F1 Drivers Deserve Every Dollar They Make

By. E. Rizkallah

A lot of people nowadays say that Formula 1 pilots are massively overpaid for simply driving a car around a track which actually isn't true. F1 drivers earn a lot of money because their job is much more than simply driving a car around a track. Formula 1 can be considered one of the toughest and most dangerous jobs in sports and they are paid correctly.   

F1 drivers are risking their lives every time they get in the car. They get paid millions every year because of the risk/return logic. Even with all the improvements to safety features and modern technology that there is in the car nowadays, the car can still crash at 300 km/h, which no matter how many safety features there are in the car, it's still really dangerous. Drivers basically can't commit a single mistake throughout the whole race. One small mistake like if a driver accelerates a fraction of a second faster than usual can cause the car to lose grip and end up risking the driver's life and costing the team millions of dollars. People say that they are overpaid but they forget the pressure they are under when they enter the car knowing that any race could be their last. 

Also, To become a F1 driver, it takes years of hard work and talent. It is considered the highest level of motorsport and its only 20 drivers that race in F1 out of the millions who try to get there. Most drivers start with karting when they're really young - around 8 to 9 years of age- and they spend huge amount of time and money on their career when they are young. It can be considered one of the most competitive careers in the whole world since there is such a limited amount of drivers that race on the grid.  

Not only that, but people think that driving a F1 car is easy and its like driving a normal car, that couldn't be farther from the truth. It takes crazy levels of strength, focus and endurance to drive a F1 car. They need to train their whole body to withstand G-forces that can exceed what a fighter jet pilot feels. And they need to stay focused because anything could change within a split-second. A F1 driver even needs to know when to blink, because if they blink during a turn or when overtaking someone, they are going so fast that during the time that they blink they miss around 30 – 40 meters of the track.  

In the end, F1 drivers aren't just driving a car in circles, but they are cheating death and maintaining nonstop focus for around 2 hours straight every time they get in that car. 

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