I subbed to that $27 USD or whatever level so that I can watch the archived stuff. Awesome. Watching the highlight reel from the Bahrain race now. Is that the first race of the season? I'm completely out of touch and have no time to research this. 
I've been working on new flooring and electrical in our house main bedroom this weekend.
Yup, today was the first race of the season, and it was an absolute thriller start to finish -- I'd highly recommend watching the whole thing if you can manage the time, even if maybe you stick to the highlights for other races.
When my wife and I got into watching the sport a few years back (also thanks to Drive to Survive), I anticipated wanting to do something similar to maintain a reasonable time investment. We quickly found that we just wanted to watch the full races regardless, but what I found was a great way to follow the sport with low investment was to just watch the 3 to 5 minute recaps for the practice and qualification sessions that get posted on the official Youtube, as well as maybe the occasion bit of driver interviews when a race was interesting or there was big anticipation for a coming race, and then watch the full races.
As we moved into our second and third year of watching the sport, my wife has stuck with that level of investment because it was just about right for her, but I've started frequently watching qualification sessions whenever I've got the time, and following a bit more in terms of interviews and analysis, and found it to be a lot of fun -- basically, I get to be the editor for my own extended version of drive to survive, minus the more behind the scenes moments (of course).
Yup, today was the first race of the season, and it was an absolute thriller start to finish -- I'd highly recommend watching the whole thing if you can manage the time, even if maybe you stick to the highlights for other races.
When my wife and I got into watching the sport a few years back (also thanks to Drive to Survive), I anticipated wanting to do something similar to maintain a reasonable time investment. We quickly found that we just wanted to watch the full races regardless, but what I found was a great way to follow the sport with low investment was to just watch the 3 to 5 minute recaps for the practice and qualification sessions that get posted on the official Youtube, as well as maybe the occasion bit of driver interviews when a race was interesting or there was and then watch the full races.
As we moved into our second and third year of watching the sport, my wife has stuck with that level of investment because it was just about right for her, but I've started frequently watching qualification sessions whenever I've got the time, and following a bit more in terms of interviews and analysis, and found it to be a lot of fun -- basically, I get to be the editor for my own extended version of drive to survive, minus the more behind the scenes moments (of course).
Thanks for taking the time to write all that up! That's exactly the kind of info I was looking for.
The Shift F1 podcast does a good job at the beginning of each season to try to get newcomers up to speed. And it's easy to recommend that podcast around here because it's host are Drew Scanlon, Danny O'Dwyer and Rob Zacny.
Definitely second the recommendation of Shift F1.
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Oh, one other note about driver interviews and analysis options -- these days the F1 Youtube channel will post interview highlights, but if you want a bit more context, throughout the weekend over on F1.tv you'll see "Paddock Pass" videos where Will Buxton does wraparounds with commentary, analysis, and bits of extra race footage to tell the story a bit more completely.
Also, one of my favorite things that shows up on F1.tv after every race is an analysis segment where former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer breaks down interesting/exciting moves and moments from the race. I think the full video might be limited to the "Pro" subscription level, but I believe they also post excerpts with his analysis of the marquee moments of the race for free on the Youtube channel.
Subscribed to Shift F1. Didn't realize they were still doing that separate from GB!
I finished the 3rd season of Drive to Survive, and that was just terribly exciting. I'm checking out that podcast and watching some of the prerace stuff. Looking forward to watching that first race when it's available for the cheap seat subscribers. I'm gonna try and get my brother in on this F1 thing. It's really neat, complex, and fascinating.
I think I just needed that Netflix show to give me an in on kinda what the whole thing is. It was a bit of a black box to me before. Now I get a bit of it which is enough for me to want to learn more.
I'm curious, what's your take on the current driver line up?
If you're asking MY take on the lineup, I have no idea! 
I'm mostly curious about Perez after that last to first place finish thing last year and watching that on Drive to Survive. He's completely the most fascinating to me and seems like a decent human. The fact that Red Bull picked him up after that is interesting. That said, this first qualifying and now race is interesting.
The full race went live today for the cheap seat subscribers! I just started it. Am 15 minutes in, and it's already quite exciting.
I think I am less about the teams and more about the drivers. I definitely have the most respect for Hamilton, but it's kinda boring to root for the best.
This is gonna be fun.
Dang. Hamilton is good. Perez seemed to do really well as well!
Yeah, I know it feels bad to root for a front runner, and I know many folks who have followed the sport since his early years maybe have a bad impression of Lewis Hamilton being a bit ungracious in his complaints when things didn't go his way. Those seem like legit reasons for folks to decide they don't like him, and I won't try to dissuade them from that. Nearly everything else that gets levied against him mostly comes down to sour grapes and racism, which I have no problem calling bullsh*t on.
In any case, from the word go he's been a spectacular generational talent, and in recent years he's matured into a consummate sportsman and genuinely good and likable guy from just about every angle I can see, so my wife and I very quickly found ourselves massive fans of him. (We're also massive fans of more than half the grid, but when it comes down to it, Hamilton gets our vote. )
What's more, this year (at least to begin with) the Red Bull looks like it's genuinely the better car, and while Max has a compelling persona and is also a generational talent, he's still in (or maybe just barely moving out of) his sh*theel phase, so it's going to be even easier to cheer Hamilton on this year. 
Incidentally, Drive to Survive doesn't spend a lot of time with Lewis -- in season 1 they didn't get to embed with either Mercedes or Ferrari at all, and in the following two seasons they seem to have felt there were more compelling personal stories to tell elsewhere. As a result, you'd didn't get to see some of the most amazing stuff that happened last year. For example, while you did get to see a lot of moments with other drivers at the two races at Silverstone in 2020, you didn't get to see the unbelievable way Lewis won the first race:
Also, the Netflix crews didn't even make it to the Turkish Grand Prix (it was one of the last minute replacement races filling in the spots left by COVID cancellations). Honestly, if you have the time I'd watch as much of that whole weekend as you can. Here's the qualifying highlights:
And here's the extended highlights from the race. There's also a short version on the F1 youtube channel, but again, watch as much as you can make time for because it's amazing:
Anyway, long rambling post short, don't let anyone make you feel bad if you find yourself becoming a fan of Lewis Hamilton.
(And again, the great thing about how the sport works out is that it's very easy to quickly become a fan of a big chunk of the folks on the grid, and then find yourself rooting for both sides in tons of fights up and down the field.)
Cool!!!
Chain Bear with an excellent (as usual) break down of the track limits silliness over the Bahrain weekend.
If you're asking MY take on the lineup, I have no idea!
Perez is my guy. I've been a Perez fan for the better half of a decade now. He has always been the best of the rest. Over the last decade he has regularly gotten podiums when no one but Merc, Ferrari, and Redbull were getting them. He has always seemed to be a top talent driver stuck in a midfield team.
His win last year was a genuinely emotional moment for me. Getting his first win as he was on his way out of the sport was heartbreaking but it also felt validating. He was always good enough for a win but just didn't have the car for it.
As a Vettel defender I did hate him until Perez got signed by Red Bull. After race one, it feels like Vettel may have taken a bullet for Perez. I dunno, but I am excited to see what he can do with that car this year.
Yeah, I'm pretty big on Perez too, and while I was heartbroken to see Albon leave the grid last year, I'm so excited that the stars aligned to land Checo in that seat.
This might sound like I'm more negative on Verstappen than I am (particularly combined with my last post!), but I would be VERY happy to see Perez trounce him in the championship -- something like HAM-PER-BOT-VER would go down very smooth for my tastes, and if someone has to keep Hamilton from getting his record setting eighth championship, I'd be thrilled for it to be Perez. What a Cinderella story that would be, right? Nearly out of the sport thanks to an awkward pay driver situation, then landing in the best car of the season and winning it all? Spectacular.
And poor Bottas -- if he doesn't manage to beat Lewis either this year or next, he's going back to the midfield (or worse) for sure. I love the poor guy so much, but he can't catch a break and when he does he's still driving against two of the best of their generations operating near or at their peaks.
And to be more clear about Verstappen, I feel like I'm watching the period of his career analogous to the part of Hamilton's that I missed which has kept many fans from embracing him. Max is spectacular to watch drive and is a compelling character both on and off the track, but there's been enough situations where he's been a bit of an ass in ways that very much are not charming that I don't have a problem with him continuing to be frustrated in his pursuit of the wins that his talent would give him in the absence of Lewis and his Merc. So as far as I'm concerned, he can wait a few more years and still have many chances left, especially when he's up against drivers where time is (presumably!) a bit more sensitive.
I have been happy to see that he has been growing and maturing, especially in the last six months. Far less hotheaded bullsh*t and much more sportsmanlike responses to situations that don't go his way -- this weekend for example, my wife and I were expecting him to be an angry hot mess getting out of that car after the track limits stuff, but he had good perspective and remained calm, friendly, and respectful of what Hamilton did to beat him on track.
That said, I think the real turning point will be the moment he stops wearing flat brimmed caps -- there's no greater sign of potential moral turpitude. 
It will be interesting to see how I feel in a few years time when it's the likes of Russell, Norris, and Leclerc (and potentially Sainz, if we're supposing Ferrari gets back to the top) he's competing for wins with (assuming Lewis doesn't just stay around forever) -- at the moment, I'd prefer to see any of those guys ascend to the top of the championship instead of him, but I'm open to letting Max win me over.
Speaking of Perez, here's all 19 of his overtakes running from 20th to 5th.
I was over the moon to see Perez finally win last year. Partly because I was always a fan of those early Sauber driver factory products, (Frentzen, Massa, Kubica, Perez) and partly because I knew EverythingsTentative would be bloody delighted.
For Lewis, I just point people back at 2007. He came into the sport as a rookie, paired with the back-to-back defending World Champion and beat him over the course of the season. I have a massive man crush on Fernando, (despite his sh*thousery), so to see some kid show up and go toe-to-toe with him was remarkable.
I realized why I'm enjoying this F1 thing so much. It is hella anime.
I realized why I'm enjoying this F1 thing so much. It is hella anime.
I mean, sports in general are spectacular mechanisms for generating compelling stories, but the nature of how F1 is structured makes it particularly effective in that regard, yeah.
In some ways it functions as a solo sport, so you get a heightened focus on larger than life personalities and elevation of the individual's pursuit, but at the same time the team mechanics behind and supporting the drivers injects never ending opportunities for politics, drama, and other forms of high intrigue, as well as adding layers upon layers of ways in which success demands superhuman levels of execution.
To win -- hell, to even compete at the back of the grid -- you need teams of hundreds (sometimes thousands) of people working at the top of their game to design, engineer, and manufacture cutting edge technology, to finance, market, and manage the logistics to get to nearly two dozen locations around the world over the course of roughly nine months, and to strategize at every level level from multiyear development plans all the way down to what pace the driver should maintain on the next lap to make optimal use of their tires to make up the hundreds or thousands of a second than can mean victory over two hours on track.
Then on top of all that, you have the inherent death defying nature of simply driving one of these cars down a straight, and the fact that only twenty people can be competing in the sport at any one time, and you've got a situation where even if you've got the a relatively boring, processional race, there could be drama happening in so many different ways that you can still be riveted to the screen to see the results.
Also, one of my favorite things that shows up on F1.tv after every race is an analysis segment where former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer breaks down interesting/exciting moves and moments from the race. I think the full video might be limited to the "Pro" subscription level, but I believe they also post excerpts with his analysis of the marquee moments of the race for free on the Youtube channel.
They gave Jolyon a studio this year with a fancy screen and a magic pen. 15 of 24 minutes just on Lewis vs Max before he moves on to the midfield.
The engineering insights on the F1 channel are pretty solid; I'm becoming a Pit Lane fan almost more than the main channel.
Can't let Chain Bear do all the explaining.
Wow, that was one hell of a quali session.
The top 14 within .5 seconds of each other, Russell legitimately fighting for a spot in Q3, Norris legitimately fighting for pole, Perez topping Verstappen, and Hamilton once again delivering the goods despite (arguably) no longer driving the best car and taking his 99th pole at his 30th different track.
It’s only a shame that Tsunoda’s small slip had such big consequences for him. Here’s hoping he gives us a spectacular recovery drive tomorrow though!
Hopefully Red Bull show some patience with their young driver and don't demote him for failing to keep up with Checo.
I know Chain Bear explained it a few weeks ago, but I still find what is and isn't within track limits very confusing.
It changes at every track, (sometimes at the same track depending on the session) and is included in the marshal's notes for the driver's briefing which isn't widely circulated to the public.
It's ok to be confused by that.
Wow, what a wild race.
Absolutely gutted by the Russell/Bottas incident, but I guess it set things up for Lewis to go from backing up through a gravel pit to charging his way through half the field to reach second place. Just wild, plain and simple.
Also, so great to see Lando hang in there -- ultimately Lewis had his number, but what an amazing drive and well deserved podium.
Mazepin took nearly all race, but he finally gave us a spin.
And finished 45+ seconds behind Schumacher, despite Schumacher losing his front wing, pitting, and getting a new wing.
I wonder when he'll do something so monumentally stupid that somebody gets hurt.
Oh wow!!! That was an amazingly exciting race with all of the wet track stuff going on. I enjoyed it immensely. Loved the dynamic of the top 3 at the end on the podium. Sad Perez really by skill or by chance got very screwed. I feel like Lewis had the opposite effect on some of the randomness of everything. He got really damn lucky and then used skill and the car to dominate.
I was, not surprisingly, a bit bummed at the outcome. You don't realize how hard it is to pass at Imola until you watch your favorite driver be stuck behind a train of 4 cars for 20 laps.
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