Indy spectacle outshines F1’s jewel in the crown

You can’t beat the Monaco Grand Prix for glitz, style and glamour. But you can trump its racing product, as the Indianapolis 500 proved on Sunday. The real thrill of ‘racing’ around the streets of Monte Carlo is actually Saturday’s qualifying session, which again served up a thriller, with the top three covered by just 0.06s in the final reckoning. As Nelson Piquet so acutely observed, racing at Monaco is like “riding a bicycle around your living room” – whereas the vast expanse of Indy promotes close and thrilling action on raceday. While Monaco on Sunday was a total snorefest, with pit strategy defining any overtakes, Indy was anything but. Fernando Alonso’s presence was (of course) the main draw, but even he was overshadowed somewhat by some frantic racing and huge crashes. Now F1 will roll on to Canada, where we’d expect rather more potential for an exciting Sunday afternoon given past performance, IndyCar’s next step is Detroit. The racing will still be super-competitive, but the crowd and TV audience will be a fraction of what it was this weekend. Although depressing for all concerned, the buzz created by the Alonso factor shows that it still has something to offer the world stage. Think back to the mid-90s, and the Mansell/Villeneuve/Zanardi/Montoya years, before its wretched ‘split’, I always viewed it effectively as America’s answer to Formula 1. But, in its current form, it feels more like F2 (nee GP2) than anything. It’s going to take some time, but if IndyCar can repeat some of Sunday’s success with a stable calendar, and perhaps look outside its domestic shores once more, the good times could roll again for much more than one weekend per year again. – Charles Bradley, Editor in Chief [Indy 500: Sato wins after thrilling shootout with Castroneves]( [Alonso says he will "definitely" return to the Indy 500]( [Dixon escapes massive airborne crash that halts Indy 500]( [Monaco GP: Vettel uses strategy to topple Raikkonen for win]( [Ferrari favouring Vettel over Raikkonen - Hamilton]( Copyright © 2017 Motorsport.com, Inc., All rights reserved. Top news of the week Our mailing address is: Motorsport.com, Inc. 4100 NE 2nd AvenueMiami, FL 33137 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](