With more and more rave reviews of the new movie “Rush” it seems that people may love more than Ron Howard, they may even love racing, and not just NASCAR. I haven’t seen it myself yet but from the poster and previews all I can think of is that Thor is driving a Formula One race car. Is this re-creation of a 1970s racing rivalry going to spark some American interest in Formula One racing? That remains to be seen.
F1 racing had a TV audience of 527 MILLION viewers in 2010 alone. It would seem then that you’d know more people that actually watch it on a regular basis but perhaps there are more closet F1 fans out there than talk about it on a regular basis. I’ve been reading up myself and when you have cars that can drive at speeds upwards of 220 MPH and take corners at nearly 5 g you have to imagine it is much more exciting to watch than some other sports.
Here’s a bit of background for the newbies out there:
There are 11 “teams” with two race drivers each. These 11 “teams” are also paired up (sort of) with 11 Constructors. Constructors are the actual manufacturer of the engine and chassis where teams or the actual entrants. They have mostly been one in the same since the early 80s. The Formula One season consists of nineteen Grands Prix to make up this season.
Drivers are awarded points for placement to determine who wins FIA World Championship with 25 points being awarded to 1st place, 18 for 2nd place, 15 for 3rd and a steady drop off after that. Sebastian Vettel of the Infiniti Red Bull Racing team is currently holding strong to 1st place with 247 points thanks to seven 1st place finishes. Fernando Alonso of the Scuderia Ferrari team is his next closest competition with 187 points and has finished just behind him in their last 3 Grands Prix.
There are still 5 Grand Prix left in this 2013 season (including USA on 11/17 in Austin, Texas) so don’t forget to check out the formula 1 betting odds before getting in on the action yourself!
