Sunday comes with giddy anticipation of the race. We leave the hotel clad in our Formula One merch and brand-new cowboy hats. The 2024 Formula One season’s 19th race of Formula One is held in Austin, Texas, and comes together as a raucous, lively weekend. The city of Austin teems with eager Formula One fans and Austin locals alike. 

In many ways, our connection grew through our shared love of Formula One. Just like the sport brought us together, F1 unites countless people and cities around the world. 

Local businesses are decorated with posters and checkered flags advertising the race. Our buses await to take us to the track. Fans line the streets in brightly colored attire with various team logos. Formula One’s 19th race weekend of 2024 is upon us. We step off the bus and file behind a long line of enthusiastic and seemingly much more oriented people. The plethora of middle-aged white men all seem to know exactly where to go. They stomp in various directions leaving their partners and children trailing behind in clouds of dust. To our left, soft slopes covered by green prairie grasses are yellowing under the heat of the Texas sun. On our right, the roaring start of engines, the faint smell of barbeque, and the egregiously large F1 signage and equally giant American flags. We have never felt so patriotic. 

Josie: I was introduced to Formula One through family members watching the Netflix show Drive to Survive and races. One day, I sat down to watch Drive to Survive and I was soon hooked. My interest in the sport grew from there, and I very quickly became obsessed. I learned that some of my friends were fans and Formula One soon became a main topic in my freshmen year’s geometry class. 

Gemma: During the duller moments of our math class, Josie and I got to talking about Formula One. I was initially very critical of her obsession with 20 egregiously rich men driving silly-looking cars, but when Josie put on a race in the background of one of our study sessions, I was instantly captivated by all the different aspects of the sport. I was fascinated by the engineering, driver drama, and racing strategy and wanted to learn more. Soon after, Drive to Survive even became a regular post-dinner family watch.

The obsession expanded from geometry classes to weekend race watch parties and finally, we got the opportunity to go to see a live race. Although Austin wasn’t our first rodeo, we got the chance to go to another race in Montreal this past June.

Gemma: My dad has an old friend who works at the Montreal Formula One race. My family loves to travel, and even though they were not the biggest Formula One fans at the time, it seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up. 

Traveling to another state is not a unique experience for many F1 fans. So many people travel cross-country and state to see Formula One. Formula One races have such a huge economic impact on the cities they are held in. With the addition of Las Vegas and Miami, Formula One has drastically changed the landscape and scope of America’s participation in the sport.

The European sport became popularized in the United States largely due to Drive To Survive which became a gateway for American audiences since its release in 2019. According to ESPN, Formula One averaged 539,000 American viewers in 2018, that number has drastically risen to over 1 million since 2023. While Formula 1 has attracted an overpoweringly male audience, Drive to Survive and social media have brought in a younger and more female audience. 

After a long trek from the entrance gates, we finally find our seats, which were situated in the grandstands in front of the paddock just behind the pitlane and the 20 garages. The paddock stretches across the length of the starting lineup. The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, another obsession of ours sparked by again, a Netflix series, made a special appearance. We watched them perform the iconic Thunderstruck dance as the drivers arrived in the back of pickup trucks (it is Texas of course) and the driver’s parade came to a close. For the next hour and a half, we watch in awe as the teams practice pitstops, assemble parts of the cars, and help the drivers suit up for the race. 

Gemma: As the cars line up adjacent to one another, in rows of two I turn to Josie. Her eyes dart from side to side, an attempt to capture every second that is unfolding in front of us. I feel so lucky to have someone in my life who can match my enthusiasm. There isn’t anyone I would rather share this moment with. Witnessing my best friend’s excitement is almost as entertaining as the start of the race. Almost. So, I look back to the track and the hum of engines steers me back to reality, and suddenly…

It’s lights out and away we go.

The race starts with the roar of the engines as all 20 cars take off. The vibration of the engines seems to echo in our body and a burnt rubber smell fills the air as the tires skid against the track. For 56 laps, the cars race around the track accompanied by screams and uproars from the crowd. We watch anxiously to see the cars zooming past, literally on the edge of our seats as the bright colors flash by. We turn and look at each other in disbelief mirroring each other’s smiles. We could easily be mistaken as sisters in our cowboy hats, F1 merch, and wide smiles. In fact, we already see ourselves as sisters. Now, through Formula One, we have an extra bond that pulls us closer. 

The two main contenders for the driver’s championship, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, duel it out in front of us on track. The track slopes upward and it’s at this incline where we see most overtakes happen. Each lap, Norris closes the gap between them, swerving out from behind Verstappen’s car in an attempt to get ahead. Our eyes follow the flash of blue, papaya orange, and chrome as the cars fly up the hill. Everyone on the grandstand rises to their feet and we crane our necks to see Verstappen edge Norris off the asphalt into the surrounding gravel. 

The whole crowd erupts in screams of triumph, rage, and confusion as seconds later, Norris re-enters the lines of the track, now ahead of his rival. After that, it becomes hard to sit down, anxiously awaiting the FIA steward’s ruling on the altercation between the two of them. Any seconds added to a driver’s time is make or break, especially in a championship fight. To our surprise, it was Norris who was penalized for the messy uphill battle.

During the final lap of the race, with the two Ferraris in the lead, the team rushes to the tall fence that separates the pitlane from the track. The mechanics climb up the rungs of the chainlink and cheer as the cars cross the finish line. The bang of fireworks go off and the bright sparks fill the sky as the winners are announced.

As the final fireworks go off and the victory anthem ends, our Austin Formula One experience comes to a close. 

The opportunity to experience something we both love together has created countless memories we will never forget. We hope to explore more of the world through other Formula One adventures in the future.