The young stars opening doors in IndyCar

As Formula 1 constantly struggles to please its fans amid accusations of poor racing and a lack of overtaking (even if it is sometimes unfounded), IndyCar is in another one of its periods of being global motorsport's fashionista.

The fact that the cars move around a lot on track, have a push to pass system and feature a one-size-fits-all chassis, and that the racing is inevitably close creates an on-track package that delights fans even though it lacks the engineering and aerodynamic challenge that F1 encourages.

Part of that buzz around IndyCar is being fuelled by its young talent - even though one of the drivers who's generated that buzz is actually rapidly exiting the series as a consequence of how much he's impressed.

Patricio O'Ward, in the space of six months, has gone from being impressive rookie in a midfield IndyCar team (Carlin, in its defence is new to the series and competing against established two and three-car teams) to being the next potentially Formula 1 bound prodigy on Red Bull's books.

Ripped out of his IndyCar seat and thrust into Japan's Super Formula championship, the 20-year-old is now on a path that not many from the Road to Indy ladder system have travelled.

Then there's Colton Herta. O'Ward beat him to last year's Indy Lights title and was the more impressive when they made parallel IndyCar debuts in the Sonoma finale, but it's Herta who's had by far the stronger 2019 in results terms with a win and a pole this season.

His Harding Steinbrenner team - which O'Ward was set to drive for too until it emerged it didn't have a full-season car for him - has a technical affiliation with Andretti Autosport. That's given him better machinery than O'Ward's had at Carlin - and 19-year-old Herta has delivered with it.

He is the second highest-placed rookie in the standings after Felix Rosenqvist who, although new to IndyCar, has experience of some of the top racing championships in the world under his belt already and races for the Ganassi team that won the 2018 championship with Scott Dixon. Herta is also being looked at by F1 teams in the inevitable push to get a North American driver into the series once more.

What O'Ward and Herta have done for Askew is prove to teams that the Indy Lights stars are worth the punt

And the elevator of talent doesn't stop there. The uber-impressive journey of Oliver Askew is set to result in an IndyCar seat next season if the stars align properly.

The 22-year-old has had to fight for every seat, every mile and every chance in motorsport, but his unwavering determination to reach the top has been inspiring.

Winning USF2000, taking third in Pro Mazda and now leading the Indy Lights championship with three rounds to go, the Floridian is the poster child for the Mazda Road to Indy programme, which is set for a shake-up.

The Road to Indy scheme has offered the title winners in USF2000, Pro Mazda and Indy Lights the budget to make the next step up since 2010.

With backer Mazda pulling out, it has been fully taken on by Anderson Promotions (which promotes USF2000 and Pro Mazda) and run by Johnny Baker, known for his role as team boss of Road to Indy mainstay squad Team Pelfrey, and now promises even more cash than the previous programme.

Herta is the odd one out among the trio in the spotlight this year, in that he never actually won a Road to Indy title. The son of Champ Car and IndyCar race winner Bryan has been blessed with funding throughout his career, but has matched it with talent having moved to Europe and competed against the likes of Lando Norris and Dan Ticktum (pictured above) in his junior days.

There's no doubt that O'Ward and Askew would not be making the waves they are now if it wasn't for the Road to Indy programme.

Indeed, it will be key for Askew as the funds it awards will make sure that the perennially budget-chasing driver should have something to play with when it comes to an IndyCar seat next year, with $1.1million in the bank if he hangs on for the Lights crown.

What O'Ward and Herta have done for Askew is prove to teams that taking a gamble on the Indy Lights stars - even if the series hasn't produced high grid numbers - is worth the punt.

"You can see a little bit of that in F1 as well, teams are now realising that you don't have to have a fully experienced driver to have a fast car," Askew tells Autosport, fresh off his first IndyCar test at Portland with Chip Ganassi Racing earlier in August.

"Colton and Pato are proving that as well, and teams are now realising that the young drivers coming up, maybe they have more fire than the older guys, or something like that.

"But it's definitely good to see and it's giving me a lot of opportunities as well. I think teams are willing to go with younger drivers now."

It's a chicken and the egg situation; if the drivers coming through are strong, in turn that means the teams more likely to gamble on young talent.

Herta adds that, while he may be young at 19, he's more experienced than his race-winning father Bryan was when he made his own IndyCar.

"It's evolution," says Herta. "My dad was racing in IndyCar, he was young back then and he was 23. In Europe you couldn't get a licence to race a car until you were 18 then.

"I think it's just part of an evolution, letting kids get in it younger speeds up that process.

"I was racing cars at 12 years old. Obviously it looks like I'm very young but I've already been doing it seven years and I have more miles than my dad did when he came into in his rookie year in IndyCar."

One common denominator between the trio is that Herta, O'Ward and Askew all formed part of an Andretti-linked team in Indy Lights. Askew says that it's no coincidence that those drivers are the ones making it through.

"Running through the Andretti Lights programme is a pretty big part of that I think," says Askew, when asked why he felt Herta and O'Ward have made such an impression.

"That programme is second to none and I hope all have a bright future in IndyCar and it's time for the old guys to get out of the series now! [he laughs]."

As well as the Andretti programme, the Indy Lights car deserves a mention. Very few drivers who have excelled in Lights have embarrassed themselves in an IndyCar.

The Lights car - which has been in use since 2015 - is a bit more lairy than an IndyCar. Add IndyCar's softer tyres and the top-tier car is a lot more predictable. The tail-happy attitude of the Lights car prepares the drivers well for coping with adversity.

"The Indy Lights tyres have to last for an hour in the race, the sidewalls are quite stiff," adds Herta. "The car is mostly loose. It's the opposite in IndyCar, it's a lot easier to drive in a lot of ways, there's a lot more understeer built up.

"Obviously when you're finding that last half-second you have to be good, but when you get in the IndyCar it's not too big a fright. They can set it up to where it's very predictable."

This year's IndyCar rookie class is a tough one, with Herta and O'Ward up against ex-F1 driver Marcus Ericsson, ex-Formula E frontrunner Rosenqvist and former F1 test driver Santino Ferrucci. Both Ferrucci and Herta have moved back to the US from programmes in Europe, Ferrucci infamously imploding during his Formula 2 campaign by crashing into his team-mate and earning a two round ban. But he's rebuilt his career and reputation in the US, and delivered an extremely consistent campaign for Dale Coyne Racing.

In the same way the Road to Indy programme has raised the overall standard at junior single-seater level in North America, the growing reputation of IndyCar has simultaneously helped raise the standard of driver by making racers elsewhere more inquisitive about what it has to offer than in many years.

"It's definitely hard," said Herta of racing against the current rookies. "Felix is my biggest competition [for rookie of the year] for sure looking at the lap times and the averages.

"He's definitely the toughest rookie, from my standpoint, to beat. I've had a few good scraps with him and I love racing against him.

"It's not weird he's a rookie because this series is so different to anything he's done so he's for sure a rookie coming in.

Herta has raised a few eyebrows in the F1 paddock and the rumour mill has started churning

"I've been very fortunate in my career to race against a number of guys that have made it, RC Enerson, when I went to Europe with Dan Ticktum and Lando Norris, Ricky Collard, a lot of these guys that have made it to professional motorsport in as short of a time as I have.

"Obviously I've been blessed with a good crop of drivers to race against, I put that to a lot of my success too - as I was pushed really hard in my junior career."

It's not just rookies that are raising the standards either. Forgive the slight cliche, but Askew says IndyCar is "like a family". He picked out James Hinchcliffe as someone who'd been extremely helpful, while Herta says that "I think maybe I would make more mistakes without them" when asked about the help he gets from Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter Reay, the 2012 IndyCar champion, and Alexander Rossi, who is a title contender again this year.

Road to Indy has been conducive to the current crop of youngsters coming through, but of course good fortune and good timing is needed - look at the UK where George Russell, Alex Albon and Norris have all arrived in F1 simultaneously via very different junior paths prior to their 2018 F2 season together. It's a perfect set of circumstances that have triggered a school of stand-outs.

They look set to have longevity in F1, but can IndyCar keep hold of its rising young American stars? Every Lights champion of the Mazda Road to Indy era has at least made it to IndyCar - in fact every champion since Jay Howard in 2006 has done so - but for many staying there long-term or getting truly competitive opportunities has been the problem, with current championship leader Josef Newgarden a glorious exception.

O'Ward has already headed off on a different path, though despite the buzz around him, he still needs to do a lot to persuade Helmut Marko that Red Bull should give him one of its four F1 seats, even if his deal was "signed based on the possibility of a Formula 1 seat". Should that not work out, he would surely be welcome back in the IndyCar world given the potential he's shown so far.

Herta has raised a few eyebrows in the F1 paddock and the rumour mill has started churning - inevitably with Haas involved given the American link. Gene Haas has all along insisted that while he would like an American driver one day, their nationality was a secondary factor to talent. Yet that doesn't stop every talented young American being linked with a Haas F1 seat.

But while the futures of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen are currently uncertain, Herta spending another season with an Andretti affiliated team in IndyCar is his most likely path. He looks a future IndyCar champion.

Autosport sources indicate Ganassi were impressed with Askew's performance, especially on worn tyres, and it was totally typical of Askew that he was crying out for every piece of information from the start to the finish of the test, and digesting it quickly and effectively.

He'll likely have to settle for a smaller team than one of IndyCar's top three (Penske, Andretti, Ganassi), but the signs point to him being every bit as impressive as O'Ward and Herta in the future if he gets the chance. Ferrucci has managed it in another team outside of the top three in Dale Coyne's squad.

So the Road to Indy is enjoying a resurgence in terms of IndyCar success, even while grid numbers for its flagship Lights series in particular remain worryingly low. New American Formula 3 and Formula 4 championships in recent years have helped cloud the career path of young drivers in America - offering a cheaper alternative to the Road to Indy series but without the prize package.

America needs to avoid the situation that has hampered junior single-seaters everywhere else in the world with a plethora of series taking drivers off each other. The best talent all needs to be directed towards the same, big, grids.

But right now, the Road to Indy system can revel in its 2018 Lights top two and 2019 championship leader being drivers capable of winning future IndyCar titles and who wouldn't be out of place in F1.