Cars blast by roaring fans at 220 mph at the 2025 Formula One (F1) Sāo Paulo Grand Prix on Nov. 9. Oracle Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen overtakes 18 cars to rise to the podium. On the same day at the NASCAR season finale in Phoenix, driver Kyle Larson won his second championship. Although both racing series provide entertaining motorsports action, F1 reigns supreme to NASCAR due to its advanced engineering, global circuit selection and racing style.
For 75 seasons, F1 has provided fast-paced racing action that pushes the boundaries of engineering and aerodynamics. In F1, teams employ hundreds to thousands of aerodynamic specialists, engineers and mechanics who work each day to gain tenths of a second on the track. The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) sets regulations for F1, and teams have the freedom to construct their cars within those limits. The 10 different F1 teams can choose a unique philosophy for car design, which results in vastly different designs for each team. In addition, car manufacturers can make changes to parts of their car each race that can sometimes alter a team’s entire season.
In contrast to F1, NASCAR is a stock car series. In NASCAR, the rules require teams to use a standardized vehicle frame and aerodynamics that restrict teams from designing their own cars. Without the aspect of car design and upgrades, NASCAR lacks depth compared to F1, where teams’ abilities to change their cars keeps fans tuning in each week to see if a team can make a surprise charge to the top of the grid.
For example, in 2023, McLaren introduced a major upgrade package at the Austrian and British Grands Prix that transformed its car and propelled drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to their best results of the season. The team jumped from sixth in the standings before the Austrian Grand Prix to fourth by the season’s end.
F1 races span five continents, with venues such as the Netherlands, Singapore, Brazil and the Las Vegas strip. By contrast, NASCAR’s top-level Cup Series is held exclusively in North America, which limits racing at more exciting and historic race venues around the world. The tracks themselves differ, as NASCAR mostly runs on ovals, but F1 features complex circuits with rapid speed changes and dozens of turns. The global venues and dynamic racing style make F1 more engaging and allow for more creative overtaking.
The difficulty of overtaking is largely track-dependent. At some races, such as the Sāo Paulo Grand Prix, drivers like Max Verstappen can charge from the back of the grid to place on the podium, showing that F1 still features exciting overtakes. Despite this, many people believe that overtaking is too hard and too infrequent in F1. In the current set of regulations, set to expire at the end of this season, cars have trouble navigating “dirty air,” a phenomenon that occurs when a car gets too close to the car ahead, decreasing its aerodynamic performance, making overtaking more difficult. An example of this was in the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix, where the first lap included 15 overtakes, which was down from the previous year’s 48 overtakes.
Furthermore, F1 dedicates a large effort to improve overtaking by introducing new 2026 regulations, making the cars smaller and lighter, which the FIA hopes will improve overtaking. Even though there might be more overtaking action in NASCAR, the technical aspects of F1 more than make up for it. The engineering of F1 keeps viewers engaged, and the worldwide track selection keeps weekends unique. Its racing style makes it one of the most high-action sports in the world. So the next time you are watching TV, choose to watch F1 over NASCAR – you won’t regret it.
Nolan Talley can be reached at [email protected].
