My problem with Formula One isn’t the drivers or the crews. It’s a little bit the owners and the general skullf***ery around the world’s richest sport, but I’m not willing to start launching stones out of a publicly funded glass football stadium about it.
It’s that F1 racing bores me to death on top of the other stuff. Maybe my drag race-addled American brain can’t handle the nuance of road racing. My most Boomer trait is loving a barely drivable muscle car with a pig of an engine putting out dumb horsepower numbers when compared to a modern car, but possessing a beautiful exhaust note. That doesn’t lend itself well to liking glorified go-karting.
I get it, right, the Netflix show, the rich people drama, the technical and athletic prowess it takes to keep these cars going. Finding it fascinating is an understandable thing.
It’s possible that a version of F1 that is actually the cutting edge of racing would be interesting, outside of the reality show angles. Full alternative energy, not this piddly hybrid drivetrain deal. Pivoting this newly excited fan base into something different that creates innovation instead of the inevitable ending here, where owners keep making money with a ready spot to sportswash their cash, we keep sinking money into dead dinosaur technology, and there’s not a negative consequence to be had by anyone except the people who work the hardest and deserve it the least.
Watching the Montreal Grand Prix this weekend was like watching even more expensive golf. The noises were pleasant, they lent themselves well to feeling sleepy on the couch, but when the only thing I could find to comment on is Danica’s suit, well, guys, you’ve got some work to do. I *like* fast cars, and can’t stand watching your sport televised. NASCAR road races are better than this – at least there’s some novelty to guys that normally only turn left having to figure it out as they go.
Vroom vroom is fun for a lot of people, but I think I’m out. My only Drive to Survive is the long stretch before fall sports come back to rescue us from the reality of pro sports in June.
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