Formula One on Ice

Day 15: Fasten your seatbelts, we're going bobsledding

Feb 18, 2022

It’s finally time for Bobsled! The granddaddy of all the sliding sports is an Original 1924 Sport, and has been in every Olympics except Squaw Valley 1960.

The Swiss bobsleigh team from Davos, c. 1910

Bobsled began in the 1870s as pretty much just four guys on a sled, but it has since evolved into the most high-tech and expensive sport at the Olympics. (Just shipping a bobsled to Beijing costs $25,000.) That’s an impressive achievement for an already very high-tech and expensive Games. The sleds themselves cost upwards of a quarter of a million dollars.

Talk to anyone in the sport of Bobsledding for long enough, and they will inevitably refer to it as “Formula One on Ice.” The comparison is apt for many reasons, but it’s the Italians and their famed automaker Ferrari that take it to the most extreme. The Italian National Olympic Committee and the racing legends have been working together since 2007, and when not competing in the Olympics, Ferrari decks out its Bobsleds like its race cars, including “tyres.”

Enzo Ferrari is famously reputed to have said: “Ask a child to draw a car, and certainly he will draw it red.” *Francesco Costa/Facebook*

Not to be outdone, Team GB partnered with English racing team McLaren to design and build their sleds. The engineers from McLaren Applied Technologies and the athletes from British Bobsleigh & Skeleton also had help from aerospace company BAE Systems’ wind tunnel - usually used to develop fighter jets.

The team spent three days in the wind tunnel facility in a bid to shave valuable seconds off their time in the hope to medal.

Though America may lack a Formula 1 pedigree, it knows a thing or two about racing. “Bobsled is really Indy Car, Formula One, NASCAR -- on ice," said Aron McGuire, CEO of USA Bobsled & Skeleton. After decades of stagnation, Team USA partnered with aerodynamics engineering company Exa Corporation and the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, run by former NASCAR driver Geoff Bodine and won 4-man gold in Vancouver for the first time in 86 years. The team next worked with BMW to redesign the 2-person sled, leading to three silver medals in the past three Games.

Meanwhile the Swiss, inventors of the sport and winners of more medals in Olympic, World and European Championships, and World Cup competitions than any other nation, are getting along just fine without a Formula One partner.

The first two runs of the Women’s 2-women and Men’s 4-man competitions are today, and the final two to determine the medals are Saturday at 8:30am (women) and 10:20pm (men) Eastern Time. For your speed fix after the Games, Netflix’s Drive to Survive returns for season 4 in just three weeks.

What You Missed Last Night

It’s playoff CURLING! time. Plus the start of the final Figure Skating competition, and medals in several marquee events.

(Reminder: How to Watch)

What To Watch Today

Alpine Skiing’s Mixed Team Parallel Slalom is a fun head-to-head racing format introduced in 2018. Plus the final Men’s Cross Country event is the mass start ski marathon.