Formula 1 is to Las Vegasand “The fastest growing sport in America” It’s so common that I want to avoid it altogether. There’s nothing wrong with racing – I’ve played a few Gran Turismo games, and they’ve been fun – I wouldn’t add it to the never-ending list of sports I follow.
Before you ask me if I’ve ever watched the F1 show on Netflix, let me stop you. I didn’t, and I won’t. About 20 years ago, sports shops tried to tell me NASCAR was the next big thing, and it culminated with Ricky Bobby. The only recent headlines revolved around Bubba Wallace and the sport’s issue of racism.
While F1 is not Forbid fans from bringing Confederate flags to the track, it has its own problems with diversity. As far as I can tell, Lewis Hamilton is one of the best drivers in the sport, and also the only Black racer in it. (Wallace is the only black racer in NASCAR, but the sport will hit “Diversity Milestone” at this weekend’s race in Richmond, Virginia, with two Black drivers racing for the first time in more than 20 years.)
Hamilton even started a committee of his own dedicated to increasing representation in motorsport in the UK. It published a study in July to try to figure out why F1 is so rife with whites, and in which many Blacks in F1 share stories of racist jokes being made. normalization and an outdated culture. One person described an “old school” guy who didn’t know he couldn’t call Negroes “black boys” anymore. (Article by Hazel Southwell, ‘Hamilton Committee findings on racism in F1 are being undermined’ because Drive is well worth the read.)
To be fair, Google’s “f1 racist” was the first research I did on F1, so maybe I should give up being a naysayer until I watch a race. Mind you, is it any wonder that a sport, with teams that are not only sponsored but also run by luxury automakers, tends to be elitist?
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I also don’t have time to watch it. My obscure, weekend morning European sporting viewing is reserved for the EPL. If you’re in your 20s and don’t have a girlfriend, feel free to plant your flag on team Mercedes or McLaren or Ferrari and wake and bake to the sounds of astonished English announcers. It sounds like a good time — and exactly how I got into soccer.
However, I fail to see F1 translating to the masses the way soccer has because it lacks the racial and gender diversity, and you can’t set up a racetrack in your backyard. Formula 1 is a rich man’s NASCAR with exotic locales and non-oval course designs.
I’d like to go to Monaco and watch expensive cars race around the harbor. That Iron Man 2 scene was super cool even before Mickey Rourke sliced up a bunch of cars. That’s where my fascination ends, though. It’s a niche sport that seeped into the mainstream consciousness because of a Netflix show. Now I’m subjected to F1 talk on podcasts because it’s “actually pretty cool.”
And not all race enthusiasts are thrilled about F1 adds another “huge gimmick” in the US and abandons the old locations abroad, but OG fans rarely welcome a financially motivated change and are very tolerant of an impending unusual expansion following a boom in popularity that we’re not sure will have a real lifespan. . They also think it’s great before this is a neatly packaged Netflix show and no one has to introduce them to your beginner hobby.
This may just be my problem, but the way to keep me from trying something is to tell me over and over how fun it is and I should enjoy. Maybe if my friend hadn’t had the OAR blast to the point of temporary hearing loss in high school, I wouldn’t have wanted to puncture my ear with the nearest sharp object every time “Crazy Game of Poker” came up. (Then again, their music is a muddy sound so I would probably hate it regardless.)
I think it was around the time I launched my Pog collection that I realized that just because everyone is doing something, doesn’t mean I have to, too. It’s fifth grade.
If you’re an F1 Guy and jump on the bandwagon when it’s relatively empty, you’ll have more power. You’re definitely qualified to be the judge of who knows what they’re talking about and who’s full of shit when they intentionally drop a “catalyst converter” in a conversation.
However, don’t worry. Your opinion will be fleeting as these new fans will either figure out how to use jargon or lose interest the next. Tiger King accompany – whichever comes first.
