Rarely do I get to watch an entire weekend of F1; all the practice sessions, qualifying, and the race... But also all the pre and post coverage that F1TV does, the pomp and circumstance, with all the interviews and all the commentary.

This weekend was one of those weekends where I was able to indulge in all the different coverage they had to offer though, and why shouldn't I watch all of the coverage? The race was happening right here in Viva Las Vegas!

I've already talked a bit about Formula One in the past, but I encourage you to read that article if you haven't done so already.

If you want my honest opinion, I think the coverage that F1TV does is incredibly comprehensive, and very entertaining. I like Will Buxton, I like Sam Collins, Laura Winter is pretty good. James Hinchcliffe even has his moments. If you were ever interested in watching a random race for yourself, I'd say it's a good service to patronize. I signed up for the entire year probably around this time last year because I was able to get the entire annual subscription for around $75. Maybe they'll do another promotion like that this year, 🤞.

F1TV = 👍👍

How Does F1 Work? 🏎

Quite simply; fast cars go around a track, the fastest of the fast cars wins.

NOW, if you are new to F1, all you really need to know is that it's a sport like any other, and there are a multitude of rules and regulations. Rules are constantly being challenged by each of the teams, sometimes in real-time. But that aspect of the sport is not as fanciful or dramatic as it is in something like the NFL where the head coach slams his headset down onto the field and yells at the referee. That being said, there is entertaining “radio chatter” sometimes between the drivers and their teams, and the announcers do mention when there has been a penalty issued by race control.

Fans who spend a lot of time watching the sport generally pick up on a lot of different rules as different things happen. Simply sitting down to watch a race from start to finish ensures that you will pick up on its basic structure and format relatively quickly, even if you have a lot of questions as to why a certain call is being made in the moment.

Drivers and teams pick up points at each race, and there are two championship titles; one for the driver (called a Drivers Championship), and one for the team (called a Constructors Championship). The Drivers Champion and the Constructors Champion do not have to be the same. A team who did not have a driver win the Drivers Championship can still win a Constructors Championship title, and each team has two drivers. Each individual race (called a “Grand Prix”) awards a podium to each of the top 3 drivers for that particular race. The higher up a driver places at the end of a race determines how many points they are awarded, and how many points their team is awarded. A driver must be in the top 10 positions (out of 20) to score any points.

So what happened at the Heineken Las Vegas Grand Prix? 🏁

George Russell came in first place for the race and snatched a rare opportunity (this season) for Mercedes to win the grand prix. Lewis Hamilton (also of Mercedes) came in second, but it's really the story of how he got in second place that is fascinating. Finally, Max Verstappen (of Red Bull) sealed the deal for his bid on the Drivers Championship for this season. He finished 5th in the race, but has accumulated enough points throughout the season that it is impossible for another single driver to score enough points to beat him. This is also Max's 4th consecutive Drivers Championship victory.

Red Bull have pretty much dominated since the 2021 regulation changes, and it has taken all the other teams this entire 4 years to figure out how to best utilize their cars to the maximum specification allowed by the rules.

While Mercedes hasn't had a very good season this year, they've always been respectable and Lewis Hamilton is still an amazing driver. Most would have taken me as a Verstappen fan back in 2015-2016, and I was big on Verstappen as a rookie. He was impressive even though he could be a little aggressive, sometimes to the determent of his performance on the track. That being said, there were times during Mercedes' dominance when Hamilton had to push from nearly insurmountable odds to come back to win an entire race, or get a podium finish when it seemed nearly impossible. Those were always the best races to watch (in my opinion), because those were the only times you could really see Hamilton's brilliance behind the wheel. The rest of the time he was just lapping everyone and creating insane gaps of 30 or more seconds ahead of the next closest car.

It was nice to have another night like that again, where Hamilton had to fight from the mid-pack to get on the podium. The Mercs were just sucking up the frigid desert air all weekend, absolutely loving it.

Not all the cars enjoyed the cold though, Pierre Gasly of the Alpine team had to retire due to a power unit failure. This was after he had an amazing qualifying where he started 3rd on the grid for the race.

Even before the race, Hamilton was leading in EVERY Free Practice Session, so I expected him to take pole (or, first position) in Qualifying. Unfortunately a lock-up of his front brakes in round 3 of Qualifying doomed him to 10th on the grid for the start for the race. But even so, Q1 and Q2, Hamilton and Russell had the fastest cars.

Toto Wolff (CEO of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team) was grinning like a giddy school boy in the pre-race interviews. When asked whether he thought Lewis was going to have good race pace, he even flat out stated that he thought Lewis could take the win... and Hamilton almost did. But it's rare for a team lead to not be diplomatic in interviews before and after a race.

Starting from 10th position, Hamilton just began dominating almost immediately, taking places left and right, but then dropping down from 2nd to 5th and having to battle back to 2nd. In the end, both the Mercs were performing at levels we haven't seen in nearly a decade.

Russell hasn't had the luxury of the success that Hamilton has had over the years. Russell has only been driving for Mercedes since 2022. Before that, he drove for the Williams team. Pre-regulation changes in 2020-2021, Mercedes seemed like the right constructor to go with as a younger driver looking to make a name for themselves and win championships. Unfortunately the Mercs just haven't looked that good for the last couple of seasons, mainly due to the car, so for Russell to win this race is really quite impressive, and a joy to see. It really showed that he can lead the pack when the car he's driving performs well.

At one point Russell was 32 second ahead of Lewis Hamilton. By the end of the race though, Lewis had cut that lead to only about 6 seconds, absolutely incredible.

For context: 10 seconds is an eternity of time when there are fractions of a second separating each of the cars' individual lap times. And for the cars to be doing 210+ mph down the Las Vegas Strip is quite astonishing and ironic. Just stop to consider that most people who drive the Strip will never get to experience going faster than 25 mph under normal circumstances. To see that piece of tarmac/asphalt turn into strip of raceway, it becomes quite an incredible stretch of road.

I called Lewis to win the race, and had him really high up on my fantasy team... If I were a betting man, that's who I would have dropped money on after watching the Free Practice Sessions, and even the first two rounds of Qualifying.

There are only two more races left in the season and Lewis is going to be moving from Mercedes to Ferrari next season. There is a very real possibility that Hamilton could beat Schumacher's record for total number of Drivers Championships in a career—right now Hamilton ties Schumacher's record with 7 Drivers Championships. Schumacher himself is famous for leaving Ferrari and going to Mercedes to win more titles. So it would be poetry for Hamilton to go from Mercedes to Ferrari and win some more Drivers Championship titles. He has it in him, the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix was evidence of that. Though, I did expect Lando Norris of McLaren to be much higher at the end of the race than he was. Instead Carlos Sainz of Ferrari took the bronze with 3rd place.

Sainz is a good driver, and his time at Ferarri has been fruitful, but his teammate, Charles Leclerc, likes the spotlight. Charles, also known as the “The Man from Monaco,” is at Ferrari for a reason, he is a talented driver himself, but he hasn't quite hit the highs of a successful career yet. We'll see what happens when he's joined by Hamilton next season (or in approximately 4 months, give or take).

A lot of how the race shookdown was due to the temperature, and the wind. I noticed the Mercs overheating early in the season this year, back in March or April. They worked out the overheating issue after a couple races, but they didn't fix it entirely. Vegas was one of the coldest races on the schedule this year, and the only other cold weather races (Canada and Great Britain) saw a version of Mercedes that was similar to the performance in Vegas. So there is quite possibly a cooling issue with the cars that is getting worked out even as I type this, or that has already been worked out for the new cars next season.

The next race on the calendar is next weekend in Qatar. Normally I wouldn't bother to watch that race because the Drivers Championship is already decided, but there is still a battle for the Constructors title. Let me know if you'd like to read more about Formula One.

Formula One is not traditionally seen as an American sport. Most of the American's who have been involved in the sport do a terrible job at it. Logan Sergeant was in his rookie year last year, so his performance was forgivable, now that he's in his second year... not so much; I'm still rooting for him, and I'll be watching Williams to consider them for my fantasy teams, but he's definitely the weakest link, and the most disappointing driver in the entire sport. But there are only 20 drivers, so it's an incredibly competitive position.

Why do I even care? What IS Formula One? And, why is it better than NASCAR?

All of those are interesting questions to answer, because auto racing and motor sport was never anything that I grew up with... that is to say my father has never been interested in racing so I didn't inherit an interest in racing cars from him (genetically?) or through it being on the TV all the time growing up (osmosis?). At least, that's how I imagine most people become fans of the sports that they're passionate about. I did have several friends growing up, and over the years, that were interested in cars and auto racing, and who in-turn shared their passion with me.

A little personal history.

My best friend in 3rd grade was a kid named Jimi. Well... His legal name was James, everyone called him “Jimmy” and he preferred to spell it “Jimi”. For good or ill—in modern society—our personalities are generally defined by our hobbies and interests. Jimi was interested in two things that dominantly describe his personality: NASCAR and Jimi Hendrix. Both of us used to like to draw too, so whenever there was free time in class—a few minutes in the morning in homeroom or maybe during lunch or recess—we'd share our drawings with one another. He would bring in NASCAR magazines and we used to draw our own made up racing cars. Even back then, I was fascinated by the look of the cars as much as the liveries. So it was fun to come up with new color combinations and patterns. Eventually my family moved and left New York for California, and I never kept up with NASCAR.

Living in Long Beach, stuff like NASCAR is seen as being a “redneck” hobby, and unsophisticated. Rural areas tend to vote Republican, so the inhabitants of the insular liberal bubble of LA County choose not to concern themselves with the things that are typically more popular in rural areas of the country. However, Long Beach does have the IndyCar grand prix, so there's an interest in what is referred to as “open-wheel” racing.

IndyCar does share some similarities with Formula One, but by most comparisons that I've seen, F1 cars are much faster in objective ways that aren't always tied to maximum speed or raw power, but in lap times (the combination of agility and horsepower). There is a bit less innovation in IndyCar with aerodynamics and things of that nature because there is only one constructor for all the chassis (Dallara). Indy also races on oval tracks, the most famous event being the Indianapolis (Indy) 500.

So when I lived in Long Beach I had a friend who was really into open wheel racing. Him and I even went downtown and snuck into the Grand Prix one year even. There's an atmosphere at a professional racing event that is quite unlike anything else. Although, from where I lived (Cherry and Wardlow) you were able to hear the cars on Sunday for the race that day. It was something the whole city was involved with whether they really cared for it or not. That, and the car culture in California does permeate a lot your existence living there. Everyone is acutely concerned with what you're driving and your level of knowledge concerning cars; both in terms of manufacturers and brands, as well as the mechanical realities. Other areas of the country have their gearheads, but because the weather in California is good for cosmetically maintaining cars over long periods of time, and the urban areas grew out (instead of up, like New York City or Chicago), the automobile is a different beast there.

Eventually I moved out to Vegas, feel in love, got married, and would do the things that married guys do.

Personally, I had avoided paying for or watching any cable television for several years before I met my wife. Somehow she convinced me that it would be a good idea to get cable again. Up late one night, I happened across a live broadcast of an F1 race, probably back in 2014 or 2015.

Something about it sucked me in... Men in particular in American (and dare I say all of Western society) are socially pressured to be interest in sports of some kind. Although I played football in junior high, I honestly didn't have an interest in it the same as other boys my age. I saw it more as an opportunity to maybe get accepted into the popular click, but that didn't happen. Instead I was just ostracized inside of the team. Running up and down a field isn't all that interesting to me, I would much prefer if they just all got roided out and beat the crap out of each other. And if given the opportunity to do so when I was that young, I probably would have taken it.

Race cars on the other hand are just fascinating machines. So F1 fulfills several aspects for me; it's mentally stimulating to have something to watch that is visually compelling (cars going fast) but also full of physics and engineering, and it fulfills the obligatory sport that every guy should be interested in. So I just sort of gone all-in with learning about it.

Las Vegas in particular has spent the past couple of decades (the entire time I've been back) courting different sporting events. From what I've heard, no one wanted sports teams here because Vegas is where you would go to bet. Back then the mob still ran things too, so it would have been stupid to have a sports team here because it would have just attracted unwanted attention from the feds. The Golden Knights were a good addition to the city, and I think the Raiders have had some positive influence on the city—the unfortunate accident involving Henry Ruggs notwithstanding. Hell, I used to drive past the monument that still sits there every day on my way to work. In fact I was late to work the morning after the accident. LVMPD had the whole place locked down and were being very meticulous about the crime scene. It didn't make sense in the moment, but soon became pretty clear after I read the news.

As an aside; I did used to like to watch basketball, but I'm annoyed that they don't let them play anymore. Every time someone sneezes they gotta call a foul, so a lot of the records that are being broken for points scored and shit aren't accurate. Neither are comparisons of modern day players with legends... It'll be interesting to see if Vegas gets an NBA team now that we have practically everything else. I know that they've tested the waters by hosting NBA pre-season games at Thomas & Mack, but I haven't heard anything about getting an NBA team.

But that's probably a story for another time. That statement is true for Formula One as well, there have been 52 drivers who have died, but the majority of those (51) were all prior to 1990. The sport has gotten quite safe, but not any less exhilarating.

What IS Formula One?

It's a rich man's sport—like all sports are, I suppose—but this one is surprisingly nerdy, even if it is particularly haughty. There is quite a bit of brain power behind it. It's not just about the human element and whether or not an athletic man can physically assert themselves as superior over the other men involved in a competition, there are all of the nuts, bolts, and carbon fiber that go into it; each team employs hundreds or thousands of people all working together to build a car and make it go fast around a predetermined path. As a fan, understanding the mechanics of it all is really half of the fun, and infinitely more complicated with the rules and guidelines layered on top.

The past decade of the sport has effectively amounted to two eras; the Mercedes-dominated era and now the Red Bull-dominated era. Each with their own famous driver; Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen (respectively). Some of it has to do with the driver, but a lot of it is a combination of a good driver and a competent team that is able to build what the driver is going to be good with. You can't just stick anyone in the best F1 car and expect that it will be #1 at the end of a grand prix. But, if you have a good driver that understands why their car goes faster than the others, that's fucking gold. To a certain extent all the cars are really similar, that's what the constructors' rules are for. Unlike other teams sports, each team in F1 has two drivers that are not only competing for the team, but also against one another. This gives the brains behind the go-fast an opportunity to try different things and still compete when they have mechanical failures on a car, but it also means that if one particular team has two really good drivers, the one coming out on top can say that it isn't solely because of the car, but also their skill.

Why is F1 better than NASCAR?

It's really not, I just needed an outrageous statement to put at the beginning and end of this post so you keep reading. Honestly, it really should be “why do I prefer F1 to NASCAR?” And to answer that question it's really just a matter of what type of engineering I find interesting, as well as the viewing experience.

A race car built for NASCAR is engineered to go around an oval track for hundreds of laps, it's about ultimate reliability and pure speed. That is definitely interesting and requires all kinds of skills and is just as infinitely complex and impressive as F1, watching a car do a hundred or two hundred laps—flat out—just making left turns... It doesn't have the same drama as watching a car speed up, slow down, and navigate varied and intricate racing circuits or courses built from regular streets.

Not only it is just watching the particular style of racing, but F1TV is a superior experience to “Peacock” as well. There is no dedicated NASCAR streaming service... They're missing out on capturing younger and geekier fans for the sport. F1 lets you toggle between the cockpit of any driver and at any time during the race, you can view different real-time telemetry screens, and they have a whole lineup of different shows that talk about different aspects of the races and cars and the teams, and it just goes on and on. Not to mention you can always go back and dig through the archives as well, so there are quite literally hundreds or thousands of races from the past that you can go back and watch.

Because of all that, I paid for the annual F1TV subscription.

Honestly though, until now, I've only really had a passing interest in the sport. This the first year that I'm committed to watching all of the races, and thus far I've watched all five races in near real-time. Sometimes they're on at odd times of night or really early in the morning. So in those instances I'm usually just watching the race the next morning.