Formula 1 was a relatively unknown sport to many people around the country until around 2021. The people who enjoyed racing would watch NASCAR. That was until the past few years when the uptick in viewership for F1 started to skyrocket around the world. That prompted a club at Indiana University to talk and watch F1.
“I’ve been a real Formula 1 fan since 2019,” Visual Media Officer at F1 Club Mia Roe said. “I’ve been watching racing forever.”
The beauty of F1 is that the races are shorter than NASCAR and take place all over the world. Many people root for teams or drivers. The drivers have sponsors, and those are the teams people root for, such as Red Bull, Mercedes, and McLaren.
“You will find someone in the club to relate to,” Roe said. “And even if you have a different opinion it is always fun to get into those little debates with everyone.”
Mia Roe, Visual Media Officer of F1 Club at Indiana University
There are many reasons people like Formula 1 including what happens during the race and the excitement of the races all around the world.
“Motorsports are pretty cool,” club member Josh Fieffer said. “I’m a big real nerd about the engineering side of things. I think F1 is pretty cool in that sense, how they upgrade the car or develop it.”
For people at the F1 club at IU, it is also about the community. They bring food and talk about races and what is going on. And beyond that, it’s a welcoming environment to meet a new friend.
“Just trying to meet people and be social,” Fieffer said. “F1 is a pretty niche sport right now, so meeting others who also enjoy the sport is pretty important to me.”
Another part of F1 is they sometimes play the drivers talking over the broadcast so you can hear what they are saying to themselves or their team. Some of it is explicit but it makes for a very entertaining broadcast for the viewer.
“The racing is pretty great but also the personalities of the drivers are really important as well,” Fieffer said. “This is one of the only sports where you can know the player really well.”
Josh Fieffer, Member of F1 Club at Indiana University
The noise level gets pretty high during watch parties at IU, especially at critical points in the race. That includes the start and end of the race. Also if any crashes happen. The last race that happened in Formula 1 was the Bahrain GP and Oscar Piastri ended up winning for the McLaren team. Both Roe and Fieffer predicted that Piastri would win the race although he was the favorite.
The rise of F1 is related to many factors but a lot of people got into it with a Netflix documentary. It was called “Drive to Survive” and it was a six-season documentary that took place in 2019. With the country being shut down in 2020 due to COVID, a lot of people needed something to watch so the documentary picked up a lot of traction. The races generally take two hours compared to NASCAR where races range from three to four hours.
Even though Formula 1 is a popular sport now, it is still growing at a rapid rate. The F1 Club at Indiana University is looking to expand the club even further to add more members and events.
