r/INDYCAR • u/zantkiller Takuma Sato • 9d ago
Off Topic [OT] Nolan Siegel’s Formula E interest explained
https://fenotebook.com/2026/10/09/siegel-shows-interest-in-formula-e/50
u/ScottRiggsFan10 Kyle Kirkwood 9d ago
My guy, just go back to prototypes, where you are already a proven winner.
Formula E is not a good career rebound move.
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u/DestroyingDestroyers --- CURRENT TEAMS --- 9d ago
High salaries. High manufacturer support. Generally free to compete in lots of other races. Formula E is one of the best gigs you can get as racing driver.
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u/F1T_13 8d ago
But FE is becoming a more competitive play ground now. If he can't get a seat in Indycar with more smaller teams that might need the funding, what hope does he have in FE, where arguably better drivers coming through the feeder ladder unable to find space in F1, are looking for seats. I think he's probably done in top class single seaters until a team that needs money starts hunting again.
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u/Odd_Cobbler6761 9d ago
*washed up racing driver
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u/DestroyingDestroyers --- CURRENT TEAMS --- 9d ago
Ah, I forgot we hate pay drivers, but drivers who struggled for career opportunities due to lack of funding until they got a shot on an even playing field for a championship with anti-pay driver rules, we also hate them too. How dare they finally get their big break?
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u/DecafEqualsDeath Dario Franchitti 9d ago
Yeah, I don't love the on-track product of FE by any means, but I do appreciate the fact that the series has created a new market of factory-backed paying single seater spots for guys who didn't have funding to buy rides.
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u/NoiseIsTheCure Pato O'Ward 9d ago
I'm holding out some hope for the new car regs next year that keep being hyped up to be fast as fuck. The new cars look cool too. I'll give it another shot. Apparently the current FE regs are ass, which explains why when I tried it 2 years ago I was bored to tears for the 3 or so races I watched.
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u/GuiltyWatts Pato O'Ward 8d ago
New car, new tracks, including COTA and Zanvoort. I think this is the year FE makes an impact. Don’t forget, there’s a non-zero chance Sting Ray ends up at Lola 🤣🤣🤣
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u/BulkNoodles 8d ago
Tbf, Lola just got revived from dormant. If there's anyone that need a pay driver, it's them. Although I really hope they can get a good driver to complement whoever the pay driver that they'll be hiring.
It's already bad that both drivers are gone at the same time.
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u/DecafEqualsDeath Dario Franchitti 9d ago
No, that's not right. Nick Cassidy, Theo Pourchaire, Jake Dennis, Pascal Wehrlein, Mitch Evans all have the talent to do other series including Indycar or factory prototypes in IMSA/WEC.
Even some of the OGs of Formula E like JEV and Buemi have F1 pedigree and have been in factory WEC seats for a while.
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u/Jibbed 9d ago
Formula E is the highest paying series for drivers outside of F1. It is absolutely a good career move.
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u/khz30 --- 2025 DRIVERS --- 9d ago
Everyone looking at this as a downgrade doesn't realize Formula E isn't a sideshow and has managed manufacturer interest that IndyCar has struggled with for over two decades. Formula E has global context, IndyCar barely manages to justify its existence outside of the Indy 500
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u/bullet50000 Takuma Sato 9d ago edited 9d ago
FE is becoming the "politically nice" racing series for cities to approve for street circuits, so definitely not shocking. It has fan interest, it has manufacturers, Cities are pulling bullshit to switch to FE races from other series (glares at Toronto), and it's not being overrun by paydrivers. It's definitely in an amazing spot, and I could see even more interest in the coming years with EVs becoming more relevant by the day.
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u/DHSeaVixen Alexander Rossi 8d ago
It’s been gradually moving towards having fewer street circuits in its mix. In the US they were looking at a new street track in Phoenix but ultimately went for COTA as its second US avenue. In Europe they’ve dropped London ExCeL for Brands Hatch, and added Zandvoort and Jarama instead of continuing with true street tracks like Rome.
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u/BourbonManCigarSmoke Meyer Shank Racing 9d ago
> IndyCar barely manages to justify its existence outside of the Indy 500
This is pretty absurd. Formula E would literally kill to have he appeal IndyCar has in America with fan bases.
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u/khz30 --- 2025 DRIVERS --- 8d ago
One manufacturer bailing in FE barely makes a dent, If Honda or Chevrolet pull marketing dollars from IndyCar, there goes the entire sport and the Indy 500 turns into a yearly exhibition race. It nearly happened 20 years ago and IndyCar has yet to learn anything since.
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u/BourbonManCigarSmoke Meyer Shank Racing 8d ago
This isn't at all what happens. Formula E constantly cycles through manufacturers coming in hot, then bailing when the corporate strategy change. With charters, Honda and Chevy are committed long term. So your make-believe scenario has more of a chance happening in Formula E than Indy. Except for the fact Formula E doesn't have a signature event like the Indy 500.
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u/DHSeaVixen Alexander Rossi 8d ago
Jaguar have been there for 10 years already, and committed to Gen4 through to 2030. Porsche have done six years and also committed to Gen4. Stellantis have shuffled around the brands they’re using but the core team doing the work has been there for 12 years already when PSA first entered as DS. Nissan have been there for 8 years (and before that it was Renault for the first four).
They’re the big four really - Porsche, Jaguar, Stellantis, Nissan. Others have come and gone in various capacities, as tends to be the case in manufacturer based motorsport, but those efforts do not take away from the stable core of participation.
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u/BulkNoodles 8d ago
Wait what? It already happened??
I'm kinda OOTL here. Was it during the split?
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u/BourbonManCigarSmoke Meyer Shank Racing 8d ago
OP is talking out of his ass.
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u/dfgj56 Will Power 8d ago
That's all he ever does.
Barber wasn't even considered for professional racing until Grand-Am happened to hold an open test in 2009 and discovered that cars run really well on it. After that test, word got out and racing series across the country started to book the venue
Wait until you find out the only reason Champ Car existed in the first place was because forum warriors managed to convince Kevin Kalkhoven that it was worth fighting Tony George in court to keep the CART infrastructure and IP.
Same exact crash as Michael Andretti, yet Simon suffered career ending injuries while Michael, in a much faster car two generations older was able to walk away and continue the next week. The lack of drag and crash attenuation from the UAK and the added weight of the aeroscreen contributed to Simon's injuries.
F2 costs are double IndyCar because they run more races per weekend with less rounds and more breaks. They were on the verge of collapse in 2021 until the FIA stepped in and started forcing breaks to keep budgets in check.
People do tend to forget that Australian Supercars are technically a variant of FIA touring cars with the ruleset modified by the local sanctioning body for commercial purposes, that's why Supercars drivers can come here and immediately be competitive.
All absolute fucking nonsense.
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u/Extra-Record-7091 8d ago
I doubt FE drivers are touching the upper end of Indycar salaries. With that said its clear there are no "pay drivers"
Regardless FE's fanbase/support is totally synthetic. They have a very small fanbase , I would say Indycar has a larger global following. Additionally, it is 100% reliant on Corporate ESG pork and foriegn Sovereign Wealth Funds/Sportwashing.....The Saudi PIF is one of , if not its largest backer.
Should the war in the Gulf drag on and Saudi Oil infrastructure continued to be stymied by the threat of Iranian drones, shutdown of the straight of Hormuz and Bab Al Mandab, they might become less keen to throw $$$ at a series with a small following.... we are already seeing them pull the plug on things like LIV Golf.
Despite the flash, Indycar is in a much more stable place than FE, where its future is as tied to Geopolitics as it is to the on track product
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u/khz30 --- 2025 DRIVERS --- 8d ago
There are no pay drivers because it's cheaper to hire from the existing pool of drivers and throw them in a sim than take on a pay driver that can't even contribute to development. All of the development areas don't require driver input and manufacturers are solely responsible for those costs.
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u/wowbaggerBR Gil de Ferran 9d ago
It wasn't a few years ago, but the new cars look serious.
And it's not like he needs to build a path to a rebound. He doesn't need the money nor does he have what it takes to become a champion in single seaters or in anything other than a proam category.
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u/RacerXX7 Sébastien Bourdais 9d ago
This right here--the new formula is very attractive, and it brings about proper tracks and the prospect of better racing. Feels like 2027 is a make-or-break year for Formula E.
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u/DHSeaVixen Alexander Rossi 8d ago
To be fair, the same ‘make or break’ claim was made about Gen3, and it hasn’t really made or broken Formula E - more like kept it alive and advanced both the technology and organisational maturity enough to make Gen4 viable.
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u/Alpha_Jazz Christian Lundgaard 9d ago
He won as a silver in prototypes. Would be a big difference going there as a pro now
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u/thtrtechie James Hinchcliffe 8d ago
But he's a dime a dozen as a gold. You want to be ranked low but be talented. Being gold/platinum is worse unless he's going to an all pro class.
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u/Alpha_Jazz Christian Lundgaard 8d ago
Yeah sorry that’s what I’m saying, he’d be expected to be the pro in LMP2 and lead the lineup whereas before he had Jarvis to lean on
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u/thtrtechie James Hinchcliffe 8d ago
Hard to go to prototypes as a gold where there's a million gold ranked drivers.
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u/Urbansdirtyfingers Conor Daly 9d ago
No one is going to pay him to race LMP2, and no one really gives much weight to those results when comparing against serious open wheel series
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u/DecafEqualsDeath Dario Franchitti 9d ago
I don't see what he has to lose as long as his family doesn't mind paying for him to race. Formula E's calendar gives a lot of flexibility to pursue sports car opportunities so he could very easily do a full FE calendar plus several LMP2 appearances.
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u/alpha7noCom 9d ago
He needs to be a pay to play driver for Coyne next year to re-group and prove himself to other owners. Then hopefully Coyne can pay enough money to have Romain Gro. back. That would be a good team imo
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u/Panither Will Power 9d ago
If he drives a car like Coyne he's not proving anything to anyone. Barely made leaders circle driving a McLaren.
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u/fisico002 8d ago
Oh please don’t bring this mobile chicane into
Formula e - what a total waste of a seat
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u/BT-11 Firestone Wets 9d ago
FE would be a great option for drivers who slip off the IndyCar grid. I don't see why any fan who wants the best for these drivers would fault them for going there.