On experiencing F1 in isolation

I've been in a strange place with Formula 1. Last year, and this will become an oft repeated fact for the next few months I suspect, we started building a home. We moved into it this year in April. So somewhere in June of 2024, I just had to slow down and eventually stop watching F1. I kept up with some of the news and watched highlights, but there was absolutely not enough time in the weekends, when we were busiest around the home build, to truly set aside time to watch anything for long.

Fast forward to 2025, and I manage to squeeze in a watch of the first two races of the season — Australia, and China — and then it was into the mad rush of shifting houses and getting back into the thoroughly disrupted rhythm of work. March became April. April became May. And by the start of June I had not watched a single of the 7 F1 races since China. But, I feel like I achieved something pretty incredible during that time.

I had managed to steer clear of knowing anything about what had happened in those races. Who won? Who had pole positions? What was the driver and constructors championship standings? Absolutely no idea. So, when I finally sat down a few days after the Spanish Grand Prix had finished, I decided that I was going to catch up to everything before the Austrian Grand Prix on June 27th. Every night where I could, after all the house and family stuff was done, I popped open my laptop and watched either a qualifier or a race (including the sprints). I finally finished catching up this week. Just in time for Austria.

And what a ride it has been. Mainly that it's been entirely different from any other time where I've watched F1. With no knowledge of what was going to happen in any race, I still experienced all the thrills and shocks that has come with the season so far. But doing so in such an isolated manner has left me reflecting on how I want to experience F1 from now on. And it means never going back to how I used to watch it before.

What F1 would feel like in the past

Back when I'd watch F1 at the same time as everyone else, there were two elements that were absolutely sure to be present. First, was my phone along with WhatsApp, and a social network of real time sentiment. If there was a crash, I'd message my friends who were interested in F1: "YOOOO, what happens now?". If there was an incredible overtake or some dirty tactics, I'd glance at the social media firehose to see how other people felt.

I am NEVER going back to that again. I'll say why in a moment.

The second element was the social networks after the race. I'd hop on reddit and see what the chatter was. What were people saying about the winner? What did people think about the race overall? The battles? The many comments of "whoa" or "well that was boring" would fill my attention.

I am NEVER going back to that again either. I'll say why now

The experience of F1 in isolation during the race

While watching all of these events, there was absolutely no one I could reach out to. The hype was gone. The teams were already packing up and heading to Austria and I was still in Bahrain. So I watched in silence. Every moment in qualifying where someone out did someone else, was a moment I got to experience fully in my own head. The thrill of the times falling by hundredths and thousandths as each driver pushed to the limit in qualifying? It was mine to savour with nothing to pull my attention away. The tension at race time watching the gaps open and close between drivers up and down the track? Mine to ponder and do quiet calculations to see how pit stops would work. The Leclerc moment of Canada where Ferrari opted to go the double pit stop strategy? Mine to fume at as the safety car came out which could have seen the Monégasque driver come to the top? Maybe?

But what struck me was just how interesting every race felt (except Monaco. That can go retire itself or ban slow racing as a team strategy. An absolute joke). There was one race though which I watched while doing laundry. And that one felt emotionless to me. Even though when I reviewed it, it wasn't all that different from the other races. I had just failed to be immersed in all pieces of the race including the battle for the midfield. When I gave it my fullest attention, the race was interesting to me from P1 to P20. I realized that when I was messaging people or checking social media for live reactions, I thought I was immersing myself fully in the world of F1. What happened instead was that I quietly lost the feeling of experiencing a race in its entirety. From the slowest bits to the raciest ones.

Think of it like this. Imagine being on the phone during the quiet parts of a thriller movie and only looking up when the action started building. It's not the same. The quiet parts have a purpose in creating the tension for later. Miss that and you've ruined the experience entirely.

And as it turns out, this applies to F1 as well.

I am never depriving myself of that experience again.

The experience of F1 in isolation after the race

But, why would all of this be an issue after the race? How could reading public opinions be a problem if the moments are done?

I'll admit, this is a little bit baity. I might still go back to Reddit to read opinions later on. Just, maybe a after a week or so instead of an hour or even a day later.

Why?

During the time where I wasn't catching up on Reddit, my mind opted to replay the race and the stories. I'd think about the mid fielders. Hulkenberg's incredible racing in the Sauber, especially against the Ferrari. What it means to be a new driver in a new team. The differences between the rookies. How the constructors championship was trending. I had a chance to let myself synthesize everything I watched, crucially, without external influence.

For the first time in a long time, I was forming my own opinions independent of internet noise. What did I think of Yuki's season so far vs Hadjar? I got to think of that on my own. What did I think of Williams' incredible rise? Again, my thoughts to process on my own along with comparisons of Aston Martin's journey from rocket ship to tractor in 2023. It was fun to dig up old articles and read them on my own and look at scores over the course of a past season.

This never happened when I visited Reddit or read blogs immediately after the event. Instead of taking time to form my own opinions, the random reddit poster would do it for me. "Maaan Hulkenberg deserves better, look at his history" is the kind of thing that would become enmeshed in my head as the opinion to carry around. When there's so much noise, your brain doesn't have time to form signals of its own so I would just carry around opinions that I'd read.

But isn't this just being an introvert?

Look, I don't want to be a hermit. I don't want to not experience things with people. If there's a chance to watch a race together, in person, with a friend, I'd probably do that. And when Austria ends, I will still message friends and read blogs. It's just the timing of those things that would change. It's not about being an introvert. It's about optimizing for the joy that comes from experiencing an event at such a deep level of immersion. It's about gaining that feeling of understanding what I'm watching so well that even moments of quiet become moments of tension as I start to unravel the implications of performance on the rest of the constructors championship. It's about finding my own viewpoints which interest me which I then go and look at, like what makes tyre compounds so much more different on one track vs another.

This is a call to action, for those interested

Originally, this blog post was supposed to be about the opinions I had as I watched F1 in such quick succession from 1 race to the next. From how I felt about Antonelli being an absolute terror to concerns about Lando Norris' worrying signs of self deprecation. But as I started writing the opening paragraphs to be how I came about these opinions, I felt like the "how" was more important to focus on.

This kind of approach to experiencing F1 is not for everyone for sure. But I often think of people talk about races being snoozefests. Or just a singular focus on a moment like how after the Spanish grand prix, all anyone seemed to have been talking about was Max banging George (the most terrible wording I could think of. I won't change it). But there was so much more to the race. And I just believe at this point that if you truly want to make the experience and connection of an F1 season feel as deep as it can get, you need to give yourself that quiet space to enjoy the during and the after in the quiet of your own mind before ingesting the sounds from outside.

It's not about being introverted. It's about "reading" every F1 weekend as a story. A story which you get to write in your head the way that interests you the most.

As a foot note, I wonder if this was why F2 was so interesting to me when I tried it out in 2024.. Because I would actually watch it quietly and because no one else was as interested in it, I had to truly invest myself into the weekends to enjoy the storylines of both the race and the season.

This blog doesn't have a comment box. But I'd love to hear any thoughts y'all might have. Send them to [email protected]

Posted on June 26 2025 by Adnan Issadeen