Kyle Kirkwood draws parallels between F1 and Indycar, makes it clear why F1 drivers have ‘absolute max’ benefit

Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood recently spoke about racing at the World Wide Technology Raceway. He also talked about the comparison between Formula One drivers and the IndyCar drivers.

The comparison between the two racing series started after Formula One decided to shift the Monaco Grand Prix, which usually takes place on the Indianapolis 500 weekend, starting from 2026. The iconic race has now been replaced by the Canadian Grand Prix. This raised questions among the fans regarding which was superior.

The 26-year-old drives the #27 Andretti Global car powered by Honda. He recently made an appearance on the podcast Speed Freaks, hosted by Kenny Sargent and Crash Gladys. The trio talked about the Bommarito Automotive Group 500, where Kirkwood took his third win of this season.

While in conversation, Sargent questioned Kirkwood if IndyCar drivers are better than Formula One drivers. The American driver replied while talking about the 'absolute max' benefit that the Formula One drivers have.

"So many factors that go into that you can't. I can't really answer that right, like a lot of the drivers that are in Formula One I've never raced against. There's 2 different kinds of, I would say mindsets when you look at or I guess disciplines. When you look at Formula One and IndyCar, you have to be good at all different types of courses, you have to be good at good at ovals. You gotta be good road courses, You gotta be good at street courses, some of the high-speed tracks and some of the lowest the Bumpy tracks." (07:20 Onwards)

"You gotta be really good at to put a championship together and for Formula 1, there they're really only racing on one type of circuit. So they are very disciplined in the sense for road course racing and being able to push the absolute max out of it, but then IndyCar drivers, you have to have this discipline of both racing all these different types of circuits," he added.

Kirkwood started the race at WWT Raceway in 10th place. The Andretti Global driver managed to fight his way up the grid. During the race restart, Kyle Kirkwood managed to slip past Arrow McLaren's Nolan Siegel and challenge Pato O'Ward for the victory. The #27 car driver eventually emerged victorious and got his first win at an oval.

As for his 2025 season, it is off to a strong start, as in the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg held on March 2, Kyle Kirkwood qualified in 9th place and finished in 5th place. At the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix held on June 1, he qualified in third spot and wrapped up the race in first place.

---

Kyle Kirkwood uncertain about winning the IndyCar Championship

Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood has been the only driver after Alex Palou to win multiple Grand Prix this season. However, the 26-year-old seems uncertain of himself winning the IndyCar championship.

During the Detroit Grand Prix, the championship leader Alex Palou had to retire from the race after a crash with David Malukas. This helped Kirkwood chip away at Palou's championship points. But when asked about winning the championship this season, the Andretti Global driver seemed uncertain. He said,

“We’re not really still in the hunt, I wouldn’t say. I could imagine. I don’t know what the points actually are, but it at least gives you a taste of, ‘oh, maybe we can claw back at this,’ which is pretty cool. I don’t know where we end up in the championship now. I know we were, I think, fifth coming into this weekend and now we’re second," said Kirkwood (via Pitdebrief)

Kyle Kirkwood currently sits in third place with 260 points in the drivers' championship.