[Someone]

I would think the physical aspects aren’t the largest barrier to entry.

As one could bluntly state it: because it takes a lot of money and connections to even be considered as a driver, it is statistically highly unlikely that, talent-wise, the current F1 drivers are in the top 1% or even top 25% of the world.

If Senna were born in tropical Africa, or even if he hadn’t had wealthy parents, he probably wouldn’t ever have raced a F1 car.

It’s way more likely for a talented soccer player from a similar background to make it into a top team.

[kayoone]

That's a bit harsh on F1 drivers tbh. Sure, ultimately you need money, but Senna started early in Karting and was already showing great talent there allowing him to get financial backing and support that helped him further his career. He went through a lot of Karting and open wheel racing until finally reaching F1. You don't get there just by money, at least the top5 guys have mostly won everything there is to win before entering F1.

[Ididntdothis]

Senna came from a super rich family. A regular person will have trouble affording karting even at the lowest level. I used to have a race kart and even with a job the tires, engines and other parts are barely affordable.

[joncrane]

You still need thousands and thousands of dollars for a decent Sim racing setup, a stable internet connection, and a room to do it from.

Sure, it's not formula racing, but there are still massive barriers to entry for sim racing.

[reidjs]

True but it’s at least an order of magnitude less money to do the e-sport than the real one

[sokoloff]

True and, further, those costs are almost the same whether you race for 1 hour or 1000 hours in the sim-world. Definitely not the case in the real-world racing series.

[magduf]

Sorry, I don't buy it. You could make the same argument about almost any sport. But the reality is that training is a huge part of skill, not just in-born talent. You can't just grab some random person from tropical Africa and have him play some sport alongside trained and experienced veterans and expect him to win, no matter how great his physical attributes are.

The money and connections are useful for getting drivers into the sport, but they're not going to succeed in it if they can't develop the necessary skill.

[Someone]

”You could make the same argument about almost any sport”

Yes, but for many of them, to a much lesser degree. I specifically mentioned soccer because it is extremely cheap to start playing it. All you need is a somewhat level playing area, anything that can mark the locations of the imaginary goal posts (coats, garbage cans, or just heaps of mud), and something resembling a ball (say a few crumpled newspapers tied together with tape or thread will work, if needed)

You don’t need grass, inflatable balls, side line markers, real goal posts, team uniforms, or even shoes.

Long distance running is another example at the other end of the range, as is cricket (for which you only need a few sticks, one bat, a hard ball, and a fairly hard surface), and, where sandy beaches are available, beach volleyball (for which the only expensive item is the ball. A rope can substitute for the net, if needed)

That’s why you see don’t see kids in favelas race karts, but see them play soccer or cricket (and, in Brazil, play beach volleyball)

”You can't just grab some random person from tropical Africa and have him play some sport alongside trained and experienced veterans and expect him to win”

I didn’t claim that. What I said is that, likely, there are kids in Africa who, if they were given the same opportunities as Senna, would have turned out to be better F1 drivers than him.

[magduf]

>What I said is that, likely, there are kids in Africa who, if they were given the same opportunities as Senna, would have turned out to be better F1 drivers than him.

Yes, it is likely, just given the sheer numbers. But F1 driving is a sport requiring lots of skill and training and that opportunity just isn't available to many people due to the expenses involved. So I don't know why you're even bringing this up, unless you're trying to bash race car driving or the fact that not everyone in the world has equal opportunities, and I don't see how that's productive here.

[rowanG077]

I'm not sure what Africa has to do with it. There are probably millions of kids all over the world who would have turned out to be better F1 drivers then him. But talent is cheap it's all about opportunity and dedication.

[nikofeyn]

you don't buy what? they didn't say what you imply.

they didn't say the drivers didn't need skill and only need money. they only said money was an additional and the larger barrier to entry. of course they need skill, but you'll never know if you have skill or not if you don't have money. nearly any type of racing is incredibly expensive.

[radley]

I recommend checking out the Formula 1 series on Netflix. Sure, a few drivers come from money & connections, but others earned their position by winning races in their youth.

[Ididntdothis]

You can’t race in your youth if you don’t have serious money. You don’t have to be super wealthy but you need to be able to spend probably tens of thousands per year before you can make a name for yourself.

[Ididntdothis]

You were downvoted but I tend to agree. Even karting costs in the tens of thousands per year once you want to be competitive. You have to either have well off parents or live in good circumstances like Schumacher whose father worked at a track. And there is almost no amount of talent that can compensate for new tires and a rebuilt engine at every race.