August is a fantastic month for casual sports fans this year as the Beijing Olympics get beamed into television sets all around the world. It exposes many armchair enthusiasts, including myself, to sports that we wouldnt otherwise have noticed. When else are you going to see handball broadcast on prime time TV?
Whilst watching the games from China I’ve started to think about why I am enjoying some of the sports in particular, and why I find other events totally boring or nonsensical. Equestrian dressage is something I will never understand or enjoy in a million years.
It has also made me think about motor racing, and the things about Formula One that make it my favourite sport. What is it about racing cars that compel me to wake up at odd hours (as surely some equestrian dressage fanatics are doing at the moment)? What is it about a Grand Prix that I find so attractive?
For me, it is because I believe Formula One is the ultimate sport.
It has everything.
Formula One is terrific in that it is both a team and individual sport. Once the driver is in the car it is all down to him and that sense of individualism has produced some fantastic battles over the years. It is great when a single person can make or break their own destiny, and that is certainly the case in Grand Prix racing.
However, teamwork is also great to watch because it requires a totally different set of skills. It is no good being the best in the world if you can’t work well with other people, and that ability is essential in Formula One. Are you paying attention Fernando?
There is also the fact that F1 includes a confrontation between companies. The organisations involved in the Grand Prix circus such as Daimler Chrysler, Fiat, and Toyota are some of the biggest corporations on the planet and the racetrack is where they go to fight each other. Most businesses take on their competitors in boardrooms and do so over market share and profit margins. Formula One allows for something very different and unique. It is a stage where the world’s largest companies go into battle against one another, and at the end of their struggle a winner is declared and given a trophy. It’s fantastic.
Imagine if Microsoft and Apple held a contest to see who could build the fastest and most reliable computer. The result might not be exciting as a spectacle, but it would be hugely interesting and would be a very hard fought battle. That is the sort of interest that Formula One generates every two weeks.
In the older days of motorsport national pride was also at stake. A race victory didn’t just give sporting kudos, but made a strong statement about the winning country’s industry and technology. That is why Germany invested so much into Grand Prix racing throughout the 1930’s, and it is why the teams used to race in their national colours. Patriotism is a very strong emotion (as the Olympics demonstrate) and still remains in Formula One today through teams like Ferrari and Force India.
And of course, there is the battle of man versus machine.
All of those intriguing fights are refreshed by the new developments that are introduced each year. The rules change every season, and so does the equipment. Most football codes have been using the same gear and the same rules for over a century but, whilst there is nothing wrong with that, the ever changing face of Formula One is an extra drawcard.
The constant evolution of F1 also has another positive effect on the sport. The World Championship has only been around for 60 years, but the fact that every one of those years has been so different has given F1 such a massive depth of history, something few other sports enjoy. That history helps give the current events more context, and adds plenty of value to the racing. For example, an Ashes Test would be just another cricket game without the history behind it, and that is the sort of history that Formula One has plenty of.
You could even argue that the history F1 as we know it today stems from chariot racing over a thousand years ago, something that predates every form of ball sport. The idea of a ‘race’ itself has been around longer still and has always existed in nature. A cheetah is racing with a zebra, although the prize for winning that race is survival itself.
What else makes F1 so special?
Of course you can’t ignore that it is very fast and exciting, which is important because there is something naturally exhilarating about speed. Anyone who has enjoyed a roller coaster ride will testify to that. A Grand Prix car at the limit is a very spectacular thing to behold and Formula One creates a stunning display that is unique amongst sports.
There is also the inherent danger, which might not be an instant attraction to motor racing but certainly makes it very unique. There are very few mainstream sports where you can die.
It is also a contest where there is a clear winner. The first man across the finish line takes victory, simple as that. F1 is not a sport that relies on a judge’s scorecard so there isn’t anything subjective about the result. There isn’t an umpire whose whistle can regularly affect the outcome. Yes, penalties do apply in racing, but they are not as common as they are in other sports and are often clear cut speeding infringements. It isn’t the same as a referee having to judge the legitimacy of a player rolling around on the ground claiming to have been tripped.
The very format of the Formula One World Championship also adds to its appeal. It follows the calendar year, rather than a particular season, and every event is held in a different country. At the end of it all there is a single World Champion who is crowned that year’s winner. Few other sports use such a format, which is a shame because it works very well.
It also means that Formula One visits some very unique and exciting locations. No other sport can take place on the slick wealthy streets of Monte Carlo, and the deep dark forests of Belgium. No other sport visits an abandoned World War Two airfield, a desert, and a parkland island. The fact that every event is somewhere special gives the championship some extra charm and glamour. If nothing else it makes the racing more aesthetically beautiful to look at, rather than just being inside another stadium.
Then there is the immense value of the World Championship. Only 29 men have ever claimed the ultimate prize in the history of Formula One, making it a very rare and special accomplishment. More than double that number of people are current boxing World Champions which helps put it into perspective a little.
Formula One is a team sport as well as an individual pursuit, and puts companies and nations against each other in the battle of man versus machine. It changes every year, has a very rich history, and the age old concept of a race is simple to follow. It is fast, exciting, dangerous, and visits some of the most exotic locations on the planet. At the end of it all there is just a single World Champion.
It takes the best bits from a lot of other sports, and rolls them into one.
That is what makes Formula One the ultimate sport.
That is why it is my favourite.