I've never watched a race, but stumbled into the Netflix series and loved it. Interested in tuning in on Sunday at least to see a full race. Any suggestions on things to watch for a newbie?
Just to build on what's already been said:
I found it most fun to have a few drivers or teams to pull for. Have some in the midfield because honestly, that's where you're more likely to have some action during the race. Last year, the Mercedes car was so much better, and if you only care about the winner it was a long, painful season.
Qualifying can be more entertaining than the race.
The first lap of the race is about as intense as anything in sports.
Pit stops and pit stop strategies matter.
Weather matters.
Weird stuff can happen during the most predicable of races. In the past few seasons we've seen Seb crash for no apparent reason when way ahead, we've seen both leaders have their tires blow out on the final lap, we've seen the top team screw up pit stops when their driver was well ahead to cost them the race.
I know what you meant. I was just joking.
As far as the Hamilton hatred goes. I don't know to what degree there is Hamilton hatred and to what degree it's motivated by racism.
Some impressions based on a few months of binging on youtube and netflix. Is the Hamilton the undisputed best driver on the grid? The honest answer is we don't know. He's definitely top 5 though. Would he have won 7 championships if everyone was driving the same car with the same specs? The overwhelming probability is no. I mean George Russel failed to win a point throughout the season, but once you put him on a Mercedes he led the race and was on his way to win if there wasn't for a terribly bungled pitstop. So, to me here it's understandble there's a backlash vs Hamilton as there would be vs anyone in his position, since he's more successful than his skill and there's fatigue by the same team winning over and over again.
One thing I ve noticed about Hamilton is this. When he wins, he's incredibly gracious and makes sure to give credit to all. When he's losing and things don't go his way, he whines, he gets mad, he blames the tires etc. Having said that, most of the drivers that come to mind-past or present-were all capable of being jerks at times.
A lot of it is fueled by the desperate compeition between teammates. That's partly because everyone feels insecure about losing their seat if they are bested. But partly I think is due to the fact that with the car being the main determinant of success, most drivers can maintain the illusion they are the best as long as they can top their teammate. Which in turn leads to a lot of over the top gamesmanship and bullshit which frankly are a turn off for me.
I do root against Hamilton because he is at the top, and I think it's human nature (at least in sports fandom) to do the same. I haven't found him any more of a whiner than anyone else in the field, so holding that against him seems a bit unfair. These guys are mic'd up through the entirety of the race, and what we hear is pretty much cherry picked during those most stressful moments or when the driver is having a problem. I dared to venture into F1 social media posts, and I gotta admit that the sheer hatred (not "I dislike him because he wins", but pure vitriol) for Hamilton is shocking. To me, it's inconceivable that race does not play a role.
I personally expect that pretty much every professional athlete in some way thinks that they are the best. That's one reason why they got as far as they did. F1 is a bit of a different animal for a few reasons. First is that we have almost complete access to them during the race (and during their private lives in today's social media driven world) so we know what they say pretty much all of the time. Second, they have to talk about what is going wrong with the car during the race. There is a collaboration between driver and team to get the most out of the vehicle, and that requires the driver to say what is and is not working, so there is going to be a fair amount of "___ isn't working correctly" type comments. Third, and you brought up this point, is that teammates are the only way to measure actual talent. As in the only apples-to-apples comparison between drivers is the two teammates because they have the same car. Is Hamilton really better than, say, Nico Hulkenberg? Probably yes given the standing of the two drivers, but we can't say we know that unless they race in the same car, so there is at times some nasty stuff within a team. This stuff has always been there though, and is not new to F1. The only new thing is the aforementioned near complete access to the drivers so we see it more. Except for Maclaren last year. That was fun.