I’ve always known about the existence of Formula 1. Who doesn’t? Even people who don’t watch F1 have heard of champions like Schumacher, Sena, or Prost.
As I grew up I followed some races from time to time, but I was not quite what you can call an F1 fanboy. That changed in 2017. I was at the University at that point and my roommate was in love with Formula 1, so I think his passion was infectious. The tricky part was that I had to learn a lot of things about F1. I started reading more about the past seasons at that point to basically discover the history of this incredible sport. I enjoy being up to date when I have a passion for something, so I think in a few months after getting the F1 “bug”, I was able to have conversations with an F1 addict, so I’d say that’s not bad.
“There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games,” said Ernest Hemingway.
I’m a “car guy”. I’ve just always loved cars and everything that involves them. A lot of my free time is spent reading car magazines or watching different tv shows about them. So it wasn’t that hard for me to fall in love with Formula 1.
I think the most interesting part of this sport is the fact that it’s a combination of teamwork and an individual struggle. There are entire factories developing engines, aero parts, tires, and whatnot to the absolute limit of perfection. Speaking of tires, people should be aware that, in a pit stop, the crew is changing them in 2-3 seconds (in 2019 Red Bull smashed the world record with a 1.82s pit stop in Brazil), so we are discussing maximum performance here. Also, keep in mind that Formula 1 drivers usually experience 5 g while braking, 2 g while accelerating, and 4 to 6 g while cornering.
And what is even more interesting is that all this organizational part can be both crowned or ruined by the driver. There are races where tenths of a second can make a difference between having the pole position or not. Not to mention that a second difference could get you a P10 in the qualifying rounds instead of a P1. Where does that happen in real life or in many other sports? Not to mention that the drivers sometimes risk their lives at speeds over 300 km/h. You can feel the adrenaline only watching it on TV, so I can only imagine how focused you must be as a driver, basically, all the time, hunting perfection.
F1 is a theatre on wheels. It has the spectacle, the surprise, and the speed!
As I have previously said, I enjoy the most the way all the teams are searching for the absolute limit. Precision is the main key in Formula 1 and I don’t think there is any other sport where such perfection is the goal. But besides this, I think there are other likable things in the sport. I do enjoy the fact that your heart can go nuts in a P16-P17 battle, even though those positions won’t even get any point in the standing for either the driver or the team. Ah, the readers will be mad at me, but, yes, sorry for forgetting – the most likable is the engine sound. I mean, it’s just a 1.6L V6, not V8 or V10s anymore, but I had the opportunity to watch a race live, in Hungaroring, and you can still hear that those cars develop around 1000 HPs. Even though the future is electric, fans do love the noise and it just makes you live in the moment, just as you would at some music concert. We could compare twenty V6 sounds with a symphony, I guess they could play some of this at the Wien’s concert every year in January and nobody would get mad. Ehm, dear reader, isn’t it true that the F1 fans could sometimes get weird? 😊
I love Formula 1, not just a single team or driver
Don’t ask me what team or driver I love because that question can be a tricky one. I do like some teams and drivers, so, sorry, I can’t just choose one. And actually, I am happy about that because Ferrari is the most loved team in F1 and I can’t imagine how hard it can be for these fans to watch races each year and know the last trophy the team won was in 2007. No, I’m not making fun of anyone, what I want to point out is two things: the F1 fans are real addicts and they do love their teams no matter what and, two, I prefer to enjoy each race and be happy for most of the drivers, trying not to be that upset if the results didn’t come out as I wanted them to, since in Formula 1, some simple raindrops can make the race a circus. 😊
But I will say some words about my favorite drivers and teams. Speaking of teams, I do love RedBull, it’s so crazy what this team has achieved, I mean this brand officially started selling energizers. RedBull is like no other team pushing their aero performance to the maximum and they are constantly at the top. I do sympathize with Renault because I owned one, but they aren’t fighting in the top tier at the moment. Real F1 fans will now hate me, but there is no team more organized than Mercedes, so you can’t help but love the perfection they offer almost every race.
Speaking of drivers, my favorite one is Max Verstappen, he is such a young talent with a motivation that I think will make him multiple times champion in the future. I do like Ricciardo because he is such a funny character and, somewhere, down deep, I think I would like Hamilton to become the GOAT this season. I know, people say he doesn’t deserve it, but I do want this because he is super constant, like no other driver, and it would be a tribute for how Mercedes simply played, for years, with other teams.