F1!
The fast paced world of F1. Oh how fun it is to see and hear about it! Every day we get to know something new.
The margin for error we are talking about here are milliseconds, centimetres in contrast to the bigger picture of those rocketship cars making those kilometres feel like inches.
The perception of F1 is highly flawed, it isn’t just people driving around in circles. It is people putting those rocketship at the absolute limit at every inch of tarmac, hence they are the best in the world for a reason.
At an average F1 race, the driver loses upto 3 Kilograms of weight. But before you think that this is a wonderful weight loss programme and that it is a good substitute for the Zumba class you have neglecting, think again, it is difficult to just start this rocketship, let alone push it to an average speed of 300 km/h through the turns.
It takes us about 10 minutes just to get out of bed, but the pit crew in F1 can change 4 wheels in under 2 seconds!
The history of any sport is great, but the stories of F1 have always been untold. These stories should pass down the generations and not just be left in the dust on the pages of history. A sampling of these phenomenal stories are:-
1. Have you ever heard of a champion who was never crowned? It doesn’t make sense, but it is possible. The 1970 champion Jochen Rindt was an F1 champion but was never crowned. During the 1970 practice at Italy for the race 2 days later, Jochen’s car had speared off the race track at the Monza circuit(The Temple Of Speed) in the turn “Parabolica”. But by then, Jochen had already won 5 out of the 8 races with a fantastic win in Monaco just 19 days earlier. But in the gap of those 19 days, 2 drivers had lost their lives, one of them is his close friend Piers Courage and the other was the founder of Mclaren, Bruce Mclaren. What an astonishing story!
Death has been a big part of F1’s history. Thankfully, safety has improved but still persists due to cars sprinting around at 350 km/h.
2.The sport of F1 isn’t just about the driver, it’s also about the car that they drive. It’s very easy to say that the best driver drives the best car and vice versa. But it isn’t always the case. In my eyes, the greatest driver to ever exist is and most probably always will be “Sir Jim Clark”. The Scotsman who was the son of a farmer is the benchmark of accomplishments. The greats of F1 like Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton have 7 and 6 titles(as of 2020 September).But Jim Clark has won just a mere 2 titles. But if we dig deeper in the history books, you will know why he is great. Driving for Lotus, and having a career of just 8 years,with a car that was so fragile, he could clinch some of the greatest honours. Not just in F1, in 1965 he won the Tasman series in Australia, the European series in France, The Indianapolis 500 (Indy 500) and the Touring car championship in just a year, is nothing short of brilliance. That’s a total of 63 races.The season today is just 22 races and is considered a long season. But, unfortunately aged just 32 in 1968 racing in a cold F2 race in Hockenheim ,Germany, he slid off the track into the forest. All that remained was just a distorted car in a space of 30 feet.
Sir Jackie Stewart(F1 legend) always said that a Lotus was fragile, but Sir Jim Clark drove in such a way that the even after a race, the parts of the car always were in their pristine condition. Jim was one of Sir Jackie’s greatest rivals but dearest friends
He was 1 of 127 drivers who died that year in motorsport, but his death had shocked the racing world. His legend lives on.
3. F1 isn’t just based around drivers , It’s also the cars in which they drive. Both Jochen Rindt and Sir Jim Clark had driven for Lotus. It’s normally car manufacturers who sign up for F1 like Ferrari , Mercedes , Lotus, Mclaren,Renault, Honda , Toyota etc. But there are few teams that have had to struggle their way to were they are. “WILLIAMS” was a company solely for racing. They had started out from nothing. Starting from a carpet factory, they had become a household name in F1, quite literally! Their family has been running the team in F1 for the past 40 years and have come 1st in the constructors standings 9 times.The founder of Williams “Sir Frank Williams” had suffered a major car accident in 1986, but with determination and grit, he had won the constructor’s champion, all while sitting on a wheelchair.Even the drivers had cried(Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet). But it’s a sad day for Williams. The 6th of September 2020 the Williams family have retired from F1, due to financial problems. A sad day for motorsport. Thank you Sir Frank Williams and Claire Williams.
These 3 stories are just a sampling of F1 history which started out in 1950.
The most controversial, outspoken, emotional sport in the world were the drivers, team bosses just let out their feelings regardless if their rivals like or dislike their comments.
It can be within the team also. Your biggest rival in F1 is your teammate. Everything is the same, then why are u coming 2nd while your teammate’s on top of the podium.
Technology is improving, we all know that. A new phone comes out once a year and is constantly evolving. But just think about a new innovation for every race, improving upon the same car year after year to make it go faster. Stagnation in F1 is basically living in the stoneage.
Mercedes, the most successful team for the past 6 years and likely to win the 7th in 2020 have released a stat where they have saved 10 seconds in their car lap times comparing the cars from 2015 and 2020. All this done while the governing body of F1 (FIA) just puts out new rules at any point of time, sometimes targeted to stop the success of a particular team.
These HD cameras fitted on the car for judging any penalties is something magical. To see a car that is darting into you and is looking to overtake is like seeing a stingray chasing it’s prey and the finish line is the shore.
My current favourite F1 driver is the Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas, he holds one of the hardest seats in F1 right now, the one next to 6 time world champion, Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton’s biggest rival is infact Valtteri Bottas, the only person who can topple him. I believe he can do it, and he has always got everything the hard way. COME ON CORPORAL VALTTERI! It will be David beating Goliath.
The only person to beat Lewis Hamilton in the turbo hybrid era is Nico Rosberg back in 2016 and Valtteri had to fill his shoes, the monumental task of doing so while still not having any wins and seeing that the previous world champion had retired is a herculean task!
The enthusiasm we have for different types of sports is no less in F1. The fans when they saw the rise of a new young driver who can win the championship in the form Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari fans(called as the Tifosi) had broken the gates of the Monza circuit in Italy to celebrate the win. It was a sight to see the sea of red in the main straight.
The coming race in Mugello (Italy) will mark the 1000th race for Ferrari in F1. In honour of this achievement, Ferrari will be dawning the colour they had all the way back in 1950!
My love for F1 has no bounds but I myself just know a drop from the ocean of history , politics and drivers from F1 , even after listening to more than 50 episodes of a podcast!
My favourite story from F1 has to be the 2009 story of Brawn GP ,a team that lasted just one season but had made a lasting impact from F1 and is one of the greatest fairy tales I have ever heard about. The drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello with the team and deputy team principal Ross Brawn and Nick Fry took an astonishing win for the drivers champion(Jenson Button ) and the Constructors Champion.
Well, this is my appreciation for this great sport and the little i could do to express it.