Cathy Sorbo's Formula One Drive-Through

Cathy Sorbo's Formula One Drive-Through appears every race weekend after the race.
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Let The Racing Begin

January 1 2009

Congratulations!

You are reading a column that will be centered on all things Formula One for the 2009 season.

What's that? You've never actually watched a season of F1? Well, get your cable hooked-up immediately as you will be at the mercy of The Speed Channel for the duration of the season.

I tried NASCAR once or twice, but the oval tracks just didn't do anything for me. I find F1 to be more of an educational and variable experience -- you are in other countries, each hosting a completely unique track layout which requires extensive tweaks to the set-up of the car and the team's race strategy. The cars themselves are things of technological and mechanical wonder -- truly beautiful looking things (if you exclude the recent identity crisis that Honda has been working through).

The drivers are vessels of strength and athleticism, but do show their human side as well. Now a NASCAR driver, Juan Pablo Montoya was teased more than once by other drivers for his penchant for McDonald's. Also now a NASCAR driver, Jacques Villeneuve was even more mercilessly teased for his pop star endeavors. As he was waving to fans, current champion Kimi Räikkönen was caught on tape stumbling from an upper deck of a yacht whilst tipsy. After one very tense race last season, rival team drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa got into a rarely glimpsed emotionally-charged tiff at a post-race weigh-in.

There are 11 teams and 22 drivers scheduled to race in the 2009 season, each driver with a unique althletic personality. There are no Americans driving this year and sadly, no race will be held on American soil. The sport's lack of American-ness is most likely why F1 doesn't get the attention that it deserves here, and why NASCAR is far more prominent in motorsport news. Or maybe it is because we can't easily pronounce the foreign names of the drivers -- Americans are notoriously frightened of umelots. There should be some comfort knowing that the main anchor for the Speed Channel announcing team, Bob Varsha, is a Yank.

To hear the drivers pronounce their names, visit www.namethatdriver.com while looking at the Teams and Drivers page of www.formula1.com -- this page will also show you the season schedule and each drivers' points from last season. As you will see, it was very, very close.

Everyone loves a winner and last season everything pointed toward British driver Lewis Hamilton to walk away with the championship. Lewis put in a freakishly amazing rookie performance in 2007 and due to his Afro-Carribean heritage, has the history-making accomplishment of being the first black man to drive for a Formula One team. As big as that is, it takes a backseat to his explosive talent as a competitive driver.

Last season we watched as Lewis came within one corner of losing the championship by one point to the Ferrari of Felipe Massa, but the heavens opened just enough in the closing seconds to allow him to leapfrog the fifth place car of Timo Glock and take the checkered flag.

Check back for the Formula One Drive-Through recap after the race.