Hollinger compares ownership in F1 versus IndyCar

Brad Hollinger is among the few that have seen the world of Formula 1 and the IndyCar Series from an ownership perspective.

In 2014, the Pennsylvania native dove into the pinnacle of motorsport and became the second-largest shareholder and a board member at Williams. He spent six years with the team before selling off his 15% share and then in 2021 invested in a vision presented by Ricardo Juncos and became co-owner of Juncos Hollinger Racing (JHR) and jumped into the IndyCar Series.

In nearly three full-time seasons in IndyCar, JHR has ascended up the grid year-on-year, to the point of nearly touching the podium just two races ago after Romain Grosjean captured fourth place at Laguna Seca and recorded the team’s best-ever result.

With significant time now spent in both F1 and IndyCar, Hollinger recently talked exclusively with Autosport to share his thoughts on how the two single-seater categories compare.

“In some ways it’s almost identical,” Hollinger said. “The enjoyment, the passion, the thrill, it’s very similar, no doubt. I happened to hit it quite perfectly with Williams. Williams had floundered after the BMW deal, then they brought in Toto Wolff and he made some changes, all for the good. Brought in Pat Symonds, who did a great job.

“The first race I went to after I bought in, in 2014, was Austria; we qualified first and third. We ended up third that season, third the next season. So, it was quite a good fairytale to say the least.

“Then, as they tend to do in Formula 1, the money dried up a bit. Claire [Williams] took over for her dad and it became difficult to be competitive. That was not so fun. It became more of a pure business and a whole lot less a fun, passionate sport.”

And that’s what forced Hollinger to look at IndyCar.

“Compare that to IndyCar where, a brand new team – Ricardo did a great job setting up an Indy NXT organisation, but I know he’d done one race, the Indy 500, a couple of years before in IndyCar,” Hollinger said.

“He wanted to get into IndyCar, I said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to as well’ coming from Formula 1. It’s meaningfully different. The racing, to me, is infinitely better. It’s fiercely competitive and close, but the atmosphere I love because, to me, it’s much more collegial, much more open, not so much this cloak-and-dagger shit that…