If you aren’t aware of it yet, Drive to Survive is a Netflix reality show about Formula One, focusing on the 20 drivers and their teams as they battle for the championship. I, like many others, watched the show during quarantine and fell in love with the sport. I’m entering my second season of intensely following Formula One, and I am a devout believer that everybody should give it a try.
Some people are just more competitive than others. It’s an intrinsic part of who I am, and watching Drive to Survive I’ve noticed just how competitive this sport is since there are only 20 drivers in total. A singular NFL team has more top athletes than Formula One does in its entirety. This extreme specialization creates athletes who are extremely driven, particularly competitive, and incredibly self-aware. Watching them rationalize their experience and compete to be the best is an incredible experience. It highlights life in a pressure cooker. As an American, I was always generally aware of Formula One’s existence, but never really cared. Part of the purpose of Drive to Survive (and Ted Lasso) is to appeal to the American population and show them behind the scenes of sports that are incredibly popular worldwide.
There are two important aspects of Formula One, and this differentiates it from many sports Americans watch. First, there is the driver themselves. Having a level-headed, competitive, driven athlete behind the wheel is crucial when it comes to winning and getting overall points for one’s team. Athletes are responsible for their own successes, and Formula One drivers are viewed similarly to football players. The second important aspect of the sport is the car itself. This sport has a strong base in physics, engineering, and technology, and teams are constantly innovating, trying to improve their cars for the best track performance. Some cars are better, and some are worse. This is different from a lot of sports we watch — a football, for example, doesn’t change all that much, and most of the rules stay relatively the same. Formula One has a lot more innovation, and I am interested in both the driver side and the science side. If you don’t want to be interested in both, which for the record you don’t necessarily have to be, these two aspects can create heated debates about whether a driver is truly good, or if it’s their car, or conversely, if a driver has potential to be the best but is held back by the car they drive. There are two drivers per team, and they share the same type of car, which adds another layer of complexity, as you can directly compare one driver to another when they are using the same technology.
Additionally, this is why there are two championships in each season–the Formula One World Championship is for a singular driver, and the Constructor’s Cup is a championship won by the team with the most points. Points are tallied based upon top 10 finishes in races throughout the season. One driver, Lewis Hamilton, has had the gift of being one of the greatest drivers in one of the greatest cars for the past multiple years, winning both the Formula One World Championship and the Constructor’s Cup—until this past year.
Lewis Hamilton, who drives for Mercedes, is a seven-time Formula One Champion. For context, only one other driver has ever reached that point, Mick Schumacher (who, for reference, has won 91 races to Hamilton’s 103). This past season, Lewis lost to Max Verstappen. Everyone cited last year’s championship as one of the most important events in motorsport, a turning point if you will. It was a pivotal year. Though I personally would argue that this season is more important. Lewis has just lost, but we can assume he will refuse to retire until becoming an eight-time world champion since he is far from done and wants to continue proving himself as the greatest racecar driver of all time. Time and time again, Lewis Hamilton comes back swinging. In the other corner of our ring, we have Max Verstappen, who drives for Red Bull, our most recent world champion, who beat Lewis Hamilton and broke his streak of wins. Max will not go down without a fight, and I’m predicting one of our most competitive seasons of all time.
At the same time, we also have the potential for a dark horse to win this season. Many teams, especially Ferrari and Haas have produced cars that seem much better than they were last season. While McLaren doesn’t seem to have their best car this year, Ferrari is putting on incredible track times, and Ferrari finished the first race of the season in 1st and 2nd place, an impressive feat that is a result of both great cars and their great drivers: Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Additionally, Haas, who finished in last place for the 2021 season, seems to have a better car this year, and therefore possibly better chances for success. One of their drivers, Kevin Magnussen, finished the first race of the season in 5th place (for context, Haas ended last season with 0 points or 0 top 10 finishes). The other Haas driver, Mick Schumacher, is someone who I think should be a person of interest this season, as he is coming into his second season in Formula One and shows great promise.
Mick Schumacher, who is the son of the seven-time world champion, and his car last year were relatively uncompetitive. Last year, he drove his rookie year alongside Nikita Mazepin, another rookie driver. This year, we will see Mick drive against Kevin Magnussen, an experienced driver who’s podiumed in the past. It will give us the opportunity to look closer at Schumacher and try to gauge if he has the potential for a future of success. Based on his P2 performance on the final practice day, I have a feeling he may have a long future ahead of him, but only time can tell.
If any of this didn’t make sense, watch Drive to Survive. The concepts and base of the sport can seem initially tricky, but Drive to Survive makes it very easy to pick up. You’ll be able to see the personalities of the drivers and start to understand what goes on behind the scenes. Understanding the lives and foundations of the drivers have helped me to find passion in the sport. It helps to create a baseline, and give a general understanding so that the transition into watching Formula One can be as seamless as possible. Now is the perfect time to get involved—I think we are looking at the season of a lifetime.