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I'm in a similar boat. I actually recently watched the F1: Drive to Survive documentary on Netflix and it really sparked an interest in Formula 1 in me. It offers a really high signal view of the races and the surrounding drama with regard to the racers and the different F1 teams. I highly recommend giving it a watch.

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I wish the actual races were as interesting as that documentary.

Exactly. Formula 1 are masters of marketing, but the actual races are spectacularly boring. The novelty of seeing fast cars doing cool circuits at 300km/h wears off eventually, and then what's left is an uncompetitive entertainment product which isn't half as interesting in reality as you expect.

It’s an acquired taste. Like soccer, all of the action happens in short spurts and you’re never sure when it’s going to happen (if it happens at all). People coming from the Netflix series had too-high expectations for the action.

Well, I used to watch F1 years (decades) ago. The Senna vs Prost years were spectacular.

Today it seems most overlapping happens between mid-range teams, where car performance is comparable and the driver makes a difference; this is exactly what is shown in the documentary. But they managed to show that with great editing mixed with some backstage tension and politics that made the whole thing fun.

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