JOIN ME: I’m Starting A Formula 1 Fantasy League To Make Sure I Don’t Miss A Single Race This Season

As a kid, I was wild about Formula 1. I vividly remember being on a lake ferry somewhere in Germany or Austria, probably 10 years old, huddled around a single tiny TV on the boat with a bunch of grownups. I’m fairly certain that it was the Belgian Grand Prix, and you could hardly see the cars screaming around one of the greatest races of all time in a downpour that made everything invisible. The star of the race was, of course, Schumacher who was crushing everyone else on track, until he spectacularly smashed into Coulthard who was a lap behind him. What a cool time for Formula 1.

Quickly after that, maybe four years later, I kind of lost interest. I haven’t even followed the results for decades. Until Drive to Survive. A lot of people hated on the Neflix series for bringing new fans to the sport — I still struggle to see how this is a bad thing — but it should also be credited for brining in people like me who left the sport and the series peaked my interest once again. So, the more I watched it, the more my interest for F1 grew. Last season, I even started watching the races again.

But now, I would like to share that passion with you. At least those among you that also like Formula 1. Despite studying in the US, I never got into fantasy sports. I just couldn’t understand how the worked. And then something happened a few weeks ago. One of the readers of this newsletter, Daniel, reached out to me and told me he started Motospro, an app that was fantasy F1, but actually fun. This was intriguing. Daniel told me he’d been running his own F1 fantasy league for years — just a spreadsheet shared among friends and family — and the response was so good that he decided to turn it into a proper platform.

Well, check this out. I’m starting the first It’s About Time F1 Fantasy League. Traditionally, F1 fantasy was so complicated, I didn’t even want to look at this. This one is super simple. Here’s what’s going to happen:

1. Before each race, pick one driver and one constructor.

2. Watch them perform.

3. Earn points if they outperform expectations.

There are 24 races on this year’s calendar, which means 24 chances to call an underdog right, to gamble on rain in Spa or a Ferrari comeback in Monza, and to talk way too much about it in between. Points are earned based on real race results and how well your picks exceed expectations inferred from Vegas odds. By season’s end, the player with the most points takes the crown.

Neither Daniel nor I make any money from this. We just want to have some fun while watching Formula 1, and I would love it if you could join us. In fact, there’s going to be a small prize for the league winner.

So, here’s the plan. You can download the app from Motospro. But hurry up because the season starts next weekend!

Set up your account and then join the league. The name is It’s About Time and the password for the league is formulaleague.

This is going to be cool, can’t wait to get this rolling. If you want to get into a WhatsApp group for the league, email me and we can set that up.

-Vuk