33 replies to this topic

[F1Gmr]

Inspired by the current thread asking how you got into racing. Basically why do you follow the team/driver you do? What was it about them that made you become a fan?

 

I support two teams, Red Bull and Toro Rosso. Of course there's a link between them but the reasons aren't so obvious. I'll get into that later.

 

I started watching F1 in 1997 and immediately became attracted to two drivers. Villeneuve and Schumacher. Over the years I still followed them and liked/appreciated other drivers along the way. Hakkinen, Alonso, Raikkonen etc. Schumacher became the one I really supported and is my all time favourite because to me he was the best. I appreciated and acknowledged the flaws and there were some lowlights (Austria 02) but to me he'll always be the best.

 

To move on, I'd never really supported a team but one team I always wanted to do well but never did was Minardi. As most will know Minardi were a small Italian team who had little to no budget but managed to put a car on the grid every season. They were perennial back markers who rarely scored points so I believe most people wanted them to succeed.

 

So with Toro Rosso whilst the main reason is because they are a Red Bull team, they also used to be a well liked team in Minardi so it was great to see the guys who worked so hard finally sort of win a race in Italy in 2008 when Vettel won for Toro Rosso. 

 

As for why I support Red Bull. They brought a new excitement to the sport that we hadn't seen for a while. Whilst they weren't the first team to do things differently and have fun (i.e Jordan) I just felt Red Bull brought some excitement to the sport again and had fun, which is an important aspect of sport.

 

I also really like the Young Driver programme, how they support drivers from an early age and give them a chance in the sport. It's great to see drivers like Danny Ric and Max doing so well and am excited to see how Gasly and Hartley do in their first full season. 

 

So that was a long way of saying why I support who I do. Here's some visual extras.

 

Red Bull Star Wars

 

 

 

 

Red Bull Superman

 

 

 

 

Toro Rosso's Win

 

 

 

 

[RainyAfterlifeDaylight]

Stay strong, about 4 days until FP1 

[noikeee]

This isn't going to end well, people are often too partisan here, go to a crazy mile to justify why their driver is the "best", and the discussion degenerates.

 

I support Raikkonen because when it was Hakkinen v Schumacher, I was on Hakkinen's side and he seemed like the natural continuation, of the same nationality and driving for the same team. Though I briefly toyed with the idea of supporting Montoya.

 

As the years went on, I kept on supporting him out of habit, but have come to identify with him a lot less. I no longer find it very funny or productive the whole "I'm a robot, I'm anti-social, leave me alone" personality, and on track the electric, blindingly quick driver I once supported has badly faded over the years. I do think he has impeccable ethic on the race track (very rarely pushing others off track etc), so at least there's one thing that still resonates with me. It's a vague continuation of the gentleman style of racing that I liked on Hakkinen by severe contrast to Schumacher.

 

In reality my allegiances have switched a few times for as long I've been watching F1, as drivers come and go. I started as a very young kid supporting Prost, then briefly Damon Hill as I didn't like Senna or Schumacher and there was no-one else to put the fight to Schumacher; then Jacques Villeneuve (NOT a gentleman driver at all, on hindsight), then Hakkinen - both continued to put the fight to Schumacher.

 

I'm struggling to find someone I like in the new generation, I liked Kubica but you know what happened to him, I liked Webber for his no-bullshit straight talking style, but he's gone, Ricciardo is a different guy but again is sort of the continuation due to nationality so I guess he's my next driver for now. I don't identify with Hamilton, Verstappen at all, bit neutral on Vettel, wondering if I should take sides on the Ocon/Leclerc/Vandoorne generation, but so far nope.

 

I don't really support teams but if I had to point out one it'd be McLaren. Briefly really liked BMW Sauber but see very little to identify with in the current Sauber team.

 

F1 is hard to keep consistent allegiances over time, as drivers come and go, and teams morph into different organizations over the years!

[F1Gmr]

Stay strong, about 4 days until FP1 

       

Edited by F1Gmr, 18 March 2018 - 18:35.

[JoeDede]

I expecially like Magnussen, Verstappen and Ocon.

 

They are all the new breed ofbold  hard racers and they don't care if they are racing a wdc or their neighbour. They just race hard against every one.

 

Thay were all showing super skills in the feeders and Verstappen and Ocon have lived up to that in F1 as well. They both had has great cars to drive.

 

Magnussen had a mentally super hard start. He always dreamt of winning wdc with mclaren and finished 2nd in his first race. After that the car was not nearly good enough and on top of that he was in danger of loosing his seat as Alonso was given one at Mclaren. Super pressure and he was not mentally strong enough for that.

 

Later at Renault he had a dog of a car and was driving a duct taped car for the last half of the season, and Palmer was favored at that point. At the same time a lot of problems with management at Renault which led to Vasseur's dep.

 

Landing at Haas with yet another difficult car, he hasn't exactly showed what he can do in F1, but I have huge hopes as he is a very skilled racer. It looks like the car suits him better this year, so he should be able to show what he is made of and I'm sure he will.

 

So In short Magnussen, Verstappen and Ocon showed early they were bold hard racers - excactly what F1 needs 

[clarkma5]

I am broadly an F1 neutral in terms of trying to just enjoy watching good racing and not feeling down if my "favorite" team or driver did poorly in an otherwise great race, but I certainly have my preferences that I've developed:

 

-McLaren I just hold a soft spot for from the Button/Hamilton days in 2010-12. 2009 was the first full season of F1 I watched, Brawn was such a cool fairy tale story and I loved how Button drove that year and how he carries himself generally. Even though today I have criticisms of McLaren, I always deliver them from a place of fondness because that team is forever associated with some warm fuzzies of that dynamic of how they protrayed themselves in public and some of the performances they put in (Canada 2011!!!)

 

-Force India is a team that has just consistently earned my respect for punching above their weight, for how they fight for a more fan-friendly and sustainable F1, how they come across as real, open, transparent racers. They're so refreshing, I'm going to keep being a Force India fan as long as they keep that spirit about them!

 

-Sergio Perez, with a little knock off appreciation for Sauber. In general I think Perez is a very strong, consistent, somewhat underrated driver, and Sauber is just an underdog I always want to root for, but this one is heavily due to a particular incident...I happened to have friends from home visiting me in college and I had Monaco 2012 qualifying on in my apartment, and we witnessed the Sergio Perez incident where he got a concussion...but at the time, it was so somber and he wasn't moving and we were all terrified he was dead (I'm almost tearing up a little bit about it right now, to be honest, it was scary!). A couple other friends came over in that weird period after the accident but before we knew he was OK, and they were not familiar with F1 but they came into this scene like it was a funeral and it was very awkward. But an hour later or something we found out that he had just had a concussion and was OK so we were all very relieved together and had a great night! That whole thing really made an impact on me.

 

I'm sure I have more but nothing is sticking out at me right now. What strikes me is how strange so many of these emotional connections are, but it's what makes the sport so interesting for us as fans!

[DeKnyff]

McLaren, because of how impossibly cool it looked to me as a teenager in the seventies, compared to dinosaurs Lotus and Ferrari. Lost a bit of interest in the Senna / Prost years, though: too easy to be a fan.

[DrF]

Mclaren and Raikkonen in 2005, when the Ferrari Schumacher dominance was finally broken.

[f1paul]

I don't really support a driver/team. I just want to see close competition, good racing and something exciting. 

[JonnyJ]

First F1 race I ever saw was Adelaide 94 and I was just getting into sport at the time so the whole German v Brit thing appealed to me so I became a Damon fan. Supported him right through his Arrows and Jordan stints then when he left I found myself without a driver to follow and F1 was going through a pretty boring period with Schumacher and Ferrari winning everything and not even letting his team mate race him. Austria 2002 was the final straw and I stopped watching for a while as Jenson didn't really entice me (he overlapped with Damon). Then I heard about this young lad from Stevenage who was tipped for big things and that brought me back to F1 once he signed to race in 07. Supporting Lewis has been a hell of a roller-coaster but highly enjoyable. I love his story, I like how he's different and most importantly he's exciting to watch. It's also quite cool to have witnessed Britain's most successful driver come from scratch.

[Marklar]

Williams out of spite because my family were hardcore Ferrari fans and Williams was their main competitor back then, so...jk

The first F1 race I ever watched was Jerez 97, so it kinda hooked me up, though I was still young, so didnt really care at all. And it just came with the time, mainly by becoming a huge fan of Frank Williams and by my favourite driver Montoya driving there (helped both ways), so I was more invested into the history of the team and became a fan. Even if it cooled down a lot in the last few years.

As for drivers: They kinda come and go. The first one I kinda (very loosely cause I was a kid) supported was HHF around his awesome 1999 campaign. But not anywhere near as much as I supported Montoya after he entered F1: Him both being the driver he was and driving for my favourite team helped. And he is actually to this day the only driver I've ever bought merchandise from. I also started to like Alonso for no particular reason a while after he entered F1 (he was just a cool driver and the last few years outside of the competition just confirmed it for me personally), but was never the huge fan. I started to develop a liking on Hamilton during his last few years at McLaren cause some things made me really change my mind on him and made me go long ways to defend him in particular things in the process. Although beyond keyboard wars I never became a real fan of him either. Nobody of the new generation has me really hooked up so far.

In all cases it's more a process rather than a particular event though.

[DutchQuicksilver]

I started watching F1 around the season 2000. Back then the Schumacher era was about to start and I didn’t like him very much, so automatically became a fan of his rival, Mika Hakkinen. After Hakkinen retired, I started supporting his replacement driver Kimi Raikkonen, one Finn for another. I liked both Hakkinen and Raikkonen’s no nonsense attitude, and of course their wheel to wheel racing skills.

So far today he’s still racing in F1, so no reason yet to support a new driver.

[sladealonso]

So I support Alonso as a driver in short because I was very young when he was coming to prominence and simply 5/6 year old me lived the blue and Yellow Renault liveries and Alonso the leading light in that team became the obvious choice. As it happens Alonso's attitude to racing is similar to my own whether that was as a result of following him or natural idk but Fernando has always been the driver for me. As for team Renault are my favourite due to the Alonso days, plan on supporting them when Alonso bows out but who knows for now it seems like the best bet as Hulkenberg and Sainz are conveniently my 2nd and third favourite drivers.

[savvy2210]

Don't support any manufacturer or driver, I'm to old for that. All I want is a good competition all the way down the field with some upsets to keep me happy.

 

For this reason I've always enjoyed Australia. 

[Anja]

Easy, I support drivers I find attractive. Duh. 

[mjafc47]

I support drivers more than manufacturers, like Alonso and Ricciardo at the minute.

 

But also a fan of the underdogs. Some new winners would be good this season.

 

Season Preview

[Radoye]

McLaren fan. Started in 1982 when Lauda came out of retirement and stayed with the team ever since. Can't say i have a favorite driver in F1 since Hakkinen, all the guys one can really root for seem to be in IndyCar nowadays.

[Nonesuch]

Inspired by the current thread asking how you got into racing. Basically why do you follow the team/driver you do? What was it about them that made you become a fan?

 

When I started watching F1, first on and off again and then more seriously, Schumacher had just joined Ferrari. I knew nothing of his championship winning years. All I knew was what the commentator said, that he was the best. But more often than not other people won. That seemed puzzling. That curious combination made it so that when Schumacher and Ferrari won, that was as it should be. People like Hill, Villeneuve and Häkkinen were just spoiling the party. They were the bad guys in this story. Then, just after Schumacher had broken his leg in Silverstone, I was able to visit Maranello, Fiorano and the Ferrari museum - soon followed by Luca Badoer doing a Ferrari F1 demo at Zandvoort for the F3 Masters. I suppose that sealed the deal. When Schumacher stopped, I didn't much care. That actually surprised me somewhat, but I guess by that point I had already become a 'team fan'.

Edited by Nonesuch, 18 March 2018 - 22:24.

[Raikkinen]

28 August 1998. I wake up in a chilly, damp caravan somewhere in the forests around Stavelot, Belgium by a scary, howling sound coming from far through the trees. It's my first visit to a GP weekend and i really don't know what the sound is.
It sounds like an angry animal, tortured by something evil.

After a quick breakfast, me and my mate decide to walk the 2km to the circuit to see if something is happening there already.
The closer we come, the louder the sound carries through the forest. And it becomes clear that the short screams must be coming from an engine because now it's without a doubt the revving of an engine that's fired up. Not even in my dreams i could imagine that a car could make such a beautiful, brutal, impressive and even scary sound.
When we entered the track the sound was so overwhelming impressive and while we were passing in the back of some grandstands we heard the car that made those incredible sounds starts to drive. We climb up the stairs to enter the grandstand and hear 1 car go around the track. Impossible to hear if it's one, two, four or ten km away. No matter, the sound stays impressive and howling like I never heard before.
Then clearly it's coming closer. It gets even louder, even more scary.
We look to our right. La Source hairpin. It must be visible any moment now. But we hear braking, shifting and revving again. Must be in the busstop chicane we say to eachother.
And then: hard braking, explosions, and for the first time in my life i see a rwal F1 car. Mika Hakkinen comes around La Sourse and passes us with a speed and noise never experienced before. He takes the turns up to Eau Rouge as if it's a cartoon, so fast.
Completely overwhelmed i sit down. I knew, from that moment i would be a F1 fan and even more, a McLaren fan.

[Venom]

First season watching was 2002, which looking back I think now was an odd time to get in to it considering the crushing dominance of Schumacher. In hindsight, I love Schumi and appreciate the greatness. But at the time I was instantly drawn to Montoya. His 'take no BS' approach both on and off track resonated with me. It's a reason why I loved the era in general, the whole sport felt like it was more dog eat dog world.

 

Right now the closest guy to that is Verstappen. With a notable mention for Vettel. For me they're the two current drivers with the greatest win at all costs mentality, and who would tread on everyone on the grid if it means getting wins. I know it's not for everyone but that steely mindset is what I admire most in a driver. 

Edited by Venom, 19 March 2018 - 02:31.

[teejay]

Turkey 2006 GP2 race. 

[Jovanotti]

I support Raikkonen because when it was Hakkinen v Schumacher, I was on Hakkinen's side and he seemed like the natural continuation, of the same nationality and driving for the same team. Though I briefly toyed with the idea of supporting Montoya.

As the years went on, I kept on supporting him out of habit, but have come to identify with him a lot less. I no longer find it very funny or productive the whole "I'm a robot, I'm anti-social, leave me alone" personality, and on track the electric, blindingly quick driver I once supported has badly faded over the years. I do think he has impeccable ethic on the race track (very rarely pushing others off track etc), so at least there's one thing that still resonates with me. It's a vague continuation of the gentleman style of racing that I liked on Hakkinen by severe contrast to Schumacher.

In reality my allegiances have switched a few times for as long I've been watching F1, as drivers come and go. I started as a very young kid supporting Prost, then briefly Damon Hill as I didn't like Senna or Schumacher and there was no-one else to put the fight to Schumacher; then Jacques Villeneuve (NOT a gentleman driver at all, on hindsight), then Hakkinen - both continued to put the fight to Schumacher.

I'm struggling to find someone I like in the new generation, I liked Kubica but you know what happened to him, I liked Webber for his no-bullshit straight talking style, but he's gone, Ricciardo is a different guy but again is sort of the continuation due to nationality so I guess he's my next driver for now. I don't identify with Hamilton, Verstappen at all, bit neutral on Vettel, wondering if I should take sides on the Ocon/Leclerc/Vandoorne generation, but so far nope.

A bit scary how you just described exactly my preferences, starting from Häkkinen over Räikkönen, with a short phase of supporting Montoya, up to Ricciardo becoming the my next favourite. Same sentiments about Hamilton, Vettel, Verstappen as well

[404KF2]

Any Canadian gets my support but Gilles especially, he was amazing.  Right now I am meh about all the drivers in F1.

[Laster]

In 91 I didn’t support anyone, I was too young and new to the sport, in 92 however i supported Brundle, I liked the Benetton and Martin is one of my middle names. 93 I switched to Prost but I found I didn’t like supporting a driver or team that always wins.

I did notice a certain Rubens Barrichello’s performance at Donnington that year however, and when he got his Podium at the Pacific Grand Prix, I chose to support him because I get a much bigger thrill out of supporting the underdog having the odd outstanding race, than the driver who is most likely to win them all. I kept supporting him throughout the rest of his career, and still keep an eye on how he does in Brazilian stockcar.

Rubens career of course ended in 2011, and after supporting him for so long, I knew I wanted to pick another driver from the midfield who I felt could get to the front. At that time the stand out midfield driver to my eyes was Hulkenberg. He had been dropped by Williams in favour of Maldonado’s money, but that pole in Brazil reminded me of Rubens Spa pole in 94. So I went with him, and after the 2012 Brazilian GP, despite his mistake, I knew I had the driver I want to support.

With all due respect to the likes of Hamilton, Vettel and Verstappen, they have had a much easier ride to the top of the sport, given top cars from nearly the outset of their F1 career. They are top drivers and will be deserving of every success they achieve, but supporting the ones who have to fight their way to the top of the sport is much more entertaining in my mind. A driver who has to toil in the midfield, and help raise a team up to the front is a career I’m much more interested in, and I personally think that drive to not give up, and keep fighting for their dream even when the odds are so stacked against them, makes championship winners like Rosberg or Button so deserving of their titles and much more fun to follow.

[messy]

Giancarlo Fisichella, Benetton. Because I first started watching F1 when I was about 11 or 12 - before that, I'd resolutely only been interested in road cars and had an enormous collection of CAR Magazines, Autocar, Whatcar and what have you - racing cars were silly, covered in stupid stickers. Nothing like what you'd see in a Kwik Save carpark. Who wanted that? I was aware of motorsport, but no more. 

 

Then slowly, I discovered racing I guess. Started with a Sunday afternoon and a live Rally GB stage on BBC Grandstand. Top Gear Motorsport presented by that bloke with the flat cap. BTCC races where - to my delight - the cars were recognisably what people drove to the supermarket. Then eventually, F1. 

 

Fisi because he was the 'nearly man' There was the genuis of Schumacher, fighting against the bland perfection of the McLaren-Mercedes (at least this was my image at the time, I've obviously reassessed the value of Mika Hakkinen since those days), but he was the young pretender who seemed to constantly almost win races. Hockenheim 1997 - heartbreaking. Was that bright yellow car with the snake on the front actually going to win? Nope. Canada 1998 the same, by now in the Benetton. That 1998 Fisichella/Wurz/light blue Benetton - my favourite combination by a mile. 

 

With Benetton, it was the colour initially, the fact Fisi drove for them, the fact the 1998 car was pretty good and able to mix it at the front at times....I've followed both ever since, Benetton through its various iterations.

Edited by messy, 19 March 2018 - 08:27.

[Joseki]

Alonso won the first race I've ever watched.

[BertoC]

I support Mclaren mainly due to my father igniting my passion for the sport and for Senna which was my childhood hero.

 

I supported Senna when I was a kid and therefore the red and white car he drove. That Mclaren livery was what I imagined when thinking about F1, my passion for Mclaren was almost a inevitability. I was heartbroken when he went to the rival Williams and already there I felt my allegiance split between Senna and Mclaren, but it helped that Mclaren was not really fighting for wins that year.

 

When he died it was Mclaren that kept me interest in the sport and everything grew after that, the Mika days were a second boost.

 

Nowadays I mainly watch F1 because of Mclaren and whoever drives it.

[TheFish]

I've never supported a team. I liked Williams when I got into F1 because of Damon, and then they fired him which taught me that all F1 teams are b******* and not to follow any of them.

 

I liked Damon because of the underdog story and his battles against Schumacher. I stopped watching when Damon retired and we had the Schumacher dominance years. Got back into it in 2006 and didn't really have a favourite. I sort of liked Button but wasn't a hardcore fan. Then Lewis arrived in 2007 and changed everything. Fast, daring, different. He was a breath of fresh air and I loved it. Button also started to grow on me at this point, I guess because he went from the great hope to an also ran. I loved Brawn and Button during 2009 - probably the best story in F1 history. Then in 2010-2012 it was perfect for me, my 2 favourite drivers at one team. McLaren were also likeable at this point (Whitmarsh is a nice bloke, even if not the best team principal). After that it was Button and Hamilton until Button retired and Ricciardo is now my 2nd favourite driver after Lewis.

 

He's also a great overtaker and, like Button, a really nice bloke. You could imagine having a few beers with both of them and having a great night.

[Blackmamba]

Have supported Hamilton from the very first corner of his debut race in Australia 2007. I had watched him in GP2 in 2006 and although he impressed enormously it felt like too huge a leap to expect him to be competitive against the formidable Alonso and Kimi. 

[Yamamoto]

When I started watching F1 Schumacher was winning everything. I was desperate for anyone else to win and in 2003 for the first time in my F1 following life he looked beatable. So at various stages I supported Raikkonen and Montoya, but at the final round only Kimi was in with a distant shout. It kind of stuck from there.

 

Gibernau was my favourite Moto GP rider for similar reasons.

 

Since Kimi left for the first time I am no longer particularly invested in his results. I would, however, love to see him win another Grand Prix, particularly the Italian.

[Piif]

I've always rooted for the underdog really but still enjoyed seeing real talent shine. I supported Keke Rosberg, then Senna, then Schumacher (before the championships), then Hakkinen, then Raikkonen, then Alonso, and now I've found I'm beginning to sympathize with Bottas. I don't think he's an all time great like his teammate but he can be on a Rosberg level eventually winning WDC if all the stars align. And I do enjoy seeing Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel and Verstappen race, I'm just not a huge fan of them.

 

As for teams I've been following mostly Williams and Maclaren. Haven't really cared for others even though I've worn red in Monza and other places while supporting Kimi.

Edited by Piif, 20 March 2018 - 06:49.

[mmmcurry]

I liked the look of the FW07, and the FW11, not sure why these were the ones I saw without seeing the 8 to 10. I started watching in '88, so saw Williams rise up from their Judd year.

Steve.

[Jerem]

I'm a diehard hardcore fan of whatever team my favorite driver drives for!

 

I like Raikkonen because when he started I loved his speed and we're more or less the same generation and he was the natural successor of Hakkinen, whom I supported against Schumi. To a lesser extent I liked Vettel because I had to root for someone when Kimi was away, and he was really impressive on his Red Bull/EBD days.

 

So currently I'm a tifoso. I hope Kimi's replacement is Leclerc, I've enjoyed watching him in F2.

[Reinmuster]

Kimi, since his Sauber days.

 

Watching F1 on tv since 1990 during the height of Senna dominance.