F-'un'

I remember flicking between channels and seeing fast past racing around a track, and then thinking about how boring it looked – the track was a 50+ loop of repetitive corners and straights, the cars all looked the same and the challenging of positions came seldom. I just thought about the cost of this sport and wandered 'who are these people who watch this!?' I mean rally is full of challenging road conditions, weather conditions and when they're on the road, no-one other than the driver and the co-driver (navigator) can help themselves if they are mod-way through a course. So, I could watch rallying all day and be nervous with tension as these day-cars flew over roads designed for speeds half of what they are going at. But F1 is just a large scale scalextrics; with a repetitve drone of nondescript cars making noises around a boring track... right?

The next time F1 really came up was when I went over to the Delahayes, and they were geared up to watch it with saliva dribbling down their chins. I didn't get it at all, and after I plonked myself down on the couch to watch alongside these motor-nuts and had seen a dozen laps, I still didn't get it. With more than fifty laps remaining I had plenty of time to ask questions, the kind of dumb questions you would get from anyone who hasn't come across this highly competitive sport. And a sport it is, the drivers of formula racing cars are some of the fittest athletes in the world; simply because they have to deal with the constant G forces throughout a 2 hour race. At the end of the session, I was still confused by the attraction of the sport, but I did get some of it. I now understood the complexities of the tactics, the ruling between the teams, some of the history of the leading names in the sport and the car modifications over the years. Simply put, F1 is the most technical and up-to-date sport in the world. The car is never finished, and every season undergoes a complete rebuild – no old piece is left as it was. Although the speed hasn't changed much in the past twenty years, and in some cases has slowed, the engine and body design has. The reason why on some tracks the cars are slower is because of efficiency; F1 are going cleaner so burn less than half the fuel they would have twenty years ago. They are simply getting more for their buck.

But it wasn't until late 2015 that I understood the sport. Because I was sat about in a rather bleak Coldstream, the only solace was escapism; and that was mostly achieved through media, until I got a car that is. So, sitting around at home, with the sun barely getting up to flash itself during the day before hiding behind the horizon, I scoured daytime TV for something to distract myself with. Formula 1 was on, and luckily didn't make me embarrassed to watch it; like usual daytime TV does. I knew a little about some of the drivers and teams from my brief exposure to it before, and was elated to discover a Brit leading it. I mean, a lot of the teams have some kind of affiliation with Brits: McLaren, Williams, Red Bull (based in UK) , Manor Marussia and even Mercedes (based in UK), but its nice to see a Brit actually leading a race and not just participating. For the rest of the season it was a fierce battle between Rosberg and Hamilton (both of Mercedes).

It got to the point that they were really the only two in the running. Well, Vettel (Ferrari) did well in the beginning and was ahead of Rosberg beyond the half-way point, but the sheer 'drive' of will between team mates Hamilton and Rosberg was very entertaining. You could see the frustration deeply cut into their faces after a loss, as their pride was on the front of their cars; losing wasn't an option. They may be team mates, but actually that gives more reason to try and beat your team mate; as they at least have virtually the same vehicle; the others don't. It's the truest test of skill, a comparison of ability between two people with equal machine prowess. I just love the sheer amount of data managed, correlated and composed. It's not an art, it's a science; and the machines, drivers and team are constantly tested. The teams providing the car for the job (even working through the night to get it done), and working out the best tactics to get the job done. With tyre changes done at the right time and in the right time. Changing four wheels in just over two seconds is crazy! And yet, this is where they are with the sport; it's often about fractions of seconds, not seconds. That extra bit of effort could mean your team is in first and not third, that's why every bit of data is correlated, charted and observed with seriousness. The team may well know before the driver when the tyre pressure goes down, when the brakes are faultering, where the throttle position is etc... all due to the telemetry (through ATLAS) througout the car.

So we have the new season kicking off now. The Australian Grand Prix has been raced; unfortunately I missed it, but I saw the highlights. From the initial look at the results, you'd think it hadn't changed at all since last year. True, Rosberg was first, Second was Hamilton and third was Vettel, but it gets more interesting the more you look into it and down the list. Although Mercedes are still leading the pack, Ferrari are a bit closer to them now, Williams car seems a bit quicker than last year, but i'm not sure about McLaren; still lagging, and Alonso's crash didn't help. For those who felt underwhelmed by the quietness of the F1 engines, a separate waste-gate has been installed in cars in the hope that it will amplify the sounds. To be honest, I don't really know how each team will do, and so I'll be looking keenly at the field when they next race in Bahrain in April.

Most pundits predict Hamilton to win for his third championship in a row, and Mercedes to collect the constructors title again too, but think that Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen might be closer on their tails this year. Nobody thinks Haas F1 doing exceptionally (leading NASCAR team trying to break into F1), but because their team is backed by Ferrari, they will likely do better than many of the past newbies who have been like fodder on the track (Grosjean did come 6th in the first race in Melbourne on the 20th, from a 19 start!). Renault coming back seems to have titillated some people's fancy, though with deals coming late, they had little time to change design or do tests, so will likely not get better than 8th this season. McLaren had a horrible season last year with numerous break downs and technical faults, but sticking with their Honda engine isn't likely to score them highly in the power department. The new knockout format could prove more interesting in the run up to the various Grand Prix's, cutting cut off if the car and driver don't cut it on the grid; though this system is still being widely debated, and will likely be a watered down system in the end.

The appeal of the sport is that not only is it the fastest race in the world,( with 0-60 in under 2 seconds, and speeds well over 200mph) it is about teamwork, tactics, behind-the scenes, networking around the world, development and soul gurgling noise. If you manage to get to the end of a F1 race, after watched two hours of intense racing, you'll understand.

Below is a video of the evolution of the F1 car up to 2012: