A bit of Context

My journey through Formula One is relatively short. After devoting the last few years consuming everything I could related to Formula One, I’ve come to conclusion that however ridiculous, over-the-top, extravagant, and glamourous F1 is, it fits perfectly in the the arc that is F1’s story.

I was never really a race fan, as far as I knew. I grew up with video games, so I heavily enjoyed racing games from Atari to the early 2000s. but never followed any category. At some point, though, I hesitated devoting any more time to yet another racing game for one particular reason: Most racing games are designed in a way that makes you play for 20-30 hours before you get to the really fast cars that I really found most satisfying. “Really fast” is of course is an obvious understatement. Face peeling, chest crushing, blink-and-you’ve crashed kind of speeds. While immensely satisfying, it’s hard to wade through all the hatchbacks and sedans to get to where I was having fun.

Late 2016 I had discovered the F1 2016 demo for my console and immediately was pulled in. The necessity to drive so technically and consistently, fighting for every tenth of a second. Where 1 second feels like a minute. It’s a different world that immediately pulled me in for what was needed in it’s driving.

I came across an excerpt of a podcast of a comedian I enjoy, Bill Burr. He was describing the fiasco that was the end of the 2016 championship, Hamilton refusing team orders, ending up losing, and culminating to Nico Rosberg’s retirement.

This two-pronged attack had me looking forward to the beginning of the next season to experience the excitement live. In the interim, I would familiarize myself with the drivers, teams and tracks on the console version until the 2017 season would start.

Now in my 6th year as an F1 fanatic, the start of the 2022 is around the corner, and I still feel like I just started watching. The excitement is not only fresh but ever infectious and I only keep diving deeper. Watching every season since 1981, several documentaries, I’m now on to F1 related books, including the most recent 2022 Technical regulation manual.

It also seems appropriate to divulge that I also own a small sum of shares of Formula One. Although a miniscule amount, I wished to have “some skin in the game” to bring me closer to the sport. Personally, I’m more excited to share in the opportunity to “win as a team and lose as a team” than any potential for miniscule profit.

While my personal history has no bearing on F1’s story, I consider it important to provide context to the future articles found here. While I have my favorites, (Go, McLaren!) I try to be as objective as possible in my assessments and critiques.

there will be two types of articles found here, Both with the intention to provide context to the f1 world we currently enjoy. While one will be more historically based, the other will provide individual one-off topics and assessments.

I hope you all stay safe and look forward to sharing the excitement.