Grant me wings, that I may chase the wind!

this one has multiple uploads but is an all-time classic race finish

https://youtu.be/twROX0iXZUY

blundell, de ferran, boesel and fittipaldi... crazy stuff

anyway, it makes sense why it just isn't appealing to younger generations of racing fans compared to Formula One

I feel like Indycar is attracting a lot of attention these past couple of years (though, I feel like that's true for motorsport in general), even my IRL friends have mentioned wanting to get into it if not it being paid streaming-only here (something that F1 and WEC are not)

I think it's unfair to say it isn't appealing to younger generations of fans because of its racing quality, something that had no influence on the insane mass appeal of F1 post Liberty Media acquisition

what actually made F1 so popular is (note: I am not looking up a source on this. I'm just saying what I believe)

1. F1 had a rich history on television in many countries in europe as well as brazil, argentina and japan. What was actually left for them was becoming popular in the USA, something they tried for decades but only really achieved in the 2020's. Indycar has breached out of north america before, but never as much, hell, IMSA is a more talked of category in Brazil than Indycar is currently, and brazilians have a lot of history in Indycar! So as soon as they improved the TV side of F1 for the American audience, they already had the rest of the world to follow

2. After Liberty Media acquired the rights to F1, they cleaned up the transmission quality and standards for those of american television, and signed the Netflix deal to record Drive to Survive, the very dramatic reality show set in the F1 Paddock. This means that the championship became much more marketable for a younger audience with little experience with racing cars since it was all about the drivers and their feelings, something the average audience could connect a lot more. This, combined with the boost in Netflix usage during the 2020-21 period of the pandemic, gave the championship a LOT of attention.

3. the 2021 season was accidentally really good.

4. they actually go to other countries???

Racing quality has nothing to do with it. F1 has reached a peak of popularity in 2025 that had never been seen before because it sells. I can't even go to F1 and I live near one of the circuits, because of how expensive it is and how fast the tickets sell. It sells tickets, it sells TV, it got a fucking Hollywood movie that went to the Oscars.