Crash Course: AFROPUNK’s Guide To The World’s Fastest Reality Show: F1

So You Wanna Get Into F1?

F1, short for Formula 1, is in a league of its own —it’s billion-dollar technology, reality-altering luxury,  political chess, and old-fashioned drama,  played out at 200 MPH. So, if NASCAR is for the beer-belly crowd, and street racing is for the cool kids, F1 is where nerds and their benefactors get to play with cars. It’s couture-level car design, geopolitical intrigue disguised as racing, and enough petty rivalries to make Love & Hip-Hop look like group therapy. It’s Eurocentric as hell, however,  it is finally getting sprinkled with some color, flavor, and a little accountability.

So what has started the historically stiff-shirted F1 flexing a little FU in their system? Blame (or thank) Sir Lewis Hamilton—the first and only Black F1 driver in history. The man transformed the paddock into a fashion show, increased viewership, threw in some Black Lives Matter tees, all while becoming the winningest driver in F1 history. He didn’t just change the sport—he made it confront itself.

So if you’re a lover of speed, spectacle, and spectacle with meaning—or you just like expensive things that go vroom—this guide is your ignition switch.

How Did This Even Start?

Formula 1 was born in 1950, when a bunch of European rich guys with too much money and too much time decided driving like lunatics in death machines should be considered a sport. They called it the “Formula” because it followed a strict set of rules, but early F1 was essentially Mad Max meets the Kentucky Derby—complete with tweed jackets, cigarette sponsors, and no helmets. The races were held in places like Monaco, Monza, and Silverstone—aka playgrounds for aristocrats who thought adrenaline and existential dread were a good Saturday. For decades, F1 was fast, dangerous, and almost exclusively white and male. But beneath the champagne and V12 engines, a global fandom quietly built up, especially in Latin America, Asia, and Africa—places with deep racing roots but little representation in the top tier.

That’s changing. Slowly. Painfully. But undeniably. F1 is no longer just James Bond’s weekend hobby. Netflix’s Drive to Survive series provided a Cliff Notes version for many to get into F1, with a sprinkle of reality show magic to add a little drama. It’s not a thing to see stars like JLo, LL Cool J, Pharrell, Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift and more watching the races. The sport is shedding its colonial skin and stepping into the global spotlight, with all the beauty, complexity, and resistance that comes when the culture starts pulling up with its own pit crew.

What Is F1 Anyway?

Formula 1 is the peak of motorsport engineering. And while it  might seem like a great way to throw away a few hundred million dollars, these investments have delivered some remarkable innovations like carbon fiber, steering wheel controls, active suspension and many more. F1 Teams spend millions in R&D to design their own cars, but they must stick to strict guidelines set by the governing body of F1 the  Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). That’s why at first glance the cars look pretty similar. Smaller teams typically purchase hand-me-downs from larger teams to reduce their spending, as all expenses must be managed within a cost cap. Each team has two drivers and two cars and they race for points. You drive for how many laps is needed, do at least one pit stop to change tires (No refueling, so your gas has to last), the winner gets the most points. At the end of the season, teams are awarded millions based on their rank.

• 20 drivers. 10 teams. 24 races. (although in 2026 it goes to 11 teams with the addition of Cadillac)
• Speeds hitting 230 mph. Downforce glues the cars to the ground like they’re auditioning for Top Gun 3.
• It’s global—races go down in places like Japan, Monaco, Brazil, the U.S., and more.
• Two bites of the apple. There’s a constructor’s championship for the team that wins the most points, and a driver’s championship for the solo driver who wins the most points..

Each race weekend is a three-day formula, unless it’s a sprint weekend.

• Friday: Practice one and two (aka: “We think we got it right”)
• Saturday: Practice three and Qualifying (who’s starting where—crucial). 
• Sunday: Race day. That’s when the chaos goes public.

Sprint weekends are something the FIA threw in to add some excitement to the race weekends. It’s a race, but with fewer laps and fewer points. So add a small race, remove a practice. 

The Rules (Quick Version)

F1 is obsessed with rules. And if you don’t know them, it’s kinda like watching soccer, you know stuff is happening, you know when someone wins. But the rest… There are a ton of rules and terms, but here’s what you need to know:

• Points System: Top 10 finishers score points (25 points for first, down to one point for 10th). There’s also a point for fastest lap… if you’re already in the top 10. But that comes and goes depending on the rules for the season.
  
• Tires Matter: You’ve got soft (red tops – fast but wear out quickly), medium (yellow tops), and hard (White tops – slower but durable). Choosing wrong equals disaster. You have to use at least two different sets in each race. There’s also intermediate and wets and that’s for when it rains.
  
• DRS: A flap on the rear wing that opens up for extra speed—but only if you’re within a second of the car ahead. Think of it as turbo in Super Mario Kart.
  
• Penalties: You touched someone? Penalty. You moved too late while defending? Penalty. You kept swerving back and forth to not let the guy get by? Penalty. Too fast in the pit lane? Penalty. Too slow on the exit? Penalty. Off the track enough times? Penalty (racers really hate this one). 
• Flags: Green – good; Yellow – everyone, slow down in that area. Red – race stopped, everyone go back to the pits. Most times, we will start again after a lengthy delay. Checkered (black and white) – end of race / winner. Black Flag – Rare, but kicks a car out of the race

The Teams

There are two tiers when it comes to teams. Manufacturers/makers – these are the big boys. They design, build and supply everything from scratch, even their power units (engines). Customer teams buy their stuff from the big boys. 

Mercedes-AMG Petronas 

This is the home that Hamilton built. 

• Drivers: George Russell , Andrea Kimi Antonelli 

Ferrari (Scuderia Ferrari) 

Ferrari is F1. So much so that they have veto rights.  

• Drivers: Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton 

Red Bull Racing 

Red Bull has had a grip on F1 tighter than your auntie’s wrap on Easter Sunday. Though they are a little toxic. 

• Drivers: Max Verstappen, Yuki Tsunoda 

McLaren 

Once the kings of the ’90s, McLaren is back in its renaissance era. 

• Drivers: Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri 

Aston Martin 

Aston’s got daddy money, green paint, and one of the oldest drivers on the grid still dunking on 20-year-olds. 

• Drivers: Fernando Alonso,  Lance Stroll 

Visa Cash App RB (formerly AlphaTauri) 

Red Bull’s B-team. 

• Drivers: Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson
  

Alpine 

French elegance meets workplace toxicity.

• Drivers: Pierre Gasly, Jack Doohan
  

Stake F1 Team (formerly Alfa Romeo, soon to be Audi)

Never a top team, but consistently likable. 

• Drivers: Nico Hülkenberg, Gabriel Bortoleto 

Haas F1 Team

They run on a shoestring and are prone to bad luck and worse decisions. Still, they’re scrappy and used to be fun to watch when Steiner was there.

• Drivers: Oliver Bearman, Esteban Ocon

Williams Racing

Once dominant. Now, they’re rebuilding. They’re the indie band making a comeback album

• Drivers: Alex Albon, Carlos Sainz 

Final Lap: Why This Should Be Your New Obsession

F1 is a universe. It’s style. It’s politics. It’s science fiction made real. And it was long overdue for some seasoning. And while Lewis might be on his latter years, there is a young man named Ugo Ugochuko emerging in F3 that people are watching closely. So why watch? It has something for everyone. Adrenaline junkies –  Heart racing, heart pounding, adrenaline-filled racing, drivers piloting fighter jets on wheels at tracks all around the world. Techies – it’s a testing lab where really smart people get to test their theories on aerodynamics, propulsion, physics, tech, and show off. Sports fans – 20 drivers, 1 track, 24 racers, one mistake could end not only your race but your season. Black creators are changing the F1 convo—on TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter/X. No more gatekeeping. Check out – QuickStop F1, hosted by Nyasha Sakutukwa and Thandie Sibanda and  Rhea – Too Much Sauce 

Catch races on ESPN or the F1 app.