Why the first lady of IndyCar is too slow for Formula 1

Danica Patrick’s victory in Japan at the weekend has given a huge boost in the arm for IndyCar, and naturally motorsport fans will now speculate on what might happen if Patrick were to compete in Formula 1. She’d suck, that’s what would happen – like most oval drivers who attempt to compete in F1.

Patrick only ever picks up points on easy peasy oval tracks – on road circuits she has shown again and again to be a mediocre, mid-grid driver, failing even to beat Champ Car runners in patched-up cars. F1’s twists and turns would not suit her at all.

Hell, she was even given power-assisted steering in her car for a couple of road races in 2007, because (presumably) she wasn’t strong enough to handle her wheels otherwise – the IRL claimed it was for testing purposes (all IRL cars have power-assisted steering in 2008, a move that you could argue was designed to help Patrick get her first win), but it sure looked like she was being given every opportunity to beat her male rivals and thereby generate much-needed publicity for a series that has fallen way behind F1 and Nascar in terms of popularity.