Why Formula 1 is the best sport…

By Joe Murphy

Finally, something all us F1 fans can get behind. Whether you’re a fan of Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, neither or, like in my case, both. It doesn’t matter who your favourite team is, nor which driver you prefer. We all have a shared passion for the sport in all its glory.

Now, this headline will still have its doubters and the article itself, I’m sure, is in for criticism. That being said, there is a reasoned argument for why Formula 1 is a better sport than all the rest.

Quick caveat. Formula 1 is not a sport. It’s part of Motorsport. My comparison to football would be that yes, the Premier League is the same type of game as 5-a-side, but that too has different rules and techniques. So yes, for the sake of this argument, bear with me.

Whilst American Football, proper football (I outright refuse to ever sell out and call it soccer) cricket and pretty much any other sport, you get home and away fixtures. In F1, it tours around the world. The same drivers in the same cars in across the majority of continents, in a single season. These venues are also very different. In other sports, the criteria doesn’t change. A Dartboard doesn’t suddenly get smaller, nor a basketball hoop bigger. This simply isn’t the case for F1. You try telling anyone that the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is the same as the Monaco Grand Prix.

Despite these variations, Formula 1 still has the tradition and history as many other sports do, but it has also continued to evolve to the modern day. With the highest level of technology seen across any sport, F1 has seen cars getting ridiculously quick, whilst also getting more environmentalally friendly and increasingly the levels of safety. Where the sport has come in terms of progress since the turn of the millennium, it’s almost frightening.

Some people may say it’s a sport that’s only for the elite in society or that there’s no atmosphere. Both of these are wrong. Tickets are no more expensive than a football match in most cases and the roar when Verstappen passed Hamilton in Abu Dhabi was undeniably monstrous.

Another criticism I have heard is that the same drivers always win. My partner in fact, not especially familiar with the sport, she says this. And yes, it’s propably the most fair one. There have been era’s of dominance throughout the sport, and who knows where we would be if all the drivers raced in the same car.

My response? Well, it is multi-levelled. Firstly, not all football teams are the same, nor are rugby or cricket. Moreover, periods of dominance can be seen in every sport such as tennis, basketball and darts. While it is true I’d love to see one race a season where they all drive the exact same car, the Constructors Championship is key for innovation and advancement, in the sport. Mercedes may have been dominant for the last decade, but that will inspire Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Williams to create something which can compete. All of these teams, by the way, have had era’s of domination themselves.

And then, there’s the edge of your seat moments. Most recently, Max passing Lewis was incredible to watch live, even if it rubbed you up the wrong way. Separately, Romain Grosjeans crash in Bahrain a couple of years ago (see above), was a heart-stopping moment. It made spectators realise that behind all the money and glamour, is a potentially deadly game. You don’t really get that with golf.

Finally, whilst the cars do go round and round and round, drama can happen at any corner. The pit stops can change the course of the race and the weather, can outright change the destination of a world title (see 2008 for details). Whilst the sport isn’t perfect, it has characteristics, of which I have discussed above, which other sports can only dream of.