Pros and Cons of Becoming an F1 Fan

Hello fellow F1 Girlies! This week marks the eleventh round of the 2024 Formula One season as we head off to Austria for another exciting race weekend. Being new to the sport, many of my friends are surprised that I’ve gotten this invested in F1 in such a short amount of time. After a bit of reflection, I came up with a bunch of great reasons to be a part of the F1 community, as well as a few consequences of becoming a motorsports fan. It’s lights out and away we go: here’s a list of the pros and cons of becoming an F1 fan!

Pro: It’s a worldwide affair

Formula One is an internationally beloved sport with athletes from all around the world. The current grid boasts races in 25 cities all  around the world and drivers from more than 12 countries. Every week of the season brings you the sights and sounds of a new circuit, some built especially for the occasion, and others made from existing streets in iconic cities. With fans in every corner of the globe, being an F1 fan gives you the opportunity to make tons of new friends and fan-mates who share a love of strategy, drama, and racing. 

Con: Your sleep schedule will be ruined

Due to the fact that races are all over the world, your sleep schedule might never recover. There’s a good bit of mental gymnastics required to figure out time zone differences for races and events that happen at different times of the day in different parts of the world. I love to sleep, especially on the weekends, but recently I’ve caught myself setting alarms for 6am on a Saturday to watch a practice session on the other side of the world. A PRACTICE! In this sport, so much can change in the span of a few seconds that you don’t want to miss a single second of the action.

Pro: Fast-paced action that is easy to understand 

Car go fast. Car turn more than one direction (side-eyes NASCAR). Fastest car wins. It’s that easy. There are ten teams and twenty drivers trying to complete a set number of laps without crashing or otherwise breaking parts of their cars. Variations in weather, track quality, and tyre strategy all contribute to an exciting and sometimes unpredictable race day full of nonstop action. 

Con: There’s enough drama for a telenovela

Is F1 considered a sport? Yes, but this might as well be drama with a side of sports. There’s a reason that Netflix made Drive to Survive, after all. Between team rivalries, rival teammates, off track drama, and animosity between fans, there’s no shortage of gasp-worthy stories around the grid. If you love TV dramas and enemies to friends stories (or vice versa), F1 is the sport for you. Want to know the current tea to watch out for? 

• There’s bad blood between the Alpine teammates Gasly and Ocon after their most recent collision in Monaco. Alpine is dropping Ocon at the end of the season. 

• Ricciardo is looking to prove himself to the Red Bulls, and prove former World Champion Jaques Villeneuve, who says Ricciardo doesn’t deserve to race in F1, wrong.  

• Sainz continues the hunt for a seat for next season, with the rest of the grid waiting for him to make a choice before the teams move forward with signing other drivers. 

• McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes are starting to give Red Bull a run for their money in the championship. Can Verstappen hang on to his 56 point lead?

All this drama and the season isn’t even half over. 

Pro: The memes are fire

In the world of Formula One, Thursday means media day, and media day means loads of content, challenges, and silly shenanigans with the drivers. Part of the fun of being an F1 fan is watching the drivers interact with one another while playing games or completing challenges. Social media is full of funny moments, sassy quips, and hilarious radio messages that endear you all the more to your favorite driver. For all the drama mentioned above, there’s plenty of healthy competition as well, since most of the drivers have been friends and competitors for upwards of ten years. 

Con: You will only speak in obscure references 

The content is great, but no one will ever understand you again. Everything you say will be a niche reference to something a driver said on radio once, or in an interview ten years ago. (It’s just an inch-ident). Before you know it, your entire vocabulary will be a combination of British slang and racing terms, and you’ll catch yourself making references only a fellow F1 fan would understand.

Pro: The fun lasts all year

With an almost year-long season there’s always another event coming up, and the best part is that it's only on the weekends. From February to December, there’s action all across the calendar and all over the world. Unfortunately that also means you can never make any weekend plans for the rest of your life, but it’s worth it. (Probably.)

Con: You’ll go broke

F1 is an expensive hobby to get involved in if you want to do anything other than rot on the couch while you watch twenty of the richest people in the world drive around really fast. Merch is expensive. F1TV subscriptions are expensive. Even the cars themselves have parts costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, which are usually exchanged or upgraded between almost every event. Grand Prix tickets are… obscene. Weekend-long passes are not cheap to begin with, but if you want a special experience like pit lane access, it’s even worse. 

Pro: There’s something for everyone

Formula One is truly for everyone. Whether you like sports for the action, the drama, the data, or the athletes, there’s no shortage of interesting facets to the world of F1. From engineering and race strategy, to social media and data analytics, there is plenty of fun and information available for anyone who wants to get into a new sport. 

Have an F1 question? Want to hear more about women in motorsports? Looking for fashion advice for your next Grand Prix trip? Look no further than The F1 Girlies Motorsport Magazine.