Sports have been around for thousands of years, including boxing, which is allegedly the “toughest sport in the world” according to ESPN. While boxing consists of technical skills, physical conditioning, a strong mentality, and consistency, there are other sports, such as Formula One, that require all of those things and more. Formula One requires drivers to have an extensive and costly junior racing career, racing talent, a Super License, and then combining these things to acquire and sustain a seat in one of the ten Formula One teams that only have two seats per team. 

Being an athlete, especially a professional athlete, entails maintaining and training your body to its max. Being physically fit is fundamental to excelling at any of the sports that ESPN ranked from most to least difficult, but one factor that was not considered was adaptability or resilience to weather fluctuations. In a Formula One season, there are twenty-four races that are located all over the world, from Monaco to Miami. With being in various countries, with various weather conditions, Formula One drivers are built and trained to control and accelerate their multi-million dollar cars to be first past the checkered flag after a long, laborious race. Boxers train their legs, core, shoulders, and arms to have power, endurance, punching tolerance, and injury preempt to secure wins and championships. In comparison, Formula One drivers train endurance, specific strength such as neck and core, cardiovascular fitness, reflexes, mental resilience, and simulator work to keep up with the major G-forces, extreme physical and mental stamina for two-hour races, and controlling a car under extensive pressure that they may or may not have full control of throughout the whole race.

The preparation and training for both boxing and Formula One are similar in some ways, but extremely different due to the demands that each sport requires. During a boxing match, the fighters’ opponents are each other. Meanwhile, during a Formula One race, drivers’ opponents aren’t just the other drivers on the grid, but also their teammate. With drivers having their teammate be part of their competition, not just to win races but championships, it makes the way they can race and compete a lot harder because teams don’t just want one driver to win, but both. Roxana Nasirin, a ‘26 at Watchung Hills Regional High School, says, “I think F1 driver competition is harder mentally because it is a business. Each team wants to make enough money and maximize their drivers”. A team like McLaren, which has two drivers who have been making podiums and winning races throughout the 2025 season so far. The one thing that needs to be taken into consideration is the fact that both McLaren drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, are tremendously competitive with one another which can and has caused DNF’s (Did Not Finish) or bad finishes that don’t bring in the points that the teams not only expect, but also want, to win the Constructors Championship and possibly have one of their drivers win the Drivers Championship. Points and podiums, besides championship wins, are two of the most important things that Formula One drivers work their whole lives for. 

Boxers during a match rely on their talent and possibly on what their opponent is weak at. In comparison, Formula One drivers don’t only rely on their talent but also the track they are at. All twenty-four circuits are designed differently, which some drivers excel at and others may lack at. Jayden Bathla ‘28 at Watchung Hills Regional High School says, “I think that different tracks definitely make the sport harder as it provides different challenges and obstacles for the driver, and the technicality of each course helps to decide who wins and who doesn’t.”.That is where the competition fluctuates since tracks are never the same due to changes in weather or track layout, changing the outcomes of each race. During any part of the race, any driver, including the reigning or leading world champion, can lock up, spin out, crash, or have a malfunction with their car, which can lead to a DNF or disqualification. That can impact a driver and/or a team drastically, which can affect their ranking in the drivers’ and constructors’ championship, which inevitably influences their position in the ranking at the end of the season. 

Formula One drivers have pressure on them from early March to the beginning of December, with twenty-four races between that determine where they will end up at the end of the season, or potentially the rest of their career. Whereas Boxers have between two-six or 100+ matches, depending on their fighting class and where in their career they are. The pressure and training may be more intense when a match is coming up and the anticipation creeps in, but Formula One drivers have that feeling at the beginning of every race weekend. 

Abigail Gonzalez ‘28 says, “F1 is probably the most mentally and physically pressing sport in the world because of the physical strain that athletes have to go under, for example, Max Verstappen once slid off the track and experienced 51 G-forces.” She also goes on to say “F1 is a more dangerous sport and mentally drivers have to prepare for the worst and also for the criticism they have to receive from all the spectators [ as well as the FIA ]”. Especially have to prepare for intense speculation when it is a Sprint Race Weekend, and the stakes for points are much higher. 

Both boxing and Formula One drivers undergo immense training and pressure since they are both professional sports with one-of-a-kind athletes. The only difference is that boxing is not a sport where the unpredictable or uncontrollable can happen. Or the sport where there are no refs that interfere if anyone breaks the rules. That’s what makes Formula One so different and elite. The rules may be strict, the margins to win may fluctuate, the competition is on another level compared to every other sport, the exclusivity is premier, wealthy, and private, that is Formula One. Boxing may be thrilling, but the constant speed, physicality, and unpredictability of Formula One will have you on the edge of your seat on every lap.