http://www.f1network.net/main/s169/st144351.htm

Classic!

"Lewis Hamilton attempted to improve his position by inventing a new phrase of 'for course', but did not realise that only comments in official FIA press conferences count towards the championship."

I suggested that Stefano Domenicali should be allowed to compete, because "for sure" he would be very competitive and "for sure" he would be fighting for a win at several race weekends, perhaps he may even take the championship.. but "for sure" it makes sense for it to be a drivers only championship.. "For sure" we could discuss the merits of a team/constructor championship... but I'm certain that under the circumstances "for sure" we need one set of regulations and one clear championship...

My most hated phrase of F1, but I love this idea

awesome, wish they did all the tv interviews as well

Try to imagine an english conversation beween Domenicali and Massa.
Would be hilarious.

For sure...

I noticed Lewis doing some press work today here in the UK, something to do with a diamond encrusted helmet for Monaco. And yep, the 'ol "for sure" was dropped in again for good measure!

You know when you've watched too much F1 when...

"For sure" comes up in your converstations.

Sounds like our dearly missed pal luckywill found a way into Lewis' mind...

Funny article

Wonder who started this mess... I think it was Barri many years ago but I'm not sure.

Michael had his "honestly" and Monty "you know".
But "for sure" has conquered the paddock.

Even brundle and allen used it in their commentaries. It's like a disease.

thats awsome

What every driver's girlfriend hopes for, for sure.

Also "obviously".

Seems to me that 'for sure' is the direct translation of the Portuguese 'concerteza' or 'com certeza', which means: I'm sure of what I say. The correct translation would be 'it is a fact that'. But many people use 'claro que sim', which means: 'clearly yes', or 'obviously yes' and it may be a way of expressing agreement.

So I would imagine that a Portuguese speaking driver began the use of 'for sure'.

It is true that it has turned into epidemic proportions...

Brundle hasn't worn out "no doubt about it" quite so much this season.
Button has a bad case of the disease - I've even heard him say "for sure, not"!

A paragraph from today's article in the Times, for sure it's a Lewis quote:

“It doesn’t feel so good, for sure, getting up in the morning and knowing you can’t win that weekend no matter how hard you drive or how good a job you or the team does,” he said.

Hamilton 'not bothered' by budget cap fight

"For sure you can see both sides of the argument," he said. "It's not for me to focus on too much. I've got to let the team get on with it.

"If they change the cars, they change the cars. I'm not really bothered either way. I get in the car and drive my heart out. As long as I enjoy it, I'll keep going," added Hamilton.

For sure, the phrase is a handy breathing space and sounds slightly better than 'um', but not much.

As some mentioned 'obviously' is a favourite of many drivers, including Scott Dixon in the IRL.

Like many Australians, I get the impression Mark Webber's favourite mid-sentence filler is the word 'fu!king', which he cleverly substitutes for 'for sure' when the cameras are rolling or press if about.

I think you're right... for sure/com certeza

BTW, if translations of Massa's interviews in Portuguese would count for this championship, he would be already multiple WDC (WfsC...?) FOR SURE

check out FM's ratio! give him more air time, and he'll smoke the competition . . .

. . . at the end of the day, that is.

So... anyone, please explain why "for sure" is so annoying! I'm not a native English speaker (as you can see it ), I've gained most of my English knowledge from the internet, so please tell me what's wrong with "for sure":

- because drivers / other F1 personell use it way too much?
- because it's not grammatically correct?
- because it's a phrase that isn't usually used in the English language?

Thanks

it's not annoying, it's just a really really frequent phrase used by f1 personnel, It's almost like they've all taken some pact to get it in every sentence almost. Or tourettes.

"For sure" is not used nearly so much outside F1.

No native speaker says it (well, except racing drivers), but driver say it ALL THE TIME. It's annoyingly infectious, I think I might start saying it at work.

...and they've been saying it for donkeys years too. Maybe its a stipulation of having a Super Licence?

Domenicali surely holds the record with 14 x FS in an interview but where did it originate ?
I remember Senna using it in the 80's but it may have come from Mansell Brummie speak ?

It ay Brummagem, cock.

LOL this is great, and yes, it's something of a peculiarity in F1.

I just saw an interview with Scott Speed about the Showdown and, whaddya know...he threw a "for sure" in there. Of course it was just a pit road TV interview so it doesn't count for the championship.

I wonder if we could somehow make this an interdisciplinary championship? LOL

The thing is we try to ignore the fact that the intellect of drivers are almost like those of football players (soccer players). the "for sure" thing is something that emerged from footballers during those fast interviews when they are walking off/on the field.

And then of course there's the fact that english isn't the first language of most of the grid, so it means they have/had to rely on what they have been hearing at the pitlane for years, and the for sure is for sure the most common expression used at the paddock.

Now the ones i can't stand hearing it from are the brtish and webber, just because come on! they have been speaking english their whole lives, and yet they get onboard with this frenzy that other drivers created because it was easier in their vocabulary.

It's as absurd as if Webber, Button and hamilton would start speaking with a slighly spanish accent, or french, or german... why god why?!

PS it's also undeniable that nowdays drivers as lauda pointed out, don't seem to have a personality of their own, they can be a little robotic, just kimi for example. i swear if it wasn't for the fact that we can see thru his skin i'd think he was a brazilian soccer player when he opens his mouth!!

With apologies to said footballers, I strongly disagree.

I also think the average racer's intellect is superior to the average intellect of basketballers, baseballers, American footballers, hockey players, etc.

Hell while I think NASCAR drivers' intellects are superior to those, I also think F1 drivers' intellects are superior to NASCAR drivers'.

Note that for every Clint Bowyer there's a Jeff Gordon or Ryan Newman (Newman has a bachelor's in Engineering from Purdue).

But still maybe it's the accents, maybe it's the glamor, maybe it's the fact that they're almost all multilingual, but I think F1 drivers are some of the smartest athletes in the world. I also think that footballers are towards the bottom of the food chain, in my limited experience.

my pet hate is the word critical
and from my il2 days, i put forward "be sure"

It's just that F1 has it's own language in the paddock and certain words and phrases get repeated too much. It's more funny then anything else, but it's contagious as well and catches on like a disease.

"For sure, obviously with some luck we can do a good job in the wayce tommorow, obviously it won't be easy and for sure it will be a tough fight and it has been a stwuggle so far but we are determined to do a good job and I think so we can have a good result. For sure, the season hasn't gone our way so far mate, and for sure points don't come easily but I think so we can have a good start, as overtaking here is not so good and a good start is critical and I think so if we get a good start we are looking stwong and have a good strategy and obiously we would be very happy with a good chunk of points for the.. the championchip."

All drivers rolled into one.

Someone should do one for 2008 to see if Massa is defending his title.

Does Webber say 'for sure'?

Alonso is the champion in the "A little bit" contest, for sure.

We all tend to sub-consciously mimic the speech patterns and colloquialisms of those around us, I hate to hear myself say 'for free', a total abomination and grammatical bollocks, but I do sometimes fall into the trap simply because I am bombarded by it all the time. I notice that another crucifiction of the English language, the breathy 'H', pronounced as 'haitch', is gradually disappearing again into the swamp it crawled from - alright, from whence it crawled - but still lingers.

In another "For Sure" thread on TNF, it was suggested that Emerson Fittipaldi was the first to use it. So you could be right: but there's also a school of thought which favours Alain Prost and the French phrase "Bien sur".

Could be, of course. But I would not start a sentence with Bien sur. Bien sur seems a kind of answer: Do you think you can do this: Bien sur. It seems a little odd: Bien sur je veux gagner la course. Whereas in Portuguese you can say: Com certeza que quero ganhar: With certainty (for sure) I want to win.

But it probably is a kind of F1 pidgin: so many languages together, there must be a kind of F1 pidgin.

Are there more examples besides for sure?

I see a liberal sprinkling of Heidfeld in there! I love his accent.

Porsupuesto? It's the Spanish equivalent of bien sur, I think it's generally an answer, not an affirmation.

Like many Germans, Heidfeld struggles with his Vs and Ws, and often gets the two mixed up.

For instance: "I vos going for the vin, but Sebastian Wettel overtook me."

It's because it doesn't add anything. People use it to fill in the same way that some people, umm add like other words that like, umm for sure don't need to be said.

Take JB from the Spain post-race press conference
"This was an important victory for me, [for sure,] first victory back in Europe, five races in and a reasonably good lead now."

"I think when Red Bull have a clear shot at it and they do everything right, they are going to be competitive and we can't forget that and they are going to be on us in Monaco [for sure.]"

"so it's going to be a tough weekend in Monaco, [for sure,] for myself, but I go there full of confidence that I can have a good weekend, but [for sure] it's not going to be a boring Monaco Grand Prix. I think there's going to be a lot of very competitive people and I think you will see a very exciting qualifying, [for sure,] and I think the race could be interesting also."

There's not a single "for sure" here that adds anything to what he is saying.

I think it comes from people speaking English as a 2nd language and wanting to avoid pauses or umms while they think about what to say next.

Another pure quality Ensign post!

For shure, it´s the French guy´s whom started using the term. If you have ever worked internationally ,shurely, you have noticed that.

Check out Löeb´s interviews in WRC.

Example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twa_jVb0qNY


R

what makes anyone so sure about anything i dont know!

Now if only we could get people that ends up going to the gps to wear t shirts that says FOR SURE, maybe we can start a for sure revolution, where not only in F1 but we would hear it everywhere!!! just what we need!

LOL I'd wear a properly designed shirt with that on it..

I'm off to Silverstone and Monza - so yeah - we been trying to think of a theme - so are open to suggestions