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F1 has always been an exclusive sport. It doesn't allow everyone a way in. Only the best of the best make their way into the sport. Sometimes, however, even being the best is not enough. For every Lewis Hamilton-esque story of a young driver that rose from nothing, there are thousands of others of those unable to make it.
F1 is a very ruthless sport and, while from a distance, it might look all glitz and glamor for a Grand Prix driver, it's not exactly that way. As an F1 driver, there's so much you go through on a day-to-day basis that it does reveal how tough things can get being a Formula 1 driver. In this piece, we'll take a look at the few harsh truths about being a Formula 1 driver, a job that might look great from the outside but has demands that not many can meet.
#1 The machinery is the most important part
The biggest reality of F1 is that irrespective of how talented you are, you will not be able to win the title in a backmarker. A freak result? Yes. A win? Maybe. But challenging for the title? That's not going to happen unless you have a car capable of fighting at the front of the grid.
This is why even if you are arguably the best driver on the grid, you will not be a champion unless you drive the best machinery. This is arguably the reason why Fernando Alonso has not won a championship since 2006, or Lewis Hamilton went without a championship from 2009 to 2013. In F1, machinery is the biggest determining factor and that has been the case throughout the sport's history.
#2 Cash is king in F1
Pay drivers get a bad rep these days, but did you know that Ayrton Senna was a pay driver at first? Did you know that Michael Schumacher had to find $150,000 to make his debut in Jordan in 1991?
F1 is a capital-intensive sport. The teams are operating on a very high budget and it is expected from the drivers as well to bring a part of the budget to secure the drive.
One of the most recent examples of a driver losing out because he didn't bring any substantial money with him is Oscar Piastri. The driver dominated the junior category and won the title but lost out on a seat at Alfa Romeo because Guanyu Zhou brought more money to the team.
In F1, unless you reach a certain level of fame, you need to bring in some kind of money alongside you to even get a chance to compete on the grid.
#3 F1 is a lonely place if your teammate is an exceptional talent
What is one thing common amongst Rubens Barrichello, Mark Webber, Felipe Massa, and Valtteri Bottas? The four drivers suffered a miserable fate of teaming up with some of the best talents on the grid. Rubens had Schumacher, Webber had Vettel, Massa had Alonso while Bottas had Hamilton.
One of the biggest hopes while driving in Formula 1 is to end up in a competitive car. The second is not having a teammate that is exceptional because, if that is the case, then that talent absorbs all the attention of the team. He is the frontrunner, he is the title challenger and he is the one for whom you would have to give up on race wins for the team's sake.
It's quite humbling for a driver to spend his entire life trying to achieve the elusive dream of driving in Formula 1, ending up in a front-runner, and then being forced to take a backseat to your own goals of fighting for the title.
