Like many of us, during the first part of the Covid-19 shutdowns in March of 2020, I was so fucking bored. It wasn’t the first time I had an ungodly amount of free time, growing up in a house of loose rules led me to always have free time; whether deserved or not is another question. But, during the pandemic, it was the first time I was forced into boredom outside of my control, which led a lot of us into strange hobbies. From making sourdough bread to working on a 20-minute standup set, I was rabidly losing hobbies by the week. Like a small dumb child not realizing there's a hole in my easter egg basket, I would drop and pick up the same few hobbies over and over again. That is until Drive to Survive came into my life. For the ill-informed, Drive to survive is a now four-season reality show surrounding the wild, European, and frankly very foreign world of Formula One racing. The first season focuses on the then Red Bull (yes the energy drink (also spoilers, sorry!)) Daniel Riccardo, who is the audience proxy into the world of F1. Riccardo is an Australian driver, at one time considered one of the best up-in-comers in the sport, and it's really no surprise why the first season focuses so heavily on him, he’s absolutely electric on camera. He has the exact personality a Lehman in the sport thinks a racing driver should have, very personable, confidence falling out of his pockets, and the “Who cares if I die, I’m going fast” mentality. Riccardo is the subject of Season one, however, as the show goes along and more and more drives and teams realize the benefit, the access the show gets goes through the roof. As the series progresses, it begins to be dominated by the relationship between Red Bull and Mercedes, the two top running teams of the last couple of years. Mercedes, coming into Drive to Survive, is the most dominant team of the Hybrid era, with their driver Lewis Hamilton winning 7 total drivers championships. Formula One had its first official race on May 13th, 1950, with the pack of drivers, known as the grid, taking part in the major six European Grand Prix as well as the Indianapolis 500. The history of F1 is one part that I’ve yet to do my full deep dive into, however, I did a small experience with F1 before watching Drive to Survive, and that was when I went to the 2015 Austin Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas track, on a complete whim.
I was “dating” my first girlfriend in high school when my dad approached me with two extra tickets for the Austin GP. I had never been to a car race live, so with less knowledge than anyone at the track, we made the trek to our seats, on the S curves by turns 13 and 14. That was mistake number one. Little advice, even though the ticket prices are going to be through the fucking roof, it is so much more worth it to have seats at either the end or beginning of a DRS Straight. There are multiple reasons for this, the main one, of course, is the ability to see overtakes. DRS, or Drag Reduction System, is a component on all of the newer cars that allow the wings on the back of the car to open, letting more air through and creating a significantly more aerodynamic car. DRS can only be used if you are within 1 second of the car ahead of you, giving the chasing car a real chance of overtaking. This was a very long way of saying when you sit at turns 13 and 14, you don’t get to see anything that fun, at least for a first-time viewer. All it seems like it the cars very slowly going around the corners, not trying to pass each other. The entire race turned into a countdown of when it was acceptable to leave. I never considered just a few short years later, just how dumb I was to leave that Grand Prix so early.
As the pandemic rolled into late 2020, like most other sports, F1 slowly but surely made a comeback to racing, and my investment was at a near all-time high. I had recently bought the F1 video game, which allowed me to really learn the tracks in a way that just watching Drive to Survive or watching the races couldn’t. I understood why certain sections, like sector one in Jeddah, sector 2 in the Netherlands, the S curves in Circut of the Americas, and the entire fucking track of Monaco are just so damn difficult in the game; I couldn’t wrap my dumb monkey brain around how they were so smooth in the cars. This love for what's called “sim racing” was instantly heightened when my wonderful girlfriend bought me a steering wheel with gas and brake pedals, which I could hook up to my Playstation. Holy shit did this completely change my enjoyment of these games. For the first time, it genuinely felt like I was taking a turn at 80MPH or flying down the straights at 200MPH+. It instantly made every lap of nearly every race (outside of boring-ass tracks like Monaco, Miami, and Japan,) that much more engaging, as watching a fight between two drivers on the track was amplified tenfold.
Another reason I have fallen for F1 is the way they handle points. There is a very clear distinction in F1 between the Haves, Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari; versus the Have Nots, Aston Martin, Williams, and Haas. A Haas car is not supposed to be able to fight against, nor beat any of the Haves, unless some absolutely wonky shit happens. However, that same Haas car can have the weekend of its life by finishing the race in 7th place, out of 20. That right there is what makes F1 so interesting. The race may well be over by lap 3 or 4, however, seeing where the “best of the rest” stack up adds a really interesting dynamic not many sports can compete with.
So where does one start with F1? First has to be Drive to Survive. Yes, there is so much information left out of each season, and yes they do tend to focus on one or two races and show each team's perspective, the actual storytelling and characters on display are the main reasons I’ve fallen for F1. Seeing the Lewis and Max rivalry play out over the four seasons is fascinating Tv, and I’d argue anyone that doesn’t like F1 will at least have a passing interest after a couple of episodes. Next up would be watching the races. This is easily the hardest commitment to have, as F1 is a global sport, with races from Miami to Australia, with Saudia Arabia and France all in-between. This makes the start times for many races to be between 5-7 am central time. I love recording races and watching them first thing Sunday morning, as a server that works at night, it's nice to have a sport on in the mornings that I can fully devote my Sundays to.
Formula One is not for everyone, I fully admit that. But hell, if you would’ve told me in college you’d now be the biggest F1 guy you know, ain’t no way in hell he’d believe you. So who knows, maybe we’re all bigger gearheads than we all realized. I know I am.
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