Will Buxton defends F1 from NASCAR and Indycar fans mockery
Will Buxton in the F1 paddock
Commentator Will Buxton launched an impassioned defence of F1 after NASCAR and IndyCar fans took to social media to mock the championship’s closest finish in over two decades.
George Russell held on to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix by 0.196 seconds from Max Verstappen, but the tight finish didn’t impress everyone.
Will Buxton fumes over rival fans’ “smart-arsery”
Even when there is a race-long battle for victory, it is rare that an F1 Grand Prix is decided by less than a second.
Taking advantage of the tow on the final lap last weekend, Verstappen missed out on an unlikely victory by just 0.196s.
While F1 basked in this and milked the moment on social media, fans of NASCAR and IndyCar were quick to point out that such close finishes are far more common in their championships.
Formerly a commentator for F1 and now with IndyCar, Buxton refused to let these comments slide.
“It was a very, very close finish; their closest since 2002, their closest race finish in 20 years,” he told Speed on Fox.
“I took a severe dislike to certain sections of the media and fanbases over the weekend from both NASCAR and IndyCar, who turned around and mocked it and laughed at it, and said, ‘We have closer finishes than that every weekend. We’ve had 100 closer finishes than that in the last five years’.
“Yeah, you have, on super speedways and one-and-a-half mile ovals, and all of that. It’s apples and oranges. You’re not dealing with the same thing.
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“I don’t like this smart-arsery of, ‘Oh, 0.2 seconds, 0.19 seconds; that’s cute.’ Come on, guys, grow up. Let the baby have its bottle.
“Formula 1 had a really great day, a really close finish. Why be a dick about it? It really wound me up.”
While it is true that IndyCar often has closer finishes than F1, especially on the ovals, the 2026 season saw just one finish closer than that of Baku.
This came in the Indianapolis 500, as Felix Rosenqvist managed to pass David Malukas on the line to win by 0.0233s.
Alongside Buxton was former NASCAR champion Kevin Harvick, who echoes the suggestion that it’s impossible to compare the various championships in such a black-and-white manner.
“The fact that it gets you so wound up, it puts it in perspective for everybody else,” said Harvick.
“A NASCAR fan is going to think about this as, ‘That’s not that close’, and then you’re like, ‘Well, I’ve looked it up and there are three road course finishes that have been that close’.
“When you can put that in perspective for people to help them understand that it is rare and you should celebrate something like this, it’s fun to be able to make them think about it from a different perspective.
“But I love that it gets you wound up.”
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