Humans have always raced. Long before motor vehicles even existed, they raced on foot, on horseback, or in chariots. So when the first cars appeared, it didn’t take long for someone to ask “how fast will it go?” and someone else answered, “faster than yours.” Nowadays, racing can look pretty straightforward. One car leading, the others trying to catch up. Once you look closer, you realize there’s a lot more going on than just speed…
Racing Is Just About Hitting The Gas – FALSE
Of course not. Saying that is a bit like saying soccer is just a bunch of people kicking a ball around. Racing involves strategy and extremely careful planning at every single stage: where to push, where to save tyres and fuel, when to pit… Modern F1 teams analyse over 300 parameters in real time during a race (tyre temperature, fuel consumption, live delta gaps to competitors, engine mapping…) to make the right call at the right moment. Getting to the finish line in the best possible position is not an accident.
Drivers Aren’t Real Athletes – FALSE
From the outside, it can look like drivers are just sitting down, turning a wheel. But once you look a bit closer, it doesn’t really hold up. During a race, their heart rate can stay between 160 and 180 bpm, comparable to a professional cyclist at full effort. They also lose up from 2 to 4 kg through sweat due to heat and dehydration.
And it’s not just physical. The level of focus required is huge. They’re processing information, making decisions in milliseconds, anticipating what’s coming next. On top of that, drivers train like athletes: strength, cardio, reaction time, mental preparation. When you put it all together, it starts to look a lot less like “just driving” and a lot more like elite performance.
G-Force Is A Real Deal – TRUE
G-force is no joke. Drivers can experience forces up to five times their body weight. That means a 70 kg person can feel over 300 kg pressing on their body in corners or under braking. To put that into perspective, most people start to feel uncomfortable around 2 Gs. Breathing becomes difficult, and the body needs to stay tense to keep blood flowing. Without that, there’s a real risk of fainting.
Racing Is A Solo Sport – FALSE
At first, it does feel like a solo sport. One driver, one car, one result. But then you start thinking, are “individual” sports really that individual? At the top level, every athlete has a full team behind them: coaches, physios, technicians. Without that support, they wouldn’t be there.
Racing is no different. In Formula 1, some teams employ over a thousand people in support of two drivers. But even beyond F1, which is heavily driven by engineering, every series relies on more than just the driver. The difference is that everything is built around one person. On track, it’s individual. In reality, it’s a team working for one driver.
You Need A Driving License To Race – FALSE
Here’s a fun one. A driving licence is not required to race professionally. Juan Manuel Fangio, one of the greatest drivers in history, raced his entire career without one and only got his road licence in 1961, well after he’d already retired.
Fast forward to today: the FIA’s Super Licence rules have evolved over time. Tightened in 2015 after Max Verstappen entered F1 at just 17, they were later relaxed again in 2025 as a new generation of prodigies, like Andrea Kimi Antonelli, approached the sport before even reaching driving age.
The Fastest Car Always Wins – FALSE
It’s really not just about putting the pedal to the metal and pulling ahead of everyone. A poor start, a slow corner, a mistimed pit stop, or simply not managing the tyres well enough can cost you a race no matter how quick your car is on paper.
Strategy plays a huge role at every stage, from the moment the lights go out (or even before on the starting grid) to the final lap. Plenty of races have been won by drivers who didn’t have the outright fastest car. They just made better decisions along the way.
Racing is a lot more than it looks. And the best way to understand it is to actually get behind the wheel. Come find out what it really feels like! Book your seat here :
