Six reasons why F1 rocks!

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I love Formula 1, many don’t and that’s fine we are all entitled to our opinions. But for those of you who don’t, I would like you to consider the following six reasons why I think Formula 1 is not just the pinnacle of motorsport, but the pinnacle all sport, period.

Teamwork

Formula 1 is the greatest team sport on planet Earth. Why you ask? Well in a football team for example you have the players and coaching staff, so maybe 100 people involved in the core ‘team’. By comparison in a large Formula 1 team there is in excess of 500 personnel.

These 500 people need to be focused on one thing, winning the Formula 1 Constructor’s World Championship. If one of these team members is having a bad day, then the whole team can be let down.

Sometimes this may be the driver, another day a mechanic on a pit stop, or an engineer behind the scenes who calls the wrong strategy, or a fabricator who has incorrectly layed up the front wing while manufacturing it, causing an on-track component failure.

This is why money alone is not enough to get that perfect team combination that enables years of dominance by one team, like we have seen in past years. You also have to have the right mix of personalities and everyone in the team focused on that core mission.

Technology

The technology on a Formula 1 car is simply mind blowing. The materials they use and what the engineers can do with them defies the laws of physics. And the fact that these complex pieces of machinery function, for the most part perfectly, really is just amazing.

In the world of materials technology most people would consider the aerospace industry to be the leader in development. But actually the aerospace industry has learnt much from Formula 1. This is because of the fast paced nature at which Formula 1 develops compared to aerospace industry and lesser amount of regulation that the Formula 1 engineers have to comply to.

It’s not just materials technology either, but the aerodynamics as well where Formula 1 cars are at the forefront of development. They produce so much down force that they could easily drive upside down on a tunnel roof.

Eventually, some of this technology makes its way into the cars that you and I drive as well, so it cannot be said that Formula 1 has no impact on real world motoring.

Engineering

Take a look at the current front wings in Formula 1, a really close look. Are they not among the most beautiful pieces of engineering you have ever seen? How many thousands of hours of design work have gone into that wing? Not just the shape of it, but the lay-up of the carbon fibre in the correct order to ensure that it is stiff where it has to be and flexible in other places. All this to help gain milliseconds over the lap of a track.

Go passed the front wing and just admire the rest of the car, both the parts you can see and those you can’t and can only dream about seeing. The engine, turbo chargers, gearbox all amongst the most technologically advanced for their time, just fantastic!

The majority of the parts on a Formula 1 car are designed from scratch and manufactured by the teams. The teams are always looking for faster, more efficient ways to do this. The industry was at the forefront of rapid prototyping using 3D printing, particularly for wind tunnel testing models.

Exclusivity

According to Wikipedia there have been just 958 F1 drivers since 1950 when the world championship started. Only 958 lucky people to have experienced that acceleration, braking and cornering that we mere mortals can only dream about.

Exclusivity also extends to teams competing in Formula 1 as well. Unlike other motorsport series you cannot simply buy a customer car and go racing in the series. I love this about Formula 1, even though it means spending hundreds of millions of dollars just to get on the grid. To actually win in this sport you have to spend billions of dollars meaning a huge commitment by car manufacturers to be a part of this sport.

Why do car companies do this? Advertising of course, it certainly is no accident that a company like Mercedes-AMG who has dominated Formula 1 for past three years are seeing awesome sales figures of their current AMG models as well.

Ferrari for example spends no money on advertising for their cars and relies on their presence in motorsport, particularly Formula 1, to encourage people to go and buy their cars.

Mental strength of drivers

One of the reasons why there have been less than 1,000 people who have raced in Formula 1 is partly due to the mental strength required by the drivers to race these cars.

It comes down to their brain chemistry and how far we are willing to push past what a ‘normal’ person would consider to be impossible. I recall an interview with Eddie Irvine who was talking about how Michael Schumacher could leave the pits at Spa and drive through Eau Rouge flat out on a full tank of fuel. Eddie admitted that this is something he could not do.

To me this shows that Michael was willing to push harder than his competitors and this was one of the reasons why he was a seven times world champion.

But mental strength is more than just the ability to push harder than your competitor, but also to be able to multitask while doing more than 300km/hr. Take a look at the current Formula 1 steering wheel and the number of buttons and switches that they contain.

I know it’s their job, but I marvel that the drivers can concentrate on keeping the car on the road, while fiddling with a switch to change the engine mode or brake bias on the car.

The drivers really are modern day gladiators who risk their life every time they take to the track and deserve the admiration that they receive.

Glamour

A Formula 1 weekend is not just about the on track action, but also what is going on off the track as well. You will hear the commentators talking about who has been in the paddock, celebrities, royalty and many people that I have absolutely no idea who they actually are.

But, I love this and it’s just another aspect that makes this sport the greatest on the planet. People who want to be seen attend Formula 1 events.

For those who say that Formula 1 is boring, I hope I have changed your mind just a bit. Formula 1 is not just about the racing, it’s all aspects of the sport that go up to make it the greatest sport on Earth. If the first three rounds of 2017 are anything to go by, we are in for one hell of a season. Forza Ferrari!

Photo credits: Driven Women Magazine