Are you ready for November’s Formula One final?

If you’d asked me a year ago what my opinion was of Formula One, I would have probably said that I didn’t really see the point and wasn’t it a massive waste of fuel to drive round and round in a circle for a couple of hours?

However, due to the combined influence of a keen teenage son and Netflix’s glorious soap opera, Drive to Survive, I have become an avid fan and now find myself making knowledgeable pronouncements like ‘Ferrari’s tyre strategy is all over the place this season’!

November marks the final race of this year’s F1 season at Abu Dhabi, the location for last year’s highly contentious end to the season which saw Lewis Hamilton narrowly miss out on winning eight world championships. The current Drivers’ Championship was pretty much in the bag for Max Verstappen from halfway through the year, but I find the Constructors’ Championship more interesting, relying as it does on points scored collaboratively by both team drivers.

F1 teams are a strange beast. On the one hand, you want to encourage your drivers to be highly competitive – it is a race, after all – but there are occasions when you need to work with your teammate, even help them to a win and give up your own hopes of glory for the benefit of the team. Unsurprisingly, sometimes drivers don’t want to comply, creating drama when they block an overtake or make a last-minute pit stop decision for themselves.

The reality is that F1 is a team sport – there might be one driver in the car but there are literally hundreds of people behind them from the pit crew to the strategists, the factory staff, and many more. It makes me think of the picture we are given in Hebrews 12 of the ‘great cloud of witnesses’ who spur the Christian on as they run (or drive!) the race. We all have to live the Christian life for ourselves, but we are never alone.

Another thing I love about watching F1 is the superhumanly calm voiceover you hear over team radio, giving key information to the drivers. Regardless of collisions, rising temperatures (of tyres or drivers!), or imminent disaster, they are never stressed or emotional, but warmly encourage their drivers, giving them the information they need at any given moment. The Holy Spirit does exactly this for the Christian. He is our counsellor, our advocate, our comforter. As we read the Bible, He brings to mind the key information we need to navigate life.

Being British, I have to admit a sneaking admiration for the underdog. Perhaps this is coloured by my own abysmal performances in school sports days! We all enjoy seeing the fastest, most skilful drivers on the podium celebrating, and I particularly enjoy their chats about the race in the cool-down room beforehand. Yet when the mid- or low-ranking teams manage to score points or achieve something special, it is more heart-warming. We are not all world champions, but we are all called to run the race and to finish the course.