What's Your Type?

In the last two months of 2024, somehow I found myself getting drawn to start watching Formula 1 races. It was so typical. I saw some edits of some drivers on TikTok continuously, to the point where I got curious and intrigued to know more. I remember it was Max Verstappen that I saw for the first time ever, and I just simply thought, “Sure, he’s cool.” Some days passed, and I found other edits of him, AGAIN. Then, I thought, “Damn. He is cool.”

Some more days passed, but this time, it was someone different. It was Leclerc and Sainz. They were being interviewed by Paul Mescal for the premiere of Gladiator II. Then, the cycle repeated. Their edits casually passed through my TikTok FYP, without me ever searching for F1 related contents. At that point, I thought, “Who are these talented and gorgeous guys, casually popping up on my FYP like there’s no tomorrow?”

And just like that, I was hooked.

I started researching more about F1 drivers by watching their races, their backstories, their inside jokes, their memes, their dramas, their lore—basically everything about them. And guess what? It truly was an enjoyment that I didn’t expect to experience. I meant, my younger self, I believe, wouldn’t even like these kinds of sports. But now, look at me, getting sucked into the rabbit hole and not complaining, even a little bit.

...casually shrugging...

As weeks went by, I started to get to know more about the drivers—not just professionally (their technical skill sets), but also personally (their personalities shown through fun vlogs and team challenges). And of course, just like with any other public figures out there, I also developed para-social fondness towards some of these guys that eventually made me personally root for them to win in every race.

But unlike with all the “celebrity crushes” that I had in my younger days, this time I process these feelings and think about them differently. Somehow, it has become a natural process for me to act this way—reflect and ponder on the underlying reasons on why I adore them in the first place.

Throughout five months, I have substituted my favorite drivers numerous times against each other. And I understand exactly why that happened. In this blog post, I will elaborate the voyage, through an analogy of attractions that we usually experience in real life, but by bringing F1 drivers into play.

Okay, then. Let’s start!

My very first favorite was Charles. It lasted for a few weeks, then it doubled to Carlos. I truly enjoyed their relationship as a team in Ferrari. With Carlando (Carlos and Lando) in McLaren, I felt like it was more of an older brother that’s taking care of a younger one, and it was more of a mentor-mentee kind of relationship, almost. They were, and are sweet and heart-warming, I don’t deny that. Also very funny and entertaining. However, with Charlos (Charles and Carlos), I feel like they balanced each other so well that it seemed more like a partner in crime type of relationship where they could truly challenge each other on the same level, back-to-back. On a subconscious level, I might prefer this kind of relationship in real life. Hence why I adored Charlos, more than Carlando.

But that was more of a team adoration, right? Now, you might ask, “But what about individually? Why were you fond of Charles, and Carlos at that point? And why not Lando?”

Now, here’s the drill. When it came down to Charles… and Carlos. Sure, I had a certain reverie and respect for their technical skills and strong drive in winning for their team. But then, I caught myself red-handed. I realized that… However talented they are, I adored them more for their looks. I started to not see them as high-achieving athletes, but more as insanely gorgeous public figures. And oh, I hated that. Trust me, I did. So I attempted to tone down my fondness of them that was due to their looks, and I tried to focus more on their struggles and hard work as F1 drivers. And don’t get me wrong, I think it’s okay to see how attractive they are as a person, because let’s be honest, they are, indeed, fucking attractive. A big 'however' whatsoever, it’s not okay to lust over them and objectify them just because they are famous attractive adults. And worse, if you only like them for their looks and looks only. You know what I mean? Because at the end of the day, they are athletes and we have to respect their roles as one.

With Lando, though. At that point of time, I had preconceived notions about him that made me not root for him. I saw him as someone childish and shallow type of frat boy that likes to party and flirt with girls. Yeah. Call me stupid. You can do that now. I realized I was being overly judgmental of him in my head, and now I get the karma (not that I’m complaining that he’s within my current top 3 favorite drivers right now). When I decided to not be judgmental of him and just… see him for who he truly is, for once, then I started to genuinely like him and adore him. And it just came in so smoothly and effortlessly. I didn’t need to “force” myself to be fond of him—all of a sudden, I just do! And you might think I might be stupid to ever “force” myself to like someone. But hear me out, somehow it happens sometimes. And I have an example of one driver that I forced myself to like, but at the end of the day, somewhat I just couldn’t feel like that (I’ll tell you in a later part of this post, okay?). Back to Lando Norris. Now, whenever he wins, instead of screaming my heart out, out of excitement, I just feel a massive warmth and comfort in my heart, as if I am rooting for a very close old friend of mine. And… with him, it just feels different, somehow. It was like… everything was effortlessly in balance, without me having to tone down some type of adoration towards him just like what I did with Charlos. I have a deep and genuine courtesy towards his own journey in F1 from the very first start—every great milestone and hard setback. Yet, at the same time, I’m also personally drawn to him as a human being, as a person—the way he smiles, laughs, talks, looks, also how open and public he is when talking about his mental well-being. Just… everything that I like about him is just a puzzle piece that fits in itself without me even needing to lift a single finger. That’s how my adoration towards him feels like. And it feels fucking insane to me because what the actual heck?

Anyway, let’s move on to Max. With him, the scale tips towards the technical aspects of him as a driver—his mentality, his drive, his grit, and his exceptional driving skills. I like how soft and patient he is, with Penelope (his step-daughter) despite his rough and abusive childhood days because of his father, Josh Verstappen. He’s also the straightforward type of person that’s never bullshitting on things. He knows his worth, and he’s always standing up for himself (and for other drivers) when he’s wronged. Sure, he might come off as an aggressive driver and many people might dislike him because of that. But be for real, most race winners have aggressive driving styles—Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel for instance—and it’s not a problem to me. So, yes, I definitely like him personally as well. But, somehow, the scale still tips too much, meaning my respect for him as an F1 driver outrageously exceeds my personal attraction towards him as a person. He’s just someone I look up to so much! (He’s amongst my current top 3 favorite drivers).

It’s the same exact way with Oscar. When I see him, I see a future multi-year world champion. And, I’m not even kidding. He’s super calm, composed, and objective. He’s extremely smart and is also educated in machine engineering related things, so he could give clear and valuable inputs to the team for the longer term. He’s so young and at this point, he has achieved so much. So, I just can’t not have so much admiration for him, only most of them are respect, instead of personal attraction towards him as a person. Just like how I feel with Max—the scale tips too much!

Next is Sir Lewis Hamilton. I adore him because of how visionary he is, as an athlete and a public figure. He leverages his success and influence in amazing ways. He is also an important representative of black people within the F1 industry. His success story opens up a pathway for black people to strive for fair career opportunities in the industry, and it is truly inspirational. He’s also very much soft-spoken, always authentically himself, and insanely fucking talented from the very first year he debuted. Everyone also knows that he dresses like a damn model every fucking races—He never misses a time for looking snatched as heck. So, he’s pretty much just the full package. At some point, I respect him so much that I started to “force” myself to also be personally attracted to him, just so I could be valid within the F1 community. I mean, then again, he is the iconic Sir Lewis Hamilton, am I right? (I know this is plain stupidity, spare my life pls lmao). Yet, somehow, I just couldn’t be personally attracted to him… like yeah, of course, I do support him and I very much like him. But the ratio of my personal attraction towards him is very much too modest compared to the ratio of my reverie towards him. So, there’s that.

Last but not least, I want to talk about Alex Albon. Similar to my experience with Lando, at first, I had preconceived notions about Alex as well. I thought he was not talented enough. He’s so basic. He’s not interesting enough. He doesn’t look interesting at first glance. He’s boring. There’s not too much hype about him either within the community. So, I was just really skeptical about him at that point of time. But what the actual fuck? I need to fucking slap myself and throw my body in the freezing cold water or something, goodness gracious! I saw him talk in a YouTube podcast, and everything just smoothly clicks in that very moment. I love, LOVE the way he thinks, okay? Like, he’s SO SOFT-SPOKEN and respectful and eloquent and very much intellectual. After that podcast, I think I’m in love with his brain, like I’m not even kidding a single bit. The world genuinely needs more men like Alexander Albon, and it is not an overstatement. I fucking need him to stand on the podium and win right now, you know? He’s so hard-working, analytical, and so strategic. He’s smart, SMART, you know what I mean? So yes, of course, I do fucking adore him, how could I not? (he’s in my current top 3 favorite drivers, just so you know). And oh wait, I’m not done yet. I also like the way he smiles and laughs. I mean, how could I forget to mention that? My bad.

LMFAOOO, okay. Now can we get back to discussing the different types of attraction I’ve mentioned in the earlier part of this blog post?

I’m sure at this point, you could guess where I’m going with this, couldn’t you?

(Disclamer: This is just my personal opinion. Take this as a resource for discussion, not the absolute truth)

The first type of attraction, obviously, is visual-based. I’m sure this might be the most common type of attraction that all of us have experienced in our life. And while it is completely normal, I do think we need to step back for a while AND TOUCH SOME FUCKING GRASS OUTSIDE. Lmao, I’m just joking y’all. But I do still think we need to seriously step back from these types of attractions, so we could really reflect on what kind of things that we might like about those people, besides how attractive and gorgeous they are. Physical attraction, I think, will not last long unless it is supported with emotional attraction and intellectual attraction.

There goes the spoiler! The next type of attraction is emotional attraction. This type is also common among us, but it goes even deeper and valuable than just physical attraction. Because you are attracted to their personality, their quirks, their funny habits. You can imagine laughing with them and enjoying your time with them. Being vulnerable with them on a genuine level, like having deeper and longer talks with them. Feeling comfortable around them. You’re also looking forward to spending more time with them without feeling drained. Essentially, you just love their existence. And so, this attraction could potentially last extensively, even without physical and intellectual attraction. This doesn't have to be romantic as well, can be very much platonic, just like what we feel towards our friends.

The last type of attraction is intellectual attraction, where you mostly admire how they think—Basically, their brain. This attraction does not always have to be romantic. It can feel like you just love the way they process the world and how they intellectualize some aspects in their life. For instance, perhaps you could admire your professor, or your manager, or just some random celebrity that you think is intelligent. You don’t necessarily like them romantically, you just admire and respect them in a way that makes you feel internally giddy and excited and just… happy. You are amazed with them, not physically nor emotionally, but in a more technical way.

Thus, when you experience all three attractions at the same time, I think you most likely have found the one.

Based on my personal para-social attraction experience with F1 drivers, I do think I can somewhat categorize my most dominant type of attractions towards them as followings:

1. Charles Leclerc → Physical Attraction

2. Carlos Sainz → Physical Attraction

3. Lando Norris → Physical and Emotional Attraction

3. Max Verstappen → Intellectual Attraction

4. Oscar Piastri → Intellectual Attraction

5. Lewis Hamilton → Intellectual Attraction

6. Alex Albon → Emotional and Intellectual Attraction

And, my current top 3 favorite drivers consecutively, are:

1. Alex

2. Max

3. Lando

In other words, in my very biased personal experience, it just means that a combination of Emotional + Intellectual Attraction somewhat can and will outperform intellectual-only-attraction or even a combination of Physical + Emotional Attraction.

Cheers!