To understand the intensity of driving an F1 car you have to be in it. When you're driving a 750hp machine at 200mph the noise and the vibrations are incredible. The G-force when you take big corners is like someone trying to rip your head off. You hit the brakes and it feels as if the skin is being pulled off your body.
With respect to the respective French and German traditions you are no doubt correct although I am reluctant to see individual achievement reduced to archetypes.
That's what noir feels like to me. It feels like some kind of recurring dream with very strong archetypes operating. You know the guilty girl being pursued falling all kinds of stuff that we see in our dreams all the time.