How I Started following F1, and Why You Might Like It Too!
The Very beginning…
Random adult: What do you wanna become when you grow up?
Me as a kid: Car racer! (in an over-excited high-pitched tone)
Over time I realized that it was my fascination for speed that made me wanna be a racer. The very first game I played was “Mario-Kart Double-Dash!” on GameCube. I play this game to this very day! (These days on an emulator) Anyone could tell by now that speed and racing have been my thing for a very long time. I still remember the day I saw the Cars movie in the theatre.
It was the first time I felt the adrenaline rush and the joy of seeing a race on screen. I was left in awe. We all know that F1 is the sport with the fastest cars, so that is what I fell in love with!
How I Got Hooked Onto F1
When I was 8½ years old, I started reading newspapers. This was when I first read about Formula 1 and its races. That year, the rookie team of the name Brawn GP had won due to the other cars’ technical advantage at the beginning of the season. I still remember, whenever the newspaper came, I’d take out all the supplements that came along with it. And turn to the last 2 pages for the sports section and read the column dedicated to F1 every weekend. I’d read it and imagine the picture of the whole race in my head. Then I’d go onto YouTube and watch the race highlights. This was all I had access to, but this joy of racing was just a feeling that I’d never get from anything else. Since then, i.e., from 2011, I watched every F1 race till I was in high-school. I’d enjoy the feel of it, and it would linger for quite a while in my mind.
My Journey of Being an F1 Fan
I followed F1 “religiously” till 9th grade. But then I went on to this dark phase of life, like most other engineering students: entrance exam preparation. I was cut from social media, newspaper, and television for the next 3 years. This was one of the most anxious years. My favourite F1 driver was very close to winning the championship but didn’t. This was because of the many factors that are part and parcel of the sport. I couldn’t follow it due to my situation, and to this day, I feel restless because of this. The information I got was through school newspapers, and that wasn’t enough.
Once I cleared my entrance exams, I was back on track! Yet, I was sad to find that a lot had changed, and my favourite driver wasn’t anywhere close to winning, though it wasn’t his fault ( I know some of you who follow F1 will be ready to argue now :D). Nevertheless, I continue to remain his fan no matter he wins or loses.
As Zeke (my co-blogger) rightly put it, “You’ll arrive at a conclusion unknowingly factoring in what kind of person the driver is outside of Formula One, how the team dynamics work, and who do you empathize with and resonate with more” and “A bond would be made”. The good news for me here is that my favourite driver is now moving to a new and more promising team than he was earlier, which is hopefully the dawn of more success for him soon.
F1: It's an emotion!
Team Sport
Contrary to popular belief, F1 is a team sport. What you might see is that every racer is racing for himself. The reality is that the driver, his teammate, the engineers who design and make the car, the test driver, and the team principal work harmoniously and take the right decisions. It takes many on-track gambles, strategy change, etc., for a team to succeed and take the top step in the constructor’s title. Given that F1 cars are the fastest vehicles in motorsports, a small change can vary the car’s quickness and cost several places in the standings.
Onboards
A question to my readers. Have you ever had the desire to go faster or told your dad or elder sibling to go faster (might be either car or bike) just for the thrill of it? I am sure most of you would have. This proves that most of us like the thrill and adrenaline rush of going fast. You get to experience something like this in F1 in the form of onboards. It is one of the things I eagerly look forward to after every race weekend or pre-season testing. Onboards are the recordings of a camera placed on an F1 car. It shows you kind of what the drivers see. You feel like you are playing a racing game when you see it. It gives you the thrills, but not as much as what the drivers in the cars experience.
Skill and the Risk Involved
A person would start to appreciate the skill and bravery of an F1 driver when he/she sees the onboards. He/she would understand the complicated, challenging, and tricky situations the driver faces during a race. The decisions a driver makes in these situations may decide if he can come out of the race alive. I have witnessed many such situations, and my admiration and respect for all drivers keep going up every time I see such a thing.
To be honest, I showed my friend the crash in Bahrain GP in the 2020 F1 season that involved Romain Grosjean, and he gained so much respect for the F1 drivers. He went on to watch many onboards and instantly became an F1 fan. One can easily admire and respect the skill in every driver and the fact that they brush their shoulders against death more often than not.
The Harsh Side of F1
This leads to the fact that sometimes the drivers get too unlucky, resulting in a fatal accident. The most recent incident was at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in the F2 race series (I’d suggest you look up what F2 is if you didn’t know earlier). It involved Anthoine Hubert and Juan Manuel Correa in what was an unavoidable crash. I, sadly, happened to witness this incident live as it happened as I was watching the race. The motorsport world lost an exceptional talent and friend to many in Anthoine Hubert on 31st August 2019.
Juan Manuel Correa got both his legs fractured and got a spinal injury. He is set for a return to racing in F3 this year, after one and a half years of battle against himself and inspiring recovery. All drivers drive knowing that they may meet the same fate in the back of their heads. This also puts so much more pressure on them than an average person can handle.
Safety
With this said, the FIA (I’d encourage you to look this up on the web, in case u didn’t know =D) DO NOT TAKE HALF MEASURES WHEN IT COMES TO SAFETY! The most recent major safety regulations introduced the inclusion of the Halo on the cockpit. This was first hated by many. But now, after seeing Romain Grosjean escaping a near-death experience in Bahrain GP in 2020, we (as in, all of us who follow F1) are all glad and grateful that the Halo was introduced. The FIA continues to strive to make racing safer without compromising on the entertainment derived from it.
Conclusion
I guess it is safe to conclude that F1 ain’t for the weak-hearted. This applies to both the driver and the viewers. Every race I watch is as exciting as the previous one, if not more. Every season takes me on a rollercoaster of emotions. F1 is what makes me feel complete! Most of the excitement is owed to the unpredictability of the sport. But it is also terrifying, as you never know what could happen. This unpredictability is what makes F1 one of the most entertaining sport. This is why I have been following it and will be following the sport religiously.
“Auto racing, bullfighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports… all the others are games.” ~Ernest Hemingway
Until next time… take care. Cheers!
