Indianapolis — The Indy 500 is not just the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, it is the greatest spectacle in hybrid racing.
As manufacturers rushed towards an electrified future over the last decade, motorsports became a key technological proving ground. In Europe, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile developed the all-electric Formula E series and introduced a 50/50 hybrid system into Formula One, the world’s premier motorsports series, for 2026. The new F1 setup has been smothered in controversy.
In North American racing, by contrast, professional motorsports took a more measured course with mild hybrids in both the IndyCar and IMSA Weathertech Sportscar series. Showcased in a gripping Indy 500 on Sunday, the Chevrolet and Honda-powered hybrids have been better received.
While the Indy 500 had its closest finish ever after a record 70 lead changes, Formula One’s Montreal Grand Prix the same day featured another cakewalk by its richest team, Mercedes, while cars fell prey to mechanical issues.
The experience, according to interviews here with drivers, engineers and team owners, offers a teachable moment for the industry and the motorsports market entwined with it. Indeed, the FIA recently indicated that it is looking to follow the IndyCar example with a mild-hybrid, V8-powered engine formula.
“In Formula One, clearly the 50/50 ratio didn’t work,” said two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato, 42, who finished 10th Sunday at the Brickyard. In IndyCar, “the internal-combustion-engine is the main power source, and hybrid is just helping for more fun.”
Drivers primarily use the hybrid for power assist, not unlike a production Honda Civic or Corvette E-Ray.
“I believe (IndyCar) got it right,” said Helio Castroneves, who competed in his 26th Indy 500 Sunday — a race he has won four times. “It’s a new tool that drivers can use. I understand that manufacturers want to use that for their ordinary cars. It’s all about win on Sunday, sell on Monday.”
Open-wheel IndyCars share almost nothing with production vehicles — carbon fiber-tub chassis, single-seat cockpits, high-downforce wings — but automakers have been determined to make their powertrains relevant in the current politicized landscape. IndyCars race on corn-based ethanol in a sport that competes heavily in the Midwest, and use electrified engines that are fashionable with regulators.
“We are doing the right thing for, in terms of, say, the times,” said Sato.
Auto analyst Karl Brauer of ISeears.com isn’t convinced the public cares. “Formula E is the most extreme example of an alternative drivetrain not resonating with race fans, but even less-aggressive technology like hybrid drivetrains still don’t excite most race fans,” he said.
Leadership has played a key role in both series’ commitment to battery power.
IndyCar and IMS Speedway owner Roger Penske has insisted that motorsports maintain its gas-powered sound for fan entertainment. “We didn’t buy the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to run around there with electric cars,” he told The Detroit News in 2021.
Penske appeared prescient when he told media at the Detroit Grand Prix in 2022, “I don’t think you’re going to see the world go all-electric. I think you’ll see hybrid solutions in all kinds of transportation sectors.”
Formula One, by contrast, bowed to manufacturers who said gas engines were kaput — committing to 50/50 hybrids where batteries and an internal-combustion engine share the workload. The result has been awkward racing as the cars require battery regeneration mid-lap.
The result has been ridicule from drivers and fans who compare F1 racing to Mario Kart.
“You just have to get rid of the battery. So hopefully in a few years, that’s the case,” said reigning F1 champion Lando Norris.
“The energy density is not there,” David Salter, Honda Racing chief for North America, said of heavily-electric drivetrains.
But Salter has warmed to hybrids as an ICE supplement that enhances fuel efficiency and power — like its performance forebears, turbochargers and superchargers.
“What we actually tried to do here is help the show a bit, where it gives you more push to pass,” said Salter. “Let’s use (electric motors) for both. Let’s use it (also) to be efficient, because we should be being efficient.”
Other drivers haven’t been as impressed with the system’s usefulness.
“The hybrid has brought zero benefit to the series in every way, shape and form,” said Arrow McLaren IndyCar driver Pato O’Ward, a fourth-place finisher this year. “(IndyCar) should trust — ‘What do your fans really want to see?’”
Alexander Rossi, who qualified on the front row for the 500, had his hybrid engine fail at the Sonsio Grand Prix this May.
“It’s pretty annoying to have failures on the car because of a product we didn’t ask for that doesn’t improve the racing,” Rossi said. “So that’s frustrating.”
The hybrid system’s relevance to production has failed to attract a third manufacturer to IndyCar. By comparison, IMSA — where Honda and General Motors also compete with their luxury Acura and Cadillac brands — has been a home run.
Six manufacturers compete in the series’ hybrid, so-called GTP class this year. The secret sauce? A common hybrid system allows manufacturers to run the ICE engine of their choice — whether a 5.5-liter V-8 in the case of Cadillac or Acura’s 2.4-liter, twin-turbo-6.
“In IMSA we use the hybrid in a different way,” said Salter. “We launch the vehicle electrically out of the pits and then switch on the gas engine, which is pretty cool. We get the juxtaposition of electric and racing engine.”
Honda and General Motors engage in hybrid racing in three distinct series: IMSA (and the World Endurance Championship), IndyCar and F1. Salter prefers to look at them as experiments.
“They are all different, all evolving,” said the veteran engineer who headed Ferrari’s F1 engine development before moving to Honda in 2015. “The main thing is the learning — and taking learning into the larger company.”
He considers racing the original automotive startup, given the constant innovation and deadline demands that the race schedule requires. He and his team regularly take their learnings back to the mothership. For example, to the Honda Technical Forum in Japan.
Has F1’s hybrid experiment been a mistake?
“They tried something very adventurous in F1,” he said. “Now they have to adjust things. They are extreme, and that is what F1 is supposed to be.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: How IndyCar/IMSA got hybrids right while F1 struggles
Reporting by Henry Payne, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
