This is how I’m diving into the thrill of Formula One racing

Bring on the F1 fancams, highlight reels, and memes.

Think about it,

When was the last time you started following a new sport? The slow burn of attempting to make sense of the rules while keeping up with the barrage of updates. It must have been daunting. Even more so when you don’t want to be a casual spectator but one who goes all in. After a prolonged hiatus from passionately following a sport, I’m getting back and it has been fascinating to enter a fresh one.

Following a bit of reading and watching, I’m at a stage where I can now make sense of what’s actually going on during a Formula One race. What used to be random letters and numbers constantly switching up and down on the leader board is now readable. However, there are times when I’m left clueless about certain rules and the commentary starts sounding gibberish. I’ve always appreciated the rush behind the drivers turning around close corners and risking dangerous overtakes. And now, equipped with the knowledge of all the rules and player backgrounds, it’s far more thrilling to watch.

I’m currently trying to consume as much content as I can to learn about F1 racing. I naturally opened the official website looking for explainers and I wasn’t disappointed. They have created tons of content to make it easier for people like me to quickly jump into the sport. Since I heavily use my calendar app to track my events and tasks, I subscribed to the F1 season calendar for all the fixtures. You can add it from the official F1 website and sync it with the calendar app of your choice. As I had mentioned in a previous newsletter, I’ve been using the app Box Box for leader boards and widgets. Finally, to watch the races, I got a FanCode subscription for the entire season which was surprisingly quite affordable.

With the basics out of the way, all that remains is watching the races and randomly Googling jargon that I don’t understand. I would recommend watching the races with people who know the sport but patient ones because you’re probably going to bombard them with doubts.

My next goal is to observe the drivers and teams closely so that I can pick a favourite rather than simply going for the champions. I’m slowly inclined towards Red Bull for now. And I’ll probably watch the first season of the Drive To Survive documentary but there’s no way I can do six seasons. Here’s looking forward to a fun Singapore GP this weekend, hoping not to see a disappointing crash like the Azerbaijan GP. Don’t forget to drop your suggestions in the comments on how I can enhance my F1 experience and knowledge.

🗓️ In this week

▶️ Videos

In my quest of learning, I came across an explainer video by F1 themselves that does a great job of covering the fundamentals. One simple video and I understood the entire sport. Although a long way to go in knowing some of the obscure rules and terminology, I’m consuming anything and everything that comes my way.

Click here to watch the video because Formula One has blocked embedding their YouTube videos on Substack for some reason.

Onto the next one. Any stable vehicle that goes insanely fast whether on land, water or air is a result of marvellous engineering. Formula One cars are a great example and it’s insane how they keep pushing the limits to be the fastest. My recommendations tab on YouTube is showing more F1 content, so I’m glad this vlog showed up. It’s an interesting walkthrough of the Red Bull factory in England giving a sneak peek about the tech behind F1 cars, including a sound preview of their upcoming engine in 2026.

There are times when Nat Geo or BBC drop that one nature video and our collective minds are blown away by a natural phenomenon. This is one of those from a documentary that talks about the ‘Finger of Death’. It‘s as bonkers as you’d imagine and thanks to BBC being as dramatic as ever with the epic shots and commentary. Nature is fascinating and always will be.

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Do you have any exciting recommendations? Some more interesting tidbits you would like to share from the content mentioned here? Or just simple feedback? I would love to hear from you!

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🎮 Video Games

In my last newsletter, I talked about how I got back into watching football. This week, I started playing FIFA 23 and I was instantly reminded about how I could recall the names of countless players from across the world. The career mode is where I would spend majority of my time managing Man Utd and building the ultimate team over the course of several seasons. I’m just happy to be back.

I have more than a 100 hours in Helldivers 2 and with the latest patch, I think that’s going to go up. I’m back to playing this adrenaline-rush of a game thanks to the buffs in weapons, stratagems and grenades. The new and higher difficulty escalates into a frenzy of enemies and it’s pure mayhem when it’s a full squad. If you enjoy multiplayer co-op shooters, there’s no way you should miss this.

🎵 Music

My music homework continues as I keep listening to the entire line-up of artists performing at Lollapalooza India 2025. From the ones I’ve listened to so far, Cory Wong has stood out and his songs have been on loop for quite a while. I’m definitely attending his set. My favourites are Want Me Back and Follow The Light. His upbeat and funky style is right up my alley.

🚀 Looking for more?

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Photo by Gonzalo Mendiola.