F1 championship closer than NASCAR
Formula 1 often gets compared unfavourably with NASCAR, especially in America where NASCAR is king. Among the various criticisms levelled at F1, some fair and some not, is the charge that Formula 1 is too predictable and the same drivers win all the time.
Four years ago, when Michael Schumacher won 12 of the first 13 races, it was a reasonable point. But has that stared to change?
Last year the top three drivers were within one point of each other at the end of the season. Halfway through 2008 the top three are tied in F1, but the NASCAR Sprint Cup is looking rather one-sided.
F1 championship standings
1. Lewis Hamilton 48 (three wins)
2. Felipe Massa 48 (three wins)
3. Kimi Raikkonen 48 (two wins)
NASCAR Sprint Cup standings
1. Kyle Busch 2,881 (seven wins)
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2,619 (one win)
3. Jeff Burton 2,590 (one win)
The F1 points system awards the title to the driver who scores the most points over a season. In the event of a tie, drivers are ranked by who has the most best finishes. So Hamilton and Massa are ahead of Raikkonen (three wins each to two) and Hamilton is ahead of Massa (one tenth place to none).
NASCAR uses a system called the ‘Chase for the Sprint Cup’ to ensure the championship battle lasts until late in the season. Ahead of the final ten races the top 12 drivers’ championship points total are reset to the same level and although they continue to race all the other drivers, only one of those 12 can be champion.
Of course, this means that the best driver over the course of the entire season doesn’t necessarily become the champion. (Read more on how the Chase works here).
F1 and NASCAR could not be more different in concept. And it’s surprising to see that in F1, where the performance of different cars can be great, the championship battle is so close. Meanwhile in NASCAR, where the cars are practically identical, Kyle Busch has won more races than the other top ten NASCAR drivers put together.
How has Formula 1 become so close? And why is Busch doing so well?
Busch drives for Toyota in NASCAR and his successes are regularly booed by a large number of NASCAR fans who resent seeing a driver of a Japanese car doing so well in an America-based series. Busch is apparently going to drive Toyota’s F1 car at the end of the year. As one of the most well-recognised American racing drivers it would be a gigantic PR coup if the 23 year-old got a race seat.
DG said on 14th July 2008, 14:37
Journeyer – would it include the ‘Best of the Rest too? In which case it would be a very dramatic version of the NASCAR system…..
donwatters said on 14th July 2008, 16:42
Simply put, comparing F1 to NASCAR is like comparing apples to bicycles. There is absolutely no comparison. One is a high-tec, International series with highly-skilled drivers and a world-wide fan base. The other is simply a dull, not very interestin rural American spec series with a bunch of yahoo’s for fans.
Ben said on 14th July 2008, 19:02
@ Robert “The aero is destroying the ability to even run close, let alone pass, and that problem has just got worse and worse as long as I’ve been following the sport.”
I agree with this but feel the tracks have a bigger impact on the excitment, year after year we have great races at the great tracks (Montreal,Melbourne,Suzuka,Interlagos,spa,Monza) and processional races at the usual suspects (Barcelona,France, characterless Tilkedromes). Yes the aero does matter but if every race of the year was at a brilliant track then we would all be happy.
chunter said on 14th July 2008, 23:50
Trig, the opposite of “winningest” is “suckingest”.
I think the question being asked is, why is F1 having a closer championship in its not really identical cars than Nascar in their virtually spec cars?
I think the regs have made F1 more “spec” than most of us like to think, thank the engine freeze for that, and Nascar and other spec series where the same teams dominate prove that unless the spec is changed often, a few teams will learn to excel at it in a very drastic way.
Steve K said on 15th July 2008, 0:56
Nascar changed to the Chase format to emulate other pro sports and their playoff system–in the states, not something you guys over the pond have in EPL. Last years champ Jimmy Johnson didnt have a stronger year than Jeff Gordon, he just won damn near every chase race. This year Kyle Busch is just dominant.
I think it is because he is great at driving a loose race car and with the new car, it is really hard to make the handling feel right for the drivers. The thing that Nascar has that F1 doesnt is the ability for more than a few drivers to win a race. Kyle Busch might win the most, but a dozen or more guys will win a race (twice as many races and cars however).
Jonak said on 12th December 2010, 5:16
hello
Chace said on 12th December 2010, 18:36
Good entry. Totally agree with you.