How Arizona Cardinals star J.J. Watt became an F1 superfan

TEMPE, Ariz. — Over the summer, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt gave his older brother, Arizona Cardinals defensive lineman J.J. Watt, a Netflix recommendation.

T.J. had watched “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” with a buddy and suggested it to J.J., who casually knew about F1 because he once went to Monaco, home of the famous Monaco Grand Prix. So, J.J. turned on the series, joining 50 million others in 2021 who watched the show, according to Business Insider.

What happened over the next week made Watt more than a casual fan of F1. Much more.

“I’m deep,” Watt told ESPN. “I’m deep in it. I love it.”

Just how deep did the three-time NFL defensive player of the year who drives a Ford F150 and has no interest in, as he put it, “fancy cars,” go?

As the F1 crowd would say, buckle up.

“I know more now about an F1 car and about a Christian Horner or a Toto Wolff beef,” Watt started. “I know that it’s pretty wild that Alex Albon just got the Williams seat [for 2022], when it’s a Mercedes engine in the car but [Red Bull boss] Christian Horner is over here saying ‘I want Alex Albon on F1.’ He’s got four seats and he can’t give him one of them.

“It’s pretty interesting and I’m deep down it. It’s a fascinating thing and, obviously, Toto wants Nyck de Vries to have a seat. Now, he doesn’t have a seat. Maybe you could settle for an Alfa Romeo seat but it looks like it’s going to Hulkenberg.”

Watt said he’s about “1,000%” deeper than he ever expected to be.

It took him a week to get through the three seasons of the show, calling the behind-the-scenes look at one of the most private sports on the planet “captivating.” Then, on July 26, a day before the Cardinals were set to report for training camp, Watt revealed his passion and obsession with F1 with a tweet.

Didn’t know a single thing about F1 Racing besides Lewis Hamilton like a month ago.

Now I’m just wondering which is greater, Christian Horner’s love for Max Verstappen or his hate for Toto Wolff.

I’m also down a deep…