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...far less agile for adding a calendar event at the last minute. It's also not "American" like IndyCar or NASCAR, so it would not make sense for a celebration of the anniversary of America.

That said, there is a huge difference between the two series: the biggest being that a Formula One team is required to design and build two cars from the ground up with only a few systems being allowed to be bought from other vendors--engines and braking systems being the main things. One of the biggest impacts of that is that each team has to design and build their own chassis and aerodynamics packages.

IndyCar teams can run more than two cars, and they all currently run a Dallara IR-12 chassis (2012-present) with Dallara IR-18 aero kit. They can choose between a Honda HI24E hybrid Indy-V-6 and a Chevy INDYCAR V6 engine.

This--and not having to travel all over the world for races--makes IndyCar a much less expensive series to run. But it obviously does not foster the engineering development of Formula One.

Both series run a single tire manufacturer: Firestone Firehawk for IndyCar; Pirelli for Formula One. Both series have multiple compounds of the tires and require that teams run at least two during a dry race.

Formula One runs exclusively on "road courses"--meaning you have to turn right and left--while IndyCar runs on numerous "oval" tracks like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where drivers only make left-hand turns.

Both series make pit stops, but Formula One teams do not currently refuel during a pit stop--only change tires and wing settings--while IndyCars refuel with a rapid, gravity-fed and pressurized refueling system, allowing teams to fill the 22-gallon tank with Shell's 100% renewable racing fuel in less than 10 seconds. That's fast, but a Formula One pit stop takes about 2 seconds.

The other huge difference is that Formula One does a "standing start," while IndyCar does a "rolling start." The standing start is one of the most exciting things in all of sport IMO: 20+ of the fastest and best engineered machines in all of motorsport waiting on the lights to go out for an all-out zero-to-whatever sprint to the first turn.

HTH!