America, we need to talk. Specifically, we need to talk about sports. We are a nation where about 100,000 people travel to Homestead, Miami to watch a NASCAR Championship. Which means people spend at least $55 to watch drivers drive in circles in loud, stupidly powerful stock cars for hours on end. I personally love it when any form of motor-sports receives mainstream attention here in America, especially because it usually gets absolutely eclipsed by a four-quarter long game of bunch of men crashing into one another, but NASCAR is just not the kind of racing I had in mind as America’s most watched spectator sport. The American public has still yet to be exposed to the world’s most prestigious form of motor racing and most watched sports series: Formula 1. Since 1950, Formula 1 has been the battle ground of some of the most competitive teams and most skilled of drivers. Its circuits have corners, which NASCAR hasn’t figured out yet, and its cars are technological masterpieces capable of average speeds of 130 mph on a circuit that is only two cars’ width. In order to succeed in Formula 1, you need teamwork, tactic, coordination, reaction and information. It is a grueling challenge to both the body and the mind, where the limits of man and machine are constantly tested as drivers with superhuman reaction times duke it all over the world. Still not convinced? Well, strap yourselves in. It’s about to get wild.
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First, we will delve into what makes any race, a race: the cars. What you see above is this year’s entrance car from no other than Ferrari; the SF-16h. If they were to replace the wheels with wings, you would’ve believed it if someone told you it was a spaceship; which is funny, because in order to make one of these, you need just as much engineering power as building a spaceship. Teams spend millions of dollars in order to make sure their cars are the fastest, most agile chassis in the race grid. They are made from the most advanced composite materials and exotic metals. Even the paint coats are specially designed to make sure they are as light as possible. Teams spare no expense; after all, all of them are in it to win it, and even if you are an automotive giant like Ferrari, you are not exempted from the competition. The current Formula 1 grid has every kind of team imaginable, from factory teams Scuderia Ferrari, Mercedes-AMG, McLaren-Honda and Renault Sport, to privateer teams are Williams-Martini, Sahara Force India, Sauber, Manor Racing, Haas F1 Team and Red Bull Racing, all putting up a good fight. Each of the teams get to field out two cars in each 305 km long grand prix, and the winner is the first one across the line, naturally. And as said before, the average speed of these cars for the whole race is about 130 mph, and that’s on a circuit that has several complex corners. It is not uncommon to see piles of cars struggling to find their way out on corners, and not all of them make it out to the other side. So just what kind of engine power these monsters? You’d expect some kind of humongous, fire-breathing monster that churns out ludicrous amount power while chugging fuel. That’s pretty much the engines in NASCAR, after all; crude, inefficient and just stupidly powerful. However, per regulations, the engines that power Formula 1 have to be turbocharged 1.6 liter V6 engines that weighs just 145 kg, meaning the engine in a Formula 1 car is smaller than an engine found in a new Ford Focus ST. To make the engines as efficient as possible, the engine is aided by electrical motors, meaning Formula 1 racers are hybrids. Yep, just like the Prius. Unlike the Prius, however, it is estimated that a Formula 1 power unit makes somewhere around 800 horsepower; we don’t know that for sure because most teams keep their engine performances classified from the general public. These cars also have energy recovery system, meaning they recuperate heat energy from the exhaust or the brakes that would’ve otherwise been wasted. These machines are just as efficient innovative as they are ferocious; an average Formula 1 car is capable of generating up to 5.5G through a corner (a NASA space shuttle only experience 3G during takeoff), all of which the drivers have to cope with while wrestling two dozens of other drivers for the lead.
Speaking of the drivers, the drivers are not only just people who make the cars go, they give Formula 1 its tremendous entertainment value. Drivers like Daniel Ricciardo or Kimi Räikkönen might seem like the chilliest guys in the world, but they are two of the finest and most ferocious driving talents of the world that fills the Formula 1 lineup, some of whom have started racing since the age of four. Their reaction times, their precision when they’re carving through each corner are simply astounding. They are some of the most fit athletes in the world, some of whom boast body fat ratios below 8%. They need to be, obviously, because of the sheer brutality they experience while driving their cars. But it’s not just physical fitness that makes you a Formula 1 grand prix winner; you have to have mind of steel. In order to battle 22 or so drivers who are equally superhuman as you at speeds excess of 100 mph for 305 kilometers, you have to have concentration, duration and strength that is simply unobtainable by the average person. They also need to be cunning tacticians, so they make fewest tire pit stops as possible so they do not lose precious time stationary in the pit lane. Some think of them as bunch of dudes who earns boat-loads of money for basically just driving a car, not at all athletes. But when you realize the physical and mental demand that Formula 1 requires, you understand that these men are just as much athletes as any other professional sport players.
Formula 1 reaches millions of fans not only through the screens, but also in real life. Unlike NASCAR, Formula 1 is a globally loved, globally held sport, and it tries to reach as many people across the globe as it possible can. The season kicks off with the Australian Grand Prix, and after that, the whole sport shifts to Bahrain. This kind of transition allows as many people to spectate the sport that they love, and United States is no exception, as this year’s US Grand Prix will be held from October 21st to 23rd in Circuit of the Americas, Texas. The fans get a lot more options when it comes to spectating as each grand prix (race) take up a whole weekend. The first day is practice session for the teams, allowing fans to see how their teams are adapting to the circuits. Then Saturday is the qualifying, which sorts out the order at which the drivers will start the race from. To get the best starting position as possible, drivers give just as much to the qualifying as the race itself, giving fans another spectacle to enjoy. But the meat of the grand prix, the race day itself is the day that fans unite as their teams and drivers clash on the tarmacs.
It’s a shame, really, that most Americans are unaware of such an exciting sport or just don’t care for it. While one in three adults say they are NASCAR fans, barely anybody watches Formula 1 here in the states. I get it, the time differences between most race venues in Europe, Middle East and Asia and the States would be a handful to keep up with, but if most TV companies now offer on-demand sports, watching Formula 1 should not be a problem. The whole point of watching sports is to be inspired by people who perform physically and mentally extraordinary feats and push the boundaries of what was thought possible of the human capability. On that, NASCAR falls short; it is more of an entertaining pastime rather than a sport. Formula 1 on the other hand, that is a sport. America, it’s time you watched some real motorsports and some real racing. It’s time we see some Formula 1.
