bought the remaining 25% of Sam Schmidt racing within the last couple of weeks. They aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Cut the e4x4 series or whatever it is also. Who watches that?
David, I said this about IMSA to you at Road Atlanta 5 years ago. I used to comment IMSA on every video to get you to talk about it more. Welcome to the bandwagon i guess
If they do leave then somebody else will move in dryer ,Prema,Abel,hmb
Don’t forget about off road racing for fird
There is no smoke on the McLaren story. Just listen to Marshall Pruett on his last podcast. Also the IC team has more than enough commercial partners. You go from the fluff piece with Penske to soon and gloom without any credible sources.
You're better than that David.
Zak Brown is a vocal fan of IndyCar. They're not going anywhere.
if they gave a shit about selling road cars theyd sell crossovers. they have zero business in formula e, they dont produce a single electric vehicle. they have basically the entire racing community watching them with baited breath every indianapolis 500. why give up after finishing second best for how many years now?
Meh. Endurance racing comes and goes in waves. There was huge excitement when they adopted the hybrids last decade. Then everyone left. Now the have new rules, and everyone is coming back. Give it a few years, and they’ll be leaving again.
Penske and Gannassi are sure things as long as they’re alive. Other than that, nothing is a certainty. Enjoy the season. Disagree with posting a video with this headline.
Remember... electic vehicles are being mandated by the EU and UK as part of their "Net Zero" environmental policy (regardless of what people think of Net Zero). This means mfgs are connected to Formula E because every car mfg is pretty much forced to makes electric vehicles. mfgs use Formula E as a proving ground for electric car tech.
Thing is though, how many manufacturers are actually looking at FE? BMW and Audi left after 2021, Mercedes left after 2022. Stellantis is currently looking a little shaky with regards as to whether DS are staying (Maserati have committed to Gen4), Mahindra's been subject to some speculation recently and while we've had Lola and Yamaha come in together as one unit this year, as far as I'm aware the only major OEM that really seems to want to join at the moment is Hyundai but that won't be until 2028 at the earliest, seemingly with McLaren, with their focus on the Genesys Hypercar in 2026 (and who knows how that's going to affect WRC). I love FE but I've generally been sceptical about how attractive it actually is to manufacturers outside of the current crop.
@dominicbarden4436 I defer to your knowledge of the situation. I was talking partly out by butt because I don't follow Formula E or know the series specs, etc.
Dave. Gotta give ya credit. Those create writing and content classes are finally paying off. I mean today I read that Alpine put a tracker on Ocon and found out he was at Williams during the Silverstone weekend and it hit social media. Nevermind the same instance hit the media in October but.....recycle rerun....its that time of year. Gotta invent stuff before the season starts or the punters will have to put up with Tay Tay and Kelce and Mahomo for another week. BTW, the Ford guy you could not remember was Bill Ford. Great-grandson of Henry. Former CEO of the Detroit Lions and current Chairman Emeritus (kack) and protector of the family shareholding of Ford Motor Company. Then his sister took over the Lions and they became a success. But I digress. Let's cut to the chase. Zak Brown will want a bigger say on how Indy is run or he will walk. the fact that major car companies are willing to go to WEC and then consider IMSA or vice-versa and totally fore-go Indycar tells you that Indycar is small beans or not run to the rule book they would like. as a sideways example, with Tim Cindric being marginalized and the Octegenarian controlling the direct reports again, should tell you where the root cause is. Guys like Zak Brown and to a lesser extent Michael Andretti (who's on ice but will one day reappear I predict) see that RP cannot last forever. Game on. Let St Petersberg begin.
I wish Ford would come back to but Dodge, Toyota or Lamborghini are more likely to be in IndyCar. That’s just my opinion
Ford and Toyota have already done Indy . Lamborghini doesn’t have a footprint in open wheel .
@ Yes but for the last several years Toyota has expressed interest in coming back to IndyCar
Isn't the Ford Cosworth engine the winningest (or very high up) engine in F1?
Yeah but that was more Ford of Europe’s doing.
I love IMSA but there are multiple reasons why it's not surpassing IndyCar anytime soon (or ever)
1. For all the "innovation" they still have some highly restrictive BoP rules. IMO the BoP limits the cars to the point they are effectively spec cars. Sure they look different and sound different but their performance is highly regulated to make the as even as possible.
2. For all the complaint about about how short IndyCar's 17 race schedule is, IMSA only has 11, and not all of those feature a full field.
3. The Rolex 24 is the Super Bowl of American sports cars racing and it had less than 3 million viewers. Their other races historically get well under 1 million, and they dont get televised on network tv like IndyCar will next year.
By all driver accounts we're seeing one of the most positive offseasons for IndyCar since the split, but so many people want to act like the sky is falling.
Fomula E is just uninteresting and uninspiring. Let's not act like, not all, but a ton of this push for electric has been politically motovated. The current administration won't be pushing that at all. I gave FE and honest chance for a whole season and it just isn't good.
It’s the WNBA of racing
It might be the best racing around besides Indycar. The first two races this season have been incredible. I will be at the Miami race in 2 months.
@CanesCatsHeat305 IMSA tops the racing right now. Indycar is great too and FE is fine competition wise but those cars are hideous and sound so terrible
FE is pretty interesting on the tech side as has a lot of room to grow still. Don't think many categories have that same sort of circuit to road tech transfer as well.
For example next race they will be introducing fast charging pitstops to show off tech that goes twice the speed of any current consumer tech. That's what FE is there to do, push the boundaries on some EV tech and it does a decent enough job doing that (though it could always be better if spending wasn't an issue)
Plus I think the talent involved makes the racing pretty great and the competition interesting.
@lewis8552 For those that want to watch it, be all means, enjoy. I'm not one of those race fans who thinks something shouldn't exist because it isn't my cup of tea. I've heard it has grown in popularity overseas, but I don't know a single person who even knows it exists. There are too many better series right now to even give FE a second look for me. IMSA, INDYCAR, MX5 Cup, and GT World challenge all have brilliant racing with cars that sound and smell like race cars. I know the tech side appeals to some people, and that's great, F1 excels there, too, which I also don't find to be particularly compelling racing to watch anymore. There may continue to be a niche market for electric racing, but as with electric cars in general, I think manufacturers got a little over zealous and have realized the demand isn't what they thought it would be. Hence the many manufacturers scaling back on their EV production and exploring other options.
I want to see more engine suppliers. No current supplier can match Honda for reliability, but jeez any supplier could build an engine that could last 500 miles
Most manufacturers could but if your interested in building a single seating engine you would go F1 was that has more eyes on it globally. Indy doesn’t have the clout to attract manufacturers to build a brand new engine.
So that's why Honda blew so many engines during the 2024 season?
They are limited to so many engines per season. They have to last more than 500 miles…
They should.
It is understandable for McLaren to leave Indycar. McLaren are a constructor focused team, always have been, and Indycar is a drive other people's stuff series. The lack of individual team development and input makes it less attractive to them because what do they get for it? Not exposure. The fact of it is that the series is not far from being in the death throes like CHAMP. Mostly stupid greed and mismanagement has lead the series down a dark hill. without the Indy 500 to prop the series up it would truly not even exist today. It doesn't matter that it is the fastest and closest racing series at the senior professional level in the world. The series is no different than any of the junior league racing series because it two chassis, two engine suppliers, and no individual identity to any of the teams. Money wins because you need drivers who can risk it all every race and not have to worry about repair costs to win anymore.
David Land and his wild conspiracies. He's literally been wrong about every one. Remember when he was positive Ferrari was coming to IndyCar?
@@therealether1 thanks for your click!
Could Rodger be fixing to sell his team to Porsche
Nope. No way they leave. Too high profile of a program, and the series is too sought after as an open wheel stepping stone. Plus, Mclaren wants North American real estate. Sportscar racing is to too juicy to pass up rn. I wouldn't be surprised if they leave formula e though.
I doubt they're cutting FE (and like with IndyCar I sincerely hope they're not). Not when they're looking at potentially partnering Hyundai in a few years time.
McLaren has screwed itself in gt racing, just ask pfaff
McClaren should stick to real racing not Indy kit car racing.
Mumtalakat Holding Company
IMSA isn’t popular outside of niche rich fans. They’re just not known. If i go out in public and ask people what they know about it’s Indycar. Most don’t know IMSA exists. It’s not selling crossovers.🤷
have you forgotten who owns imsa? its nascar
Indy car will die in 27 without honda as an engine supplier
You mean a multimatic forestry Connor Daly still as a driver in indycar shows how weak indycar is, he should be retired
Nobody cares about Formula E
Formula E is atrocious. Get rid of that turd
McLaren will probably ditch either Formula E or Extreme E. Any racing involvement for them has to relate to their road car business, and neither of these relates to their road cars. The viewers probably won't have any interest in buying any McLarens compared to maybe F1 and IndyCar viewers
@@smokeybandit9760 no open wheel series is going to be a direct tie to the road cars. Be serious. McLaren might well be better off in sports cars than open wheel racing if selling cars is their goal.
@@smokeybandit9760 formula e is a waste of resources as all it is is virtue signaling and not a proper sport.
I'm pretty sure McLaren have always been a racing team first, supercar manufacturer second, like Ferrari. I don't think 'win on Sunday, sell on Monday' is their main goal. And as lucrative as the supercar market is, it's been the McLaren Group's weak link for quite a while now.
F1 is the team's bread and butter, they've really invested in their IndyCar and FE programs and currently looking to partner Hyundai in the latter in a few years time, so I don't see them going away. Maybe a slight scaling down in IndyCar if anything happens to it at all, say to two full-time entries, but that's about it.
I think Extreme E would be the most likely to go, if any of them do. It just depends on whether McLaren stick with it as it becomes Extreme H. That's if the series gets that far anyway.
@@markvincent5992 I'm talking about the viewers. Let's be honest, IndyCar viewers are generally older and probably have more interest in racing and cars so they may be interested in buying a sports car like a McLaren.
McLaren is a smaller brand unlike Porsche and Ferrari who have dominant market share. McLaren needs to have sales in their road car division to justify what they spend in their racing programs. Why do you think they were bought out by a middle eastern consortium? Basically they need to market to people in racing who are the most likely to buy their cars