A few years ago, we traditionally went to the Spanish Grand Prix, but our small company became three people more as finally, Alex joined the trip. A 45-year-old man works as a sales manager. He has been a race cars fan for a long time, but traveling to F1 is what he’d never decided on until that moment. To feel confident, he took his 15-year-old son Tony and wife Mary. All that weekend, we had become Formula 1 guides, explaining details and putting everything about F1 on the table. However, it taught me a lesson on how difficult it could be to get familiar with Formula 1 quickly. I remember Alex’s confused look, Mary’s scared face, and Tony’s thrilling smile when they heard the F1 car’s engine for the first time. What confused them even more was that they had no idea where to start; however, they were already hooked. Making our friends into devotee was not a simple task, but we coped well, resulting in this step-by-step guideline on how to get into Formula 1 as a fan. Let’s begin.
- Step 1: Start With Watching The Race
- Launch your own vision to tell.
- Step 2: Charge Your Passion With The Right Tools
- Step 3: Explore Personal Stories To Choose Your Favorite One
- Step 4: Dive Into The Terms
- Step 5: Complete Your Gaps
- Step 6: Feel the Freedom in Formula 1 Social Media
- Step 7: Fix Your Passion With Formula 1 Attendance
- Final Points
Step 1: Start With Watching The Race
Start by watching the race if you want to be an F1 fan. Without any idea of what Formula 1 is about, it is the first thing you have to do. Sounds weird, right? However, I remember my first touch to this sport.
A few words about my first Formula 1 race
It happened not because I heard about it less or more. Frankly saying, there was nothing I knew about Formula 1, except that Ferrari was red colored and Michael Schumacher, whose name made a lot of headlines at that time. However, I watched the British Grand Prix 2002 from scratch.
The first five laps didn’t hook me enough to hang on with the sports channel. After a while, I understood the winner was the fastest. The more times the commentator repeated Montoya, Schumacher, and Barrichello, the more familiar with them I felt myself. The same was true for the cars and teams.
Another few laps changed everything. It launched the long battle between Montoya and Barrichello for the second place. For me, it was the real action that had happened right then. It was not a movie, as the finish was an unpredictable case.
Besides, the difference between the racing styles of both drivers stuck with me at Silverstone until the end, raising new questions I asked myself after the finish again and again. It was like, why did Juan Pablo Montoya so dare? Why if Rubence Barichello finished second after Schumacher can’t race against Michael?
So, no wonder my friends found me watching the Formula 1 French Grand Prix the following weekend.
Launch your own vision to tell.
Where is it to start to become a Formula 1 fan? Right, start with your vision. Delay the specific terms or slang details for a while, but play Formula 1 race on and watch. It helps you to come up with your perspective on the sport and lights your questions. It is how it starts, I think.
Also, you have to explore the entire weekend’s events, including the last practice, qualifying, pre-race interviews, Grand Prix, and awarding ceremony. Even if sometimes it may be boring, keep it going.
Step 2: Charge Your Passion With The Right Tools
The right tools will play a crucial role in becoming a Formula 1 fan fast because these improve your time to adapt to new information. Moreover, these tools will hold you on a curve.
But what these specific tools are?
Formula 1 Livestream
Websites
Along with the live stream, you can find hundreds of websites about Formula 1 that include the latest news and different opinions. Packed with valuable information, a website about racing is the second tool you need.
I recommend you do not rush at the beginning. Less is more. You need to choose two good sources to keep you updated.
Podcast
The third tool that probably becomes a great advantage is the podcast. I don’t know if you like listening to podcasts, but if not like it was for me, then you have to try. An appropriate episode saves you time a lot.
Vlog
Another pro of podcasts I figured out is that the hard-understanding terms, such as technical analysis and rules explanation, are better to listen to or watch in the vlog.
As for the recommendations, it will be informative for beginner F1 fans to listen to Beyond the Grid and watch former F1 driver Nico Rosberg’s YouTube channel.
So, choose your channel right, but no more than one.
Additional advice here is to keep a journal. Sounds bizarre? However, I find it a great option to pave the way through the sea of information about Formula 1. Let this journal be exceptional. Whether it is the designed notebook or a colored diary, it is just for you. At least it was a good deal for me.
Step 3: Explore Personal Stories To Choose Your Favorite One
As soon as you understand the basics of Formula 1, you need to pick up your favorite one. Although there should be a stair with terms, I think Formula 1 for beginners has to be explained through personalities. Otherwise, it may turn out to be boring.
Start with the drivers. In Formula 1, 20 drivers are racing for 10 teams. They had enormous racing achievements before Formula 1. They risk, lose, and win in front of millions of fans, gaining an eight-figure salary.
But under the glitz, they are human beings with dreams, feels, and scares. Even if F1 drivers are far from simple people, they are friends, fans of football, love music, believe in signs, and never stop training. However, each one does it in its unique way.
Explore drivers’ personalities to choose your favorite one.
You can pick someone artistic and melancholic like Charles Leclerc or who is daring, easy-going, and hard-hitting like Max Verstappen. Perhaps it will be that one F1 driver who inspires to rise, like seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton. However, the story must be comparable to your life goals or ideals.
How to Choose Your favorite F1 driver fast?
There are three keys.
First, look at the racer’s biography and puzzle out his achievements in Formula 1.
Secondly, note the driver’s racing style. Esteban Ocon, for example, has an aggressive one, while Lando Norris is more cautious.
All the F1 fans follow their favorites’ social media, but in most cases, there are driver’s managers to keep these channels instead of drivers themselves. Therefore, reading or listening to the F1 driver’s interview on abstract topics is better. That’s the third key.
Same works for the F1 teams because there is heritage behind each one.
Step 4: Dive Into The Terms
Most of them you can find from the sources above: websites, vlogs, and podcasts. If you miss something, keep Formula 1 officials’ explanation closer to your attention, or you can read our entire explanation of How Formula 1 Works.
Step 5: Complete Your Gaps
Although becoming an F1 fan fast is possible, becoming a Formula 1 expert takes time and effort. You have to delve into the Formula 1 racing philosophy through its origins. Here is what helps you well.
Create Your F1 Movies Collection
Here, I have two rules: do not start with Netflix’s Drive to Survive, and there should be no prescriptions, however, on what to watch. Even if the second one denies the first, let me explain.
Drive to Survive is an astonishing series, filled with actions and behind-the-scenes drama, that I highly recommend watching, but only when you find your perspective on Formula 1.
However, the ‘Drive to Survive’ problem is that in some episodes, series makers had made a big deal out of nothing, exaggerating and inflating controversial topics.
Therefore, when you know nothing about the dilemma in the movie, you take the side that Netflix made for you by default.
On the other side, there have to be no rules on what to watch, as the primary goal of each movie is to entertain, extending your knowledge base.
Many fans recommend watching documentaries about F1 racing as much as possible, but let’s be honest. At some point, it may become drilling you without interest in this sport. That is why I think there should be no rules on what to watch about Formula 1.
You can mix actions with drama movies and add to this series with documentaries in any order. Didn’t like the documentary? Switch to the next one because the main goal is to set your own F1 movie collection that you will love.
So, choose your favorite one, and you will open the new door to Formula 1’s behind the scenes.
If you’re a bookworm, you can explore the books that Formula 1 drivers read.
Step 6: Feel the Freedom in Formula 1 Social Media
Social Media plays a crucial role in staying in touch with the latest news and to connect with other F1 fans. Initially, you can feel uncomfortable because of cultural and age differences, but be sure F1 fans are kind and passionate even if they seem rigid.
Therefore, feel free to ask questions or to comment on the posts. It helps you understand terms and situations better.
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are leading this top, but I find Reddit and directly the formula1 subreddit more fun to explore what F1 fans think about one or another issue.
Step 7: Fix Your Passion With Formula 1 Attendance
Traveling to a Formula 1 race is very special. It can change your life, resulting in you becoming a real F1 devotee, which happens in most cases and happens with Alex, Mary, and Tony.
To see the event through your own eyes is a necessary step after you get the perspective on the sport and fill in a few gaps.
Frankly saying, to plan everything here is the hardest part. However, we published a few guides on how to do it better, including buying tickets and choosing the right look.
Final Points
As you are already here, it means that partly you became a true F1 fan. I hope it turned fast, but I know you’re getting into the Formula 1 became unique. You can read many other fans’ narratives, but all you will find is each story is singular.
As for my friends, Alex, Mary, and Tony have watched every Formula 1 race. Sometimes, I think Alex understands some details better than me, while Tony dreams of becoming a professional racer. So, just one of those things that traveling to the Grand Prix annually became their good tradition. Moreover, they found new friends, and some of them were newcomers to the sport. Together, they become F1 fans soon, no doubt.
