Hope you’re right. I’d like to see a driver change at HAAS. Just not sure who I would like to see in there instead. I hope they stick around for the new regulations. They are showing potential. Just need to wrap it all together now.
They should do a version of this show for the dirt sprint oval racing. The crazy high horsepower ultra light ones. It’s dangerous and there’s probably plenty of drama.
The f1 guys are celebs though, so there’s an element of that which is part of the appeal.
Part of what makes F1 so appealing is that absolute insanity of how advanced and orchestrated it all is. Sprint cars need no dedicated camera crew behind the scenes to add to the entertainment - it’s 100% on the surface. Which is to say, just go and watch some sprint car racing live, it is nuts.
Agree. The tech and politics and money and insanity is what set F1 above everything in terms of entertainment. The great thing about this show is we don’t get to see most of what goes on outside the actual racing. The behind-the-scenes is super fascinating.
Sprint cars are awesome, but it lacks back-door dealings, enormous corporate money, and politics and the teams aren’t hidden away in garages. You can walk through the pits at a sprint car race and just go up and talk to almost anyone. There is almost unlimited access. Drive to Survive works because we don’t normally get the access, and now we do.
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@tjkoyen @M_Martin
Great observations. I do like me some “homey” racing. That being said, you guys are correct that the show is more about the machinations and inter-personal stuff. It does humanize the people involved and provide a look inside the big show that we normally wouldnt get.
Wait wait wait, you got to race with Hamilton?!?! Holy crap.
Hulkenberg! (20 char)
Yeah for sure I think the big interest with this show is drivers have historically be soooo cut off from the normal people (like us). We would only see the press release version of each of them and it was very difficult to get a real sense of who they were.
That and 2019 was a hard year emotionally. My wife was in tears when Niki Lauda died and she was again watching that episode (she wanted to skip that episode at first, but it was the Mercedes episode and she’s a massive Lewis fan). Hubert was more my touch point, Niki had a good run and arguably shouldn’t have lived that long. Hubert was just a kid.
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Better than getting lapped by him like I was. Karting Magazine describes me once leading a heat from Hamilton and Hanley only to be ‘soon deposed after a brief go a glory’. At least it’s something haha. Thing about those days was we had ITV Champs of The Future on mainstream TV, can’t imagine having anything like that now.
Seeing Lando, Russel and Albon now in F1 is funny too. I remember Albon’s mum standing on the tables at the PFi Panorama cafe screaming her lungs out during a bloody winter round of the club champs when he did Cadets.
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He was that good in karts? He lapped the fearsome Alan Dove?
He was THAT good, as were most of the grid in 1995 compared to me
Times flies. I’ll bet he’s still pretty sharp in a kart.
Can someone explain Williams financially to me? I just watched the show and I am baffled as where the money comes from to pay for all the salaries of the employees. They also have to design and manufacture the car, which appears to be very challenging and expensive.
Do they own a share of the television? Was Williams one of the smart ones that took Bernie up on his deal?
F1 prize money, F1 heritage payment, traditional sponsorship which may include money from drivers and their sponsors.
Williams Advanced Engineering designs, builds, and manufactures parts and pieces for other forms of racing and works as a supplier for other companies as well.
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They sold a chunk of that company and are now minority share holders.
Thanks. Makes more sense now.
You are absolutely right. Selfishly, I would’ve loved to see Ricciardo at Haas though…