The drivers are of course the athletes - they have to spend a couple of hours driving cars at up to 200mph through lateral and longitudinal forces that can exceed 5G, or race in conditions where they can lose 4kgs (9lbs) of weight in sweat - but the edges, the performance gains, it's all in the engines and aero departments back at the factory, the crews getting setups right, the pit stops down into the sub-2s, and so much more.
If you were to ask a casual fan who has won the most World Championships they might suggest in recent history that is Max Verstappen (he's won four). A more serious fan will tell you that Lewis Hamilton (still driving today) is tying with Michael Schumacher (who isn't), with 7 drivers' championships, which is the all-time record.
But a more serious fan might suggest it's Adrian Newey - an engineer who has designed cars that have won 12 constructors' championships and 14 drivers' championships. He is now working at Aston Martin on their 2026 car, when all the regulations are changing and Cadillac is joining as an 11th team.
There is ample geekery on YouTube about various design aspects (Phase changing materials to change airflow over inner brake drums? Rear wings that flex "illegally"? Technical regulation deep dives? It's all there), and there is a sofa-friendly series to get partners interested in "Drive to Survive" on Netflix where you'll get to know all the human personalities, and even a - frankly absurd, but popcorn-worthy fun - Hollywood film starring Brad Pitt.
On race weekends there are teams of hundreds of people back at factories analysing not just their own teams' data, but what data is available from other teams: just over 1m data points a second through 3 practice sessions, a qualifying session, potentially a sprint qualifier and sprint race, and then the race itself.
There are team members who specialise in strategy, some who do nothing but figure out the likelihood of rain and understanding where the prevailing wind is coming from (aerodynamics are critical), and squads of people who think long and hard about tires - the three compounds they can choose from (and they must race a minimum of two per race), pressures, and degradation - and even a few people making sure that the car (which is fuelled to not quite finish the race for weight reasons), is correctly being coasted when needed if a safety car doesn't turn up.
Then there's the simulator setups. There are sims back in the factories with dedicated sim drivers testing setups with engineers, but you can join in at home to a point. The gaming sims are now getting good enough that with a decent wedge or with a visit to one of the F1 arcades, you can get something that, g-forces aside, will give something that's about 80% accurate in terms of track layout and some car setups, which is enough for the lay person to realise how insanely hard it is to get the car setup right and consistently send it around the tracks at those speeds and tolerances.
It's a deep well. It's my favourite sport to watch, and I recommend it to all.