Is Formula 1 A Sport?
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Formula One – A Racing Sport Formula One, also called F1 in short, is an international auto racing sport. F1 is the highest level of single-seat, open-wheel and open-cockpit professional motor racing contest. Formula One racing is governed and sanctioned by a world body called the FIA − Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile or the International Automobile Federation.
Why do people say F1 isn’t a sport?
However, F1 drivers are not on a level playing field and F1 is therefore not a sport. GP2 is a sport because all the cars are the same and therefore the ability of the driver plays a much bigger role. Rather, F1 is more of an engineering competition than a sport.
Is F1 a sport or entertainment?
Formula 1 needs to provide entertainment to survive –
- Formula 1 is an extremely unique sport in the sense that while this is what it is, unlike other sports, that aspect in itself is not always enough to keep the viewers gripped.
- While we all want to see the drivers and teams battling it out at the top of their game in a pure sporting environment, in this sense we have seen in 2022 that this can feel like a disappointment compared to 2021, Red Bull and Verstappen having largely dominated proceedings.
- Formula 1 then needs extra elements, like DRS, the Safety Car and sprint races for example to shake up what can feel like stagnant races at times.
- While many would be in favour of scrapping DRS and, or not using the Safety Car and red flags to influence the dynamics of a race, the truth is that currently Formula 1 cannot rely on the sporting battle alone to keep its now younger audience gripped.
: Martin Brundle weighs in on sport v entertainment debate in Formula 1
Why Formula One is a sport?
It is a sport that tests the driver’s mental and physical ability – Formula One is a sport that tests the driver’s mental and physical ability to drive around a race track. It is one of the most popular sports in the world, with over 200 million people tuning in every year.
Is F1 just a mens sport?
Can women race in F1? – There are no rules preventing women from competing in Formula 1, but the current grid is exclusively male. In fact, a female driver hasn’t competed in a grand prix since 1976. The one female driver with the closest links to a current F1 team is Jamie Chadwick.
She’s won three W Series and is now competing in Indycar NXT racing, but she is also part of the Williams team as a test and development driver — and one day hopes to compete in Formula 1. “To be continuing my relationship with Williams is amazing. I’ve had their support since 2019,” said Chadwick. “Having the opportunity to immerse myself within the team and keep that Formula 1 dream alive is very important.
I look forward to seeing what we can achieve together.”
- Meet, driver on the Driver Academy.
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Why motorsport is not a sport?
Is motorsport really a sport? The debate goes on and on A Set the default text size Bathurst 1000 action from the race at Mount Panorama on Sunday the 10/10/2010. Image: Simon Hodgson / SMP Images When the Triple Eight V8 Supercar team was nominated for, some readers took exception: a motorsport team had no right competing against proper sporting teams, it was insinuated.
Why is there a hobby on the list?” one commenter said. Motorsport is used to such derisions. It doesn’t fit comfortably into our definition of a sport. There’s no ball, running or physical contact (between bodies, at least). Competitors rely on engines and wheels to move, their success or failure is dependant on the quality of their machinery, and they even sit down when competing for goodness sakes.
We all drive cars, so what’s the difference between what they do and what we do? This flawed logic has fostered the ‘not a sport’ argument, as people associate motorsport with an activity they do in their day-to-day lives – an activity we all take for granted.
But let’s strip this down and clear some of the misconceptions. A sport is defined as “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” No question motorsport ticks the “individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment” component.
It is, after all, a competitive exercise to discover the fastest and most consistent individual and team over the course of the season. It’s certainly for “our entertainment” as motorsport is the fourth most attended sport in Australia. No question it is popular enough.
- So it comes down to the “physical exertion and skill” definition.
- Here’s motorsport’s problem: we can’t jump into a V8 Supercar or Formula One car and take them for a spin, so the sensation of speed and the difference between race and road cars can’t be assessed; we can’t appreciate the difference in physical exertion required to drive a race car compared to a road car.
- We can, however, relate to footy players chasing after a ball because we can relate to the psychical effort required as we’ve all had a kick around in the park.
The physical effort required to compete in motorsport is hidden behind cockpits, tin-tops, overalls and helmets. We can’t see the psychical exertion that the drivers and riders are going through. We can’t see the flexing muscles or gritted faces as we can in other sports.
It’s invisible. And how can it be a sport when portly fellows such as Nigel Mansell proved you didn’t have to pass skin fold tests to win? Age is no barrier either, with the likes of Mario Andretti, Peter Brock and Dick Johnson racing in competitive categories well into their fifties. Michael Schumacher proved he could still cut it in Formula One at the age of 41.
Even chain-smoking didn’t stop James Hunt and Keke Rosberg from winning Formula One world championships.
- But don’t be fooled into believing the perceptions: motorsport requires an immense physical effort to cope with the g-forces of cars/bikes unimaginably more powerful and harder to drive than your Toyota Camry.
- Heavy g-forces put huge severe pressure on a driver’s neck; psychical strength is required to drive the cars as steering force is multiplied at such high speeds; an immense amount of concentration is needed to focus in such a strenuous and highly pressured environment at high speed; and stamina is required to ensure a driver is as focused on the first lap as well as the last, ninety minutes or so after intense racing with no break.
- But again, this is all invisible to the causal viewer.
We only see cars going around and around, seemingly without effort. This invisibility hurts motorsport’s ability to translate the psychical strain required to compete. Former V8 Supercar champion Jamie Whincup showed drivers could cut it with their fellow sportsmen, finishing in second place in the, beating out the likes of Steve Hooker, Lote Tuqiri, Ky Hurst, Brett Deledio and Joel Griffiths.
It doesn’t necessarily mean he is a fitter, better athlete than those competitors (the show was far from an exact science), but it did show motorsport competitors have a level of psychical fitness, strength and endurance the measure of their ball sport compatriots. Also, just because there is an engine powering the drivers/riders, it doesn’t mean the drivers are mere passengers.
The engine doesn’t drive around race tracks of their own accord; it’s still up to the drivers to apply the accelerator, brake and skillfully guide their cars around those tracks quicker than their opponents. When you consider that fact, motorsport has every right to sit alongside horse racing or sailing as a sport.
- There is still a psychical effort and skill requirement, it’s just different from our traditional view of a sport; usually involving a ball, posts and goals.
- The perceptions won’t change, however; drivers will still sit and be propelled by engines, so the critics will still label it a sporting fraud.
- The debate will go on and on.
: Is motorsport really a sport? The debate goes on and on
Is F1 one of the hardest sports in the world?
Complex training – Drivers train to develop their cardiorespiratory fitness. Just as the physical responses are similar to those in marathon runners so is the training they undertake. To cope with the high temperatures and G-forces, both of which reduce the amount of blood that goes to the skin for cooling, drivers must train to make their heart and cardiovascular systems stronger and more efficient.
- Training is driver specific but will involve long periods of exercising to help increase heart size and capillary density in the muscles, both of which are needed to get oxygen to the working muscles.
- However, the high energy demands and amount of work being done by the cardiovascular system mean that the muscles will start to use energy from sources other than the oxygen dependent ones.
Trough this anaerobic respiration (without oxygen), a small amount of energy is released by the breakdown of food substances in the absence of oxygen. These alternate sources provide energy but at a cost. They lead to local muscular fatigue and so make it harder to control the car. Lewis Hamilton (Bryn Lennon / Getty Images) But it is not just about the cardiorespiratory fitness, there are those G-forces which act across the whole body that need to be trained for. To do this, drivers undertake strength training, Strength training will be used to increase the size of the muscle fibres but also the speed at which the muscles can be recruited.
This is not like training to be a weight-lifter though, this is about trying to stop the muscle becoming tired as the race goes on, increasing the speed the muscles contract and making them more efficient. An F1 driver needs strength to keep the car on the road, One area of the body that has to be strengthened are the muscles of the neck.
With the G-forces pushing on the body it becomes harder for drivers to hold their heads upright. So, drivers adopt a form of training called isometrics where the muscles are working against a resistance, but do not change length. Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez Imagine trying to push as hard as you can against a wall. The wall doesn’t move but you feel the muscles working. This is an isometric exercise. So, to develop the neck muscles drivers will perhaps use resistance bands like you see in the gym but attached to their head or special helmets which have weight added to them while trying to keep their head in a fixed position.
In addition, all drivers will need to work on their core strength, again using a combination of conventional strength training and isometrics to help them maintain their body position in the cockpit whilst working against the G-forces. This is a physically demanding sport that requires the drivers to train like Olympic athletes throughout the season while also having to do all of the work with the car and race.
It might, to the casual onlooker, seem like an easy sport with cars just going round and round a track but hopefully now you realise that it takes a lot of work to be able to do, making F1 one of the toughest sports in the world. Dan Gordon, Associate Professor: Cardiorespiratory Exercise Physiology, Anglia Ruskin University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article,
Is F1 a tiring sport?
Complex training – Drivers train to develop their cardiorespiratory fitness. Just as the physical responses are similar to those in marathon runners so is the training they undertake. To cope with the high temperatures and G-forces, both of which reduce the amount of blood that goes to the skin for cooling, drivers must train to make their heart and cardiovascular systems stronger and more efficient.
- Training is driver specific but will involve long periods of exercising to help increase heart size and capillary density in the muscles, both of which are needed to get oxygen to the working muscles.
- However, the high energy demands and amount of work being done by the cardiovascular system mean that the muscles will start to use energy from sources other than the oxygen dependent ones.
Trough this anaerobic respiration (without oxygen), a small amount of energy is released by the breakdown of food substances in the absence of oxygen. These alternate sources provide energy but at a cost. They lead to local muscular fatigue and so make it harder to control the car.
But it is not just about the cardiorespiratory fitness, there are those G-forces which act across the whole body that need to be trained for. To do this, drivers undertake strength training, Strength training will be used to increase the size of the muscle fibres but also the speed at which the muscles can be recruited.
This is not like training to be a weight-lifter though, this is about trying to stop the muscle becoming tired as the race goes on, increasing the speed the muscles contract and making them more efficient. An F1 driver needs strength to keep the car on the road, It takes a lot of strength to keep the car on the road, as well as to overtake. Davide Gennari/EPA One area of the body that has to be strengthened are the muscles of the neck. With the G-forces pushing on the body it becomes harder for drivers to hold their heads upright.
- So, drivers adopt a form of training called isometrics where the muscles are working against a resistance, but do not change length.
- Imagine trying to push as hard as you can against a wall.
- The wall doesn’t move but you feel the muscles working.
- This is an isometric exercise.
- So, to develop the neck muscles drivers will perhaps use resistance bands like you see in the gym but attached to their head or special helmets which have weight added to them while trying to keep their head in a fixed position.
In addition, all drivers will need to work on their core strength, again using a combination of conventional strength training and isometrics to help them maintain their body position in the cockpit whilst working against the G-forces. This is a physically demanding sport that requires the drivers to train like Olympic athletes throughout the season while also having to do all of the work with the car and race.
Is F1 a mixed gender sport?
OPINION – F1 is a gender-mixed sport, so why aren’t there any women racing? – 21bis At the start of a new racing season in Formula 1, I still wonder why there are no women on the racing track. Formula 1 might be one of the few mixed-gender sports that still exist, but it’s also one of the most sexist.
- First of all, it’s important to know that there were women in F1.
- So, it’s not like women have never participated in the sport.
- In total five women have stood on the racing track of a Grand Prix race: Maria Tesera de Filippis, Giovanna Amati and Lella Lombardi from Italy, the British Divina Galica and Desiré Wilson from South Africa.
Lella Lombardi was the most successful of them all, as she started twelve races. She is also the only one that finished in the top ten of a Grand Prix. Over the years, there have been multiple female development drivers for different formula 1 teams. Development drivers are involved in the testing and the development of particular F1 cars.
- However, they never started in any Grand Prix.
- The British Jamie Chadwick is the next big talent.
- As of 2019, Chadwick has been a development driver in the Williams Formula 1 team.
- She also won the W-series twice, this is a female racing competition that should give women an opportunity in Formula 1.
- Unfortunately, it has been thirty years since a woman started at a Grand Prix race.
One may say that thirty years is a long time ago and that everything has changed. However, as men developed with the sport so have women. Ignorant rich men The problem Formula 1 has, is that it’s all about the money. That money happens to be owned by white cisgender men, who feel superior towards women.
- The Red Bull team consultant Helmut Marko said in an interview in 2019 that ‘women are not strong or aggressive enough to race in Formula 1′.
- In 2016 Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said: ‘Women will never be taken seriously in F1 because they aren’t strong enough to drive quick enough’.
- And Sir Stirling Moss, a former Formula 1 driver, said in 2013: ‘The mental stress I think would be pretty difficult for a lady to deal with in a practical fashion’.
Female drivers aren’t strong enough to drive cars quick enough, says Ecclestone -yup this is happening — Emma Barnett (@Emmabarnett) So, if what these men say is true: a driver must be strong, aggressive, quick and be able to handle mental stress. But honestly, what women in Formula 1 truly need to succeed is financial aid.
- Sophia Flörsch, a 21-year-old German Formula 3 driver, said in an interview with the German broadcaster that women are not able to get the same financial support that men get.
- Sponsors are unwilling to invest in women who haven’t shown their worth, but they can’t do that because they do not have the financial budget to drive the fastest cars.
In the same interview Flörsch also said that at the start of the F3 season in 2017 her budget was 700.000 euros. The men in the top teams had double the amount. Competent female drivers But for those that say that women are mentally and physically too weak for Formula 1, think about this.
- Why wouldn’t women be able to handle the G4, gravity force, that racers endure during a Grand Prix? There are multiple female jet fighter pilots, and they must endure G9.
- When those men talk about the mental pressure that women won’t be able to handle, they assume that it is a simple topic, but it’s a very vague concept.
Firstly, there is little research into the mental capacity one needs to drive in Formula 1. Secondly, there are often so many factors that influence the brain and how a person thinks. You cannot define mental capacity into gender. However, if you want to compare the mental capacity of women and men, you can think about all the girls that handle those sexist comments.
That needs a lot of mental strength. Dit bericht op Instagram bekijken There are no women in Formula 1. That is not because of their lack of talent or skill, but because they are not accepted on the track by a small group of men that control the show. It’s 2022, the whole world is moving forward towards more equality.
Formula 1, however, stays on their deserted pile of gold and gasoline dominated by men. The fans are ready, they ask for Jamie Chadwick to join the grid. The current drivers cheer on their female colleagues. Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has been out watching and supporting the W-series saying: “These women are awesome”.
Is racing car a sport?
automobile racing, also called motor racing, professional and amateur automobile sport practiced throughout the world in a variety of forms on roads, tracks, or closed circuits. It includes Grand Prix racing, speedway racing, stock-car racing, sports-car racing, drag racing, midget-car racing, and karting, as well as hill climbs and trials ( see hill climb ; see also rally driving ; gymkhana ).
Is F1 losing popularity?
Soaring viewership means the sport is also reaching new audiences. The 2021 season, which featured one of the most thrilling championship battles in history, averaged 949,000 U.S. viewers, according to ESPN. The 2022 season beat that by 28%, topping 1 million viewers on average per race for the first time.
Why F1 is one of the hardest sports?
Imagine driving a car at speeds approaching 112 mph for around two hours, while at the same time having to negotiate twisting circuits and finding ways to overtake opponents. This is what a Formula 1 (F1) driver will experience when they race around the streets of Monaco.
It might sound thrilling and exciting, but now imagine doing this with your heart beating close to its maximum for the whole race. Research shows that heart rates can average 182 beats per minute over the course of a race while experiencing cardiorespiratory responses and energy costs which are similar to that seen in elite marathon runners and soccer players,
Quite simply this is not just about driving, this is one of the most physically and mentally demanding sports on the planet.
Is F1 harder than football?
Formula one drivers have to suffer G forces for up to 2 hours, longer than footballers have to run around. Formula one drivers had to wear a fire proof suit, and several other layers than make them hot in countries like italy and US.
Can F1 drivers be female?
Women drivers race to break Formula 1’s male monopoly Silverstone, England – As the Formula 1 season kicks off this weekend in in front of a sell-out crowd, fans can expect to see blistering speeds, squealing tyres, sliding fast corners and daring overtaking.
What they won’t see is a female driver. There has not been a woman driver in a Formula 1 race for more than 40 years. But that could be about to change. With about of F1 fans now female, the motorsport industry is making a concerted effort to ensure that at least one of the 20 drivers on the grid is female.
Formula 1 has put its clout behind the F1 Academy. On Wednesday, the organisation announced that the initiative for women drivers will be headed by Susie Wolff, former driver and wife of Toto Wolff, the CEO of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team.
- The F1 Academy will subsidise the budgets for 15 women who drive for five teams.
- Another initiative is More Than Equal, a non-profit launched in June with the sole purpose of putting a woman on the podium.
- More Than Equal will scout the world for talented young female drivers and then nurture them to success.
- Founder Kate Beavan rejects the notion that women lack the strength to compete.
- “Seventy-five women have been to space with all of its physical challenges, G-forces, with its technical challenges of understanding the technology behind it, and it is a highly competitive environment as a programme to get in to,” Beavan, a longtime Formula 1 executive, told Al Jazeera.
- “So, I think that lays that argument to rest.”
- No rules prevent women from competing in Formula 1 but the pipeline of young female drivers is a trickle and they face additional hurdles, including a lack of confidence.
“I always doubted myself. I never thought I could be there beating the guys. I think I definitely had a bit of intimidation or impostor syndrome which perhaps did stem from that,” said Jamie Chadwick, a driver for Williams Academy and three-time winner of the W Series, specifically for women drivers.
She said the confidence eventually came with “time, getting older in the sport, having great opportunities and great people supporting me and those opportunities have helped. But, honestly, it’s only come recently, in the last five or six years,” said the 24-year-old, who is now driving in the INDY NXT series in the United States.
Speaking to Al Jazeera at the Williams headquarters in Wantage, England, surrounded by dozens of F1 cars, Chadwick said her dream is “ultimately Formula 1”. Beavan, the founder of the More Than Equal initiative, rejects the notion that women lack the strength to compete Another young driver with dreams of Formula 1 is Macie Hitter. The 15-year-old has raced go-karts since she was eight, winning countless races and amassing a glittering collection of trophies on display at her home in Griston, England.
The schoolgirl doesn’t go to parties or shop with friends. For the last seven years, Hitter has been in the gym or on the track preparing for the next race. On race day, she’s faced an extra stumbling block – being female. “When women come to the track the boys are very confused about why they are here because it’s a very male-dominated sport.
When you arrive they’re like ‘is that a girl there?’ A lot of them do not want to be beaten by a girl. So, I’ve had some challenging weekends being taken off,” she told Al Jazeera. “But the more experience you get and the more you’re with the boys they realise you are there and they start to race with you, but it’s been tough.” Macie Hitter, 15, has raced go-karts since she was eight, winning countless races and amassing a collection of trophies The day Al Jazeera watched Hitter on a go-kart track in northern England, she was the fastest by far, topping 120km (74.5 miles) per hour in a machine just centimetres off the asphalt.
- “You don’t see a woman in F1 right now so I would say it is more difficult for a woman to get but I am hoping that it is going to start becoming more frequent,” Hitter said.
- Hitter may be a driver in the sights of More Than Equal.
Beavan said the organisation is doing research into why women drivers aren’t making it to Formula 1, or even F2, F3 or F4 where only a handful of women race. Once More Than Equal has the data, it will scout for talent. Despite fans’ enthusiasm for a mixed grid, those involved in making it happen estimate it will be eight to nine years before a Formula 1 race includes a female driver.
“A very small proportion of the racing drivers in the world are female and we need to find where they are, what they are racing in, identify their racing abilities and pluck them and then develop their skills – whether that is physical, mental, race craft – and help drive them all the way up to Formula 1,” Beavan said on a grey day at Silverstone, home of the British Grand Prix.
Tickets to this season’s Grand Prix at Silverstone in July sold out in record time. Audiences for Formula 1 have skyrocketed in the last three years, thanks in no small part to the Netflix series Formula 1: Drive to Survive – a runaway hit during lockdown.
That’s how Isabella Vittoria, 27, got hooked. Vittoria, a marketing executive at Bumble, the online dating app, is a typical new fan: young, female, and engaging with Formula 1 on social media. Ahead of her upcoming marriage, she is celebrating her bachelorette party at the Barcelona Grand Prix with her sister, Alexa, and five female friends.
“I would love to see a woman driver in F1. It’s such a male-dominated sport, not just for the drivers, but also for the teams behind the scenes,” Vittoria said. “I would love to see what a woman driver brings to the on-track dynamic.” Isabella Vittoria, right, will be celebrating her bachelorette party at the Barcelona Grand Prix with her sister, Alexa, left, and other female friends Source: Al Jazeera : Women drivers race to break Formula 1’s male monopoly
Why do guys like F1?
‘ It’s full of passion from all sides – drivers, teams, fans – and while there’s rivalry there’s also respect. You learn to expect the unexpected on a race weekend, which makes for intrigue and excitement. Plus the drivers I’ve met have been lovely and had time for their fans. ‘
Is F1 a luxury sport?
Why Formula 1 is the Most Expensive Sport Powerful hybrid power units. Weightless carbon-fiber chassis. Sophisticated aerodynamics. It is of no question that Formula 1 cars are among the fastest — and not to mention, the most expensive — automobiles on the planet.
- But don’t let all that speed blind you, as there is much more to Formula 1 than just its incomprehensible speed.
- Behind all the sport’s pioneering technological achievements, elements such as each cars’ materials, each racing teams’ crew and each Grand Prix’s logistics all contribute immensely to making Formula 1 the most expensive sport.
The Car: Light Materials With Heavy Price-tags Image: Courtesy of rossoautomobili.com. In order to achieve the highest level of performance, each Formula 1 car must use the best materials (at least 25,000 separate parts), and more often than not, they come with multiple-digit price-tags — in US Dollars! Altogether, the average cost for an entire Formula 1 car is around 12.2 million dollars (~THB370 million).
Here is a list of the average price of each part. Front Wing: $150,000 Halo protective structure above the driver’s cockpit: $17,000 Steering Wheel – $50,000 Fuel Tank: $140,000 Engine Unit: $10,500,000 Hydraulics: $170,000 Gearbox: $440,000 Rear Wing: $85,000 Carbon Fibre main structure: $650,000 Set of Tires: $2,700 Fuel per season: $500,000 If you’re intrigued by those numbers, you’ll be shocked to realise that even more — in fact, the most — money is spent on the cars’ research and development process, which can cost up to around $500 million.
The Team: The Best Of The Best Image: Courtesy of f1.com. Each Formula 1 team has anywhere between 250 to 950 staff members — ranging from engineers, to strategists, to mechanics, to race engineers, to drivers — each are among the best in their fields. Considering there are 10 teams, the total number of staff members can go from 2,500 to 9,500. Image: Courtesy of Raidió Teilifís Éireann. Formula 1 is among very few sports that have worldwide venues. In a Formula 1 season, there are 21 races in 21 countries across the globe. Considering the monstrous amount of equipment and number of staff each Formula 1 team must transport in a short period of 1-2 weeks between each Grand Prix, the logistics cost is, unquestionably, massive.
- It is estimated that each team will transport approximately 50 tons of equipment per season, accounting to at least $8 million.
- Combining the costs of all 10 teams, approximately $80 million is spent solely on logistics.
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: Why Formula 1 is the Most Expensive Sport
Is Chess considered a sport?
The Case for Chess Being a Sport – The Oxford English Dictionary as: “An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment”. If we take this definition as gospel, it’d be fair to say that chess does indeed fit into the sports category.
Is racing a rich sport?
‘ Racing is definitely expensive, from go-karting on up, there’s no doubt about it. It’s a lot less expensive to play golf or play tennis but F1 it’s an expensive sport, there’s machinery.
Is F1 gender restricted?
A new female-only racing series led by Formula 1 could be launched in 2023, aimed at younger drivers and working with the established F1 pyramid. Motorsport categories are not segregated by gender so female drivers are eligible to compete in F1 and junior series like Formula 2 and Formula 3.
But there have been few female junior drivers in recent years and no female F1 driver since Lella Lombardi in 1976. An independent female-only championship, W Series, was launched in 2019 with the aim of helping change that. It is unique in concept for other reasons, primarily that drivers do not require a budget.
The drives are paid for and a significant cash prize is awarded to the champion – which has been Williams development driver Jamie Chadwick in all three seasons. But Chadwick’s repeat successes and lack of progression to higher single-seater categories point to an inherent problem with W Series, which has been populated by a mix of younger and older drivers – many of whom have either not raced single-seaters before or who had previously stopped racing several years ago.
- W Series has also fallen into major financial strife and cancelled the final two events of its 2022 season with a focus on returning in 2023.
- However, The Race understands that there has been work in the background to create a new category for female drivers under F1’s watch.
- It is likely this would fit into the F2/F3 pyramid.
Both championships ultimately come under F1’s direction. This could begin as early as 2023 with a relatively small grid, said to be 12-15 cars, and multiple teams. Unlike W Series there would be a specific focus on younger drivers to help them develop and progress up the ladder, with an age limit of around 16 likely to be imposed.
- This could help the new F1-led series coexist with W Series, which has been praised by F1.
- While F1 has not commented officially on the concept of a new female-only category, it has reiterated a commitment to ensuring greater opportunity for talented women drivers to progress and reach the top levels.
On Thursday ahead of the United States Grand Prix, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton suggested F1 should step in to rescue W Series, replying “100% I do” when asked if he felt the onus was on F1 and the FIA to ensure its survival. He had previously urged F1 to take action to ensure W Series’ top drivers were able to progress further up the single-seater ladder. “And there’s not really a pathway for those young, amazing drivers to even get to Formula 1, and then you have some people who say we’re never going to see a female F1 driver ever. So that’s not a good narrative to be putting out. “So I think we need to be doing more, and with the organisation, with Formula 1 and Liberty doing so well it’s not a lot for them to be able to help out in that space.” F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said in August that he didn’t envisage another female driver on the grand prix grid within the next five years, though those comments were made in the context of him underlining that the championship is prioritising improving that situation for the longer term, saying in the same interview that it’s “crucial in this moment to try to give the maximum possibility to women to come to Formula 1”.
Domenicali continued: “Realistically speaking, I don’t see – unless something that will be like a sort of meteorite coming into the earth – a girl in Formula 1 in the next five years. “That is very unlikely, I need to be realistic. But we want to build up the right parameters with the right approach step by step in order for them to start to race against the guys at the right age, with the right car.
“That’s really what we’re working on.”
Is F1 harder than tennis?
Nick Harris, one of the leading driver fitness trainers in F1 and an old friend of, and contributor to, the JA on F1 site has been speaking about the age old question of how fit F1 drivers are relative to other sportsmen. Harris also works with two of the leading tennis players currently competing at Wimbledon and, speaking at the launch on Monday of a new range of sports clothing based on the lessons he has learned from working with top athletes, he said that although F1 is uniquely brutal in its demands on the driver, tennis is a more physically demanding sport than F1 because the athletes have no idea how long they will be on court for and may rack up many hours with the next match coming soon after the last.
Who’s fitter the F1 driver or the tennis player? “It is very specific. For sheer exertion over 90 minutes then Formula 1 is the most demanding. You are sat in a cockpit with 50 degree temperatures, race suit and helmet on. You are pulling over five times gravity, making decisions. It is an absolute oven and it puts the body under unique mental and physical stresses.
No other sport can replicate. “Tennis, especially the men’s game now, has to be one of the most physically demanding sports in the world. Look at Djovokic in the Australian Open. He took 5 hours to beat Murray in the semi-finals then beat Nadal in six hours in the final 48 hours later. You’ve worked over the last 15 years with Mark Webber, Eddie Irvine, David Coulthard, Nico Hulkenberg and even briefly Jenson Button as well as some of the top tennis names. So what’s the sports clothing all about? “I started producing items for my clients to train in and the feedback was fantastic.
Whatever your fitness goal, when you push the body to the limit the clothing that you wear can have a big impact on your performance and recovery. “Compression wear for example; when you are working aerobically the blood leaves the heart under pressure but returns under low pressure. So if we can increase the ability of the blood to return to the heart we can pick up more oxygen and it will go out as an energy source to regenerate muscle and reduce fatigue.
Compression clothing is important to increase performance and recovery.” HPE Clothing can be seen at Westfield, London and online at www.hpeclothing.com We have one of Nick’s tops to give away as competition prizes. Simply predict what the gap will be in fractions of a second in qualifying between two of Nick’s former clients Jenson Button and Mark Webber in this weekend’s British Grand Prix and in whose favour.
How hard is F1 physically?
We spoke to the experts – F1 drivers need immense amounts of strength and endurance to withstand searing heat in the cockpits and control their cars at speeds of more than 200 mph. Their tough training regimes reflect this need – with lots of strength training, core conditioning, flexibility and cardiovascular workouts.
What is controversial about F1?
The FIA have concluded that the controversy over the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 season finale in 2021 was down to ‘human error’ but that the results are ‘valid’. Race director Michael Masi recently left his role following the investigation, which allowed Red Bull’s Max Verstappen the chance to attack Lewis Hamilton with a lap remaining.
The FIA noted that Masi had not taken heed of the regulations regarding the late presence of the safety car, saying he had, “called the safety car back into the pit lane without it having completed an additional lap as required by the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations (Article 48.12).” Formula 1 Verstappen says he ‘won’t be around for too long’ if F1 adds more sprint races 01/04/2023 AT 10:38 “The process of identifying lapped cars has up until now been a manual one and human error lead to the fact that not all cars were allowed to un-lap themselves,” the FIA added.
That allowed him to win the Grand Prix and secure enough points to win his first world championship, and denied Hamilton the chance to win a record-breaking eighth. It appeared following the race conclusion that Masi had incorrectly interpreted the regulations regarding a safety car restart, and there were accusations from fans that the decision had been taken to artificially create a more dramatic ending to the season.
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However the report, released on Saturday, said that Masi had acted in ‘good faith’ when making his decisions.
Why isn t F1 popular?
Formula 1 is a global sport, enjoyed by viewers all over the world, with the cumulative audience for the 2021 season reaching 1.55 billion. The sport is growing at a rapid rate in recent years, with that 1.55 billion figure being a 4% increase on the cumulative audience figure for 2020.
- Despite this global popularity, F1 has struggled to grow in the US market.
- This has been attributed to various factors such as the open-wheel racing sector being dominated by the Indy 500 and NASCAR,
- However, an American firm, Liberty Media Inc, purchased Formula 1 back in 2017 and have since made huge progress in growing the sport in the US market.
With a $75-90 million broadcasting rights deal being agreed with ESPN, it is interesting to explore the methods used to help drive this sudden rise in popularity of Formula 1 in the US, Hit Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive played a big part in attracting casual fans and creating a strong audience base in the US, however the measures taken to build on this base must be credited.
Why is F1 not popular?
F1 has become one of the most popular sports globally but has consistently struggled to win over the US, but why exactly is F1 not popular in America? The main reason F1 is not popular in the US is because of tradition and culture. F1 emerged in Europe in 1950 when a wide variety of motorsports were born in the US, causing a divergence of interests and exposure over the years.
How popular is F1 as a sport?
Soaring viewership means the sport is also reaching new audiences. The 2021 season, which featured one of the most thrilling championship battles in history, averaged 949,000 U.S. viewers, according to ESPN. The 2022 season beat that by 28%, topping 1 million viewers on average per race for the first time.