Formula One — the highest level of car racing in the entire world — with 20 drivers pushing their cars to the limit, fighting for fractions of a second to win the race.
Juniors Ike Sheets, Blair Ptacek, Wilson Moore, Wyatt Haughton and Tristan Chabanis have fallen in love with Formula One. In March 2020, sports across the nation were shut down except Formula One because of social distancing. They started to explore the world of F1, and they got drawn in by the competition and intensity of the sport. Now they are in love with the sport — spending hours perfecting their Fantasy team, watching every race, and even playing the F1 video game.
“I think F1 is really cool because it’s a European sport based in Europe and it has kind of been brought to America,” Moore said. “It has a really cool culture around it — it’s almost like a circus event where they come from place to place and just race.”
After they all got into it, they decided to take the newfound passion a step further by starting a fantasy league with each other. Every Sunday became dedicated to getting together to watch the races. An hour and a half of pure adrenaline — cheering for their favorite driver down to the last lap.
“I just would watch it with my dad a whole bunch,” Sheets said. “[When we started] a league — I started getting into it more, I even started playing [Formula One] video games. I got good at it and thought I could possibly become an F1 driver.”
Unfortunately, Sheets’ dreams of becoming a driver were a little less than successful, when he wasn’t as good as he thought.
“[He] played it one time and he deleted it because he kept crashing into the wall,” Haughton said.
The group of five has been keeping up with all things Formula One, including staying informed with the news of who’s winning, what strategies they used and how to make their fantasy teams more successful.
Ptacek says that it’s been more interesting this year due to a change in rules, which includes budget caps. In previous years, the sport has been mostly pay-to-win — shown by Mercedes’ seven-year winning streak and roughly $450 million budget.
“Mercedes has been at the top for so long,” Ptacek said. “It’s good to see other teams on top. That’s why I stopped cheering for [Mercedes] last year.”
In the ongoing season, Ferrari is at the top with driver Charles Leclerc at the wheel, who seems to be the favorite of the fantasy league.
“Everyone has Leclerc,” Ptacek said. “Everyone likes him. He’s going crazy right now and in fantasy he doesn’t cost as much compared to [drivers] Hamilton or Verstappen.”
It’s still very early in the season — still 20 races left so it is hard to tell what will happen. With previous bottom grid teams like Hass and Alfa Romeo moving up the grid. The boys believe it will be a very exciting and competitive season. Though the bottom grid teams are moving up, with the new rules, Mercedes has been struggling to develop a fast car and risking losing the title.
“I like that there’s like a really tight midfield this year,” Moore said. “I am really looking forward to the competitiveness of this season.”