IndyCar Champ Josef Newgarden Says Formula 1 Is Not as Appealing as It Used to Be

While two-time IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden says he's never one to close a door to a racing opportunity, he admits that Formula 1 no longer appeals to him like it once did.

There was a time when Newgarden dreamed of being the next great American hope in F1.

Then he got a wake-up call.

"For me the allure of F1 I think is the gravity of the cars," Newgarden said during this week's NTT IndyCar Series preseason media days event. "When I think about F1, I think about a manufacturers championship, trying to build the quickest cars that you can within—I should say within an unreasonable budget. That's what was exciting about it.

"The older I've gotten, the more I've been in racing and watched Formula 1, I don't know it's somewhere I really want to race. It doesn't look as much of a driver's championship to me.

"It's a very impressive championship, it always has been. It's something I would certainly like to do. I'd like to drive everything that I could to have the experience. Then I'd have more first-hand knowledge to really speak on it."

Newgarden was on the path to Formula 1 early in his race career. He seemed to be well on his way up that ladder in 2009 when he moved from Tennessee to Europe to put all of his eggs in the British Formula Ford championship. There, he finished runner-up in the points to James Cole. Newgarden led that series with nine wins in 25 races in '09.

Cole went on to get as far as Formula 2 in the ladder before racing British Touring Cars for six years.

Newgarden, meanwhile, went on to race for Carlin in GP3 in 2010, where he finished 18th in the points. That disappointing showing derailed the F1 dream. He then returned to Ameica and went on to race in the Indy Lights Series in 2011 before beginning his IndyCar career in 2012 with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing.

"I think IndyCar is really where you're going to get the most competitive product as a racing driver," Newgarden said. "When you're a driver at the top level, you want to have an opportunity to compete, to win the championship, to win big races regardless of your situation.

"I think unfortunately that's not present in Formula 1. So from that standpoint, it's not as appealing. But I'd never say never on anything. You just never know how this stuff shifts."

For now, however, the 31-year-old Newgarden is all-in for IndyCar. This year, he's back for a sixth year with Team Penske, where he will team with drivers Scott McLaughlin and Will Power.

"For me IndyCar is my life," Newgarden said. "It's a championship I care about more than any in the world. I want to see it flourish because it really deserves a lot of recognition I think for the incredible championship it is."