62 replies to this topic

[doohanOK]

If you have ever encountered a driver for an autograph, or for a chat, which one was in your opinion the friendliest?

regards,
doohanOK.

[speed queen]

Alessandro Zanardi

I know he's not F1, but Greg Moore as well.

[doohanOK]

I would have to say Jarno Trulli and Rubens Barrichello.

regards,
doohanOK.

[trento]

Definitely David Coulthard...he posed for pix with my bro and girlfriend...was more than cooperative...also Jean Alesi and Herbert were easy going.

[Gemini]

I met DC last year in Warsaw on the West-Mercedes promo event. He was very nice to all the people.

The event itself was cool. I did not manage to get into the McLaren two seater drive..
however seeing DC driving big Merc racing truck and ending in the gravel on the first corner was fun enough..

[Laphroaig]

Only met Ralf Schumacher when he was doing PR work for Nortel (I think).
Talked to him a couple of minutes behind the stand before he was called to do some more 'work'. And when I was walking away I thought up a lot of good questions, but it was too late

[Jhope]

Hmmm...let's see I've met:

Mark Gene: Nice bloke

Jackie Stewart: Very nice bloke

Alain Prost: nice, but seemed confused (don't blame him)

M/R Shumacher: Very nice people. Ralph is a little "out there"!

Olivier Panis: The nicest person I met so far. Went out of his way to sign an autograph for me in 1996. He told his team members to hold on, because I was waiting for him. We spent 15 minutes chatting about his upcoming week end.

Keke Rosberg: Nice, but had a harder time understanding him than I do when I watch Mika do an Interview. ( Tha MAACLAARen isa RAANING Smoodly)

Jaque Laffite: when I was a young one (5 years old) my dad talked to him and a machanic at williams, and they let me sit in his car. If anyone want to know the full story, e-mail me. It too long, and almost caused a disaster!

ASS HOLE CATEGORY!!!

Pedro Lamy!: **** head. Ask him for an autograph, he thinks he's a world champion or something.Show some class asswipe. Take a lesson from Micheal!

That's it!

[130R]

Patrese.

[doohanOK]

I thought Jackie was funny.

In 1997, when he signed something for me and a few others, he stated in that funny Scottish accent, "Uncle Jackie has to go now".

Keke Rosberg is definitely worse than Mika H, he's impossible to understand!

Jarno Trulli this year at Melbourne made sure everyone got what they wanted autographed, and even shook hands with any fan!

Unfortunately, I called Eddie Irvine, "Edmund", and he wouldn't sign. Mind you the day before, he wasn't signing because he was on his mobile phone.....

Ron Dennis was patient....

regards,
doohanOK.

[Sa]

Jackie is really nice as are Herbert and Rubens. The friendliest drivers I've ever met though were Anthony Reid and Alan Menu, who were really funny and relaxed. I met them at donnington on monday!

[Ellen UK]

My all time favorites are:

Jean Alesi, Riccardo Patrese, Andrea DeCesaris, Giancarlo Fisichella, Jarno Trulli, Olivier Panis and Ralph Schmacher. They are all either sweet and nice, available or funny, hardly the F1 star stereotype.

Also Michael Schumacher and DC have always been nice to me, but I spent only a few minutes with both.

I like also Rubens, Heinz Herald (I love to call him by his name, it's so fullfilling, Heinz Herald!!!!), Mika Salo (a Fin that can speak!!!!).

However, contrary to many's belief, Eddie Irvine is a riot. His attention span is about 7 seconds, but he is funny, outrageous, overthetop. I always had a great time with him, but then again he seems to be more attentive to women than men.

Jacques Villeneuve is difficult to address. He is not an asshole or anything, but just difficult to track down. I never made the mistake of asking him about his dad though as a Gilles' hardcore fan is hard, he is friendly and I love the looks in his eyes, going from intense to sweet, juts like his dad (don't tell him!!!).

[BRG]

Originally posted by Ellen UK:

"Eddie Irvine .... seems to be more attentive to women than men."

Could this be the understatement of the week???


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BRG

"all the time, maximum attack"

[Jhope]

BRG: Could this be the understatement of the week???


more like century!

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Look...if you don't like it, fine. if you do, **** you anyway!

[luisfelipetrigo]

Michael Andretti
Emerson Fittipaldi (in his CART years)
Jackie Stewart


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Saludos
Luis Felipe

[eamo]

Frentzen

[Cant_Hit_Apex]

Teo Fabi. I ran into him at Laguna Seca in 93 or 94. He seemed very approachable and low ego. As I started to walk off, I said "Kick their A**, Teo!". He responded, "But of course I will'a be kicking their a**es!"

Of course, he didn't, but that's another story. Cool guy.

[Nathan]

I amazed here. I also thought that F-1 drivers, especially the Schumachers never really chatted with fans. Not that they are snobby, but I didnt think the paddock was so open. It sounds like the CART/NASCAR atmosphere. It amazes me that a fan can just walk up to a driver and talk with him...now I think I might attend a race or two. I would love to talk to anyone in F-1, I never thought though that was possible. Damn stereotypes. Hmmm

[Ellen UK]

Nathan, I had pit passes from Ferrari each time I attended (once from Jordan via Ralph Schumacher). It is otherwise very difficult to encounter any drivers from regular seating, even the best seating on the circuit

[Nuno]

In the last Brazilian GP I was fortunate that one of the organizers was an old friend of me. So he arranged for us to meet many F-1 drivers and grab some autographs . I must say that Rubinho Barichello , Heiz Harald Frentzen and rookie Nick Heidfeld were particularly gentle , patient and friendly to me and my seven-years-old daughter .
Nice guys...

[XedtheLine]

Dan Gurney

[Mr. Stay Puff]

Nigel Mansel, hands down. Very open and a classy guy.

[Ripples]

I had a chance to see several drivers via some corporate hospitality that I was invited to at a Grand Prix. I had the chance to chat to several drivers (although not all and not all that I wanted to) and to my surprise two myths were shattered:

1) Mika Hakkinen was absolutely fantastic to talk to. He was witty and funny and informative

2) Damon Hill is a d***head.

Otherwise, I can't say that others have turned out to be different than I would have expected them to be - they are all polite and attentive, as long as you come up to them at a relaxing time and not during a session or right before briefing.

[Rogue]

Have only ever met one driver, Sir Jack Brabham, and he was a really nice guy. I met him at an exhibition day at Eastern Creek Raceway in Sydney a couple of years ago and evryone there had the opportunity to chap with the drivers in amoungst their classic cars after the race.



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Rogue
f-1@ihug.com.au

[Daemon]

Definately Jack Brabham and Stirling Moss. Friendly guys and ready to sign autographs for the legions of fans they attract where ever they go...

Alan Jones is a bit abrupt and doesn't come across as the most friendly guy (part of the AJ image I think ), but every time i've seen him he will always stop to sign an autograph...

Without a doubt, the friendliest motor racer I have met is Peter Brock. 9 times Bathurst 1000 winner for those who do not follow the Australian touring car series. Hundreds will flock to the guy whenever he appears in the paddock, and he usually makes sure at least half the crowd goes home with autographs. The great thing is he will never avoid it, and often goes out of his way to make a random appearance for the fans.

[Mat]

The nicest drivers I have met are...

Jarno Trulli- Really friendly bloke, and will make sure his fans are happy. Even told a security guard to back off while he finished signing.

Jacques Villeneuve- Really is geniunely happy to sign and talk to his fans. Lotsa great stories with him.

Jenson Button- He was in Melbourne anyway, but he wasn't a superstar then yet, give him a couple of years and if he still is down to earth good for him. Very friendly person.

Nearly all the drivers i've met have been very polite and friendly, you just have to approach at the right time. In other words, don't go asking Jean Alesi for his autographs after any practice or qualifying sessions. There's alway ssomehting going wrong fo rhim! Marc Gene is also really nice bloke.

The least friendliest driver award would have to go to Damon Hill. Has no time for his supporters at all.

Mat

[Ripples]

Mat, I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one to experience that with Damon!

[doohanOK]

I remember that Mat! Someone I was with told me that Trulli told the bloke to back off.....that Jarno's a dude.

Damon was too friendly in 1999.

regards,
doohanOK.

[Don Capps]

Some of those that really impressed me when I spoke with them over the years:

Alberto Ascari was great & wonderful to this then 8-year old

Juan Fangio at any time

Stirling Moss was & is fabulous - got to sit in one of his cars at Brands in 1959... Fan forever!

Dan Gurney, David Hobbs, and Sam Posey were all great & patient

Jim Clark was amazing to talk to with - I couldn't believe how nice it was for him to take a few moments and just chat!

Masten Gregory, Phil Hill, and Tony Brooks -- Class Acts one and all

Niki Lauda was a pleasant surprise, he was wonderful especially since we talked about aviation - helicopters in particular!

Bruce McLaren & Jack Brabham were great. John Cooper was a riot!

Among the best were Alan Kulwicki and the great Richard Petty. Alan was completely unlike what I expected - a really easy person to talk with and a super guy. And Petty, just amazing and just the most patient racing driver I have ever met! Kyle is not much different.

Nino Farina was a jerk. Maybe it was a bad day, but he was really rude. Not much better for Colin Chapman, I'm afraid. However, this group is not worth mentioning since the vast majority I talked with were very polite and patient. Most excused themselves and apologized if there was a problem. Mark Donohue couldn't talk once due to some problems in the pits, but when he saw me made an effort to make sure he said something to me. Again, Fan forever...



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Yr fthfl & hmbl srvnt,

Don Capps

Semper Gumbi: If this was easy, we’d have the solution already…

[911]

I've only met a few, but they all were quite nice. I actually got to know Emmo pretty well in Miami.

* Emerson Fittipaldi
* JJ Lehto
* Vic Elford

911

[Ross Stonefeld]

Vic Elford - Awesome awesome awesome. It's like an audio-book of "great racing stories" It's great to buy him a Guinness, give him a few key words and listen to him go on. "There I was going down the Mulsanne at 215mph when I saw this girl sitting outside the cafe..."

Dan Gurney -- Raced with his son and I didn't think that got me any extra points, but Alex said I could just go up to him and say hello. I did, I was speechless. Dan Gurney, The Man. Even let me look around his CART team. I got a little too close to the Eagle (this was in 98 when it was still very very new) and he gave me a wink and a mock finger wagging.

Max Papis (lets not talk about his F1 career) - A star, a hero, my friend. I met him by literally bumping into him on the Thursday before a CART race, we had a brief talk about driving and the track, and the highlight had to be when he said that when I got the money to do the support race, that I should come and see him in the paddock.

I think those were the only 3 "drivers" of any import that I've met. Oh....and me

Ross Stonefeld
Aztec Group Motorsport

[doohanOK]

Pardon my ignorance, but who is Vic Elford?

That story of him going down Mulsanne then seeing the girl....I wanna know if he stopped for a coffee!

regards,
doohanOK.

[chester316]

Jacques Villeneuve: I met him and Danni here in Montral a couple months ago and to my surprise he was really cool and answered me and my friends questions for about five min.
I was shocked because i heard he was not that friendly

[doohanOK]

Funny that, Dannii and Jacques are considered rather private people.

They walked straight past me at the Australian GP at one of the hotels, and I didn't even say anything, and I'm a member of his fan club (lol)....

regards,
doohanOK.

[Turbo]

Zanardi, hands down. But then Zanardi is also the ONLY F1 driver I ever spoke with and he was in CART at the time. He was extremely friendly with all the fans that day, however.

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Bring back slicks and turbo!

[AD]

I was just wondering how you got the pit passes Ellen? It's usually all the top dogs that get those.

[Jonathan]

AD

Please use caution when using such words around women such as Ellen. Suggesting that she is a 'top dog' is somewhat demeaning.

[AD]

Maybe I should just have said very, very, very, very rich people.

[Jonathan]

AD

'Well connected' people might be an even better term. Clearly Ellen knows more about F1 than most of us. We are very lucky to have her around.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Now now boys, dont elevate her into something he's not.


Vic Elford was mainly a sportscar driver, bit of a Porsche Le Mans legend. He raced a few times in F1 and I beleive in his first ever event he finished 4th in the wet. Like I said, he's got GREAT stories. He works for a racing school in the US and trains young drivers. You've probably heard of one of his students...Juan Pablo Montoya. In the summer of 1998 I asked him how he rated Montoya. "If he can get the right team he can be World Champion in two years"

Ross Stonefeld
Aztec Group Motorsport

[Pascal]

Olivier Beretta, but we were in high-school together.

Jacques Villeneuve was in the same high-school too (Lycée Albert 1er in Monaco) before he moved to one in Switzerland where he met Craig Pollock. I was not a friend of his (he is younger than I am), but we had some common acquaintances, and I had a couple of beers with him in the local pubs. He seemed to be a very introverted chap at the time, but he was not yet the accomplished racing driver he is now.

And 15 years ago, I was lucky enough to interview two F1 drivers in the Monaco paddock for the little newspaper I was running with several school friends. Both Andrea de Cesaris and Patrick Tambay were kind enough to stand my silly questions, and even answer them! Great people!

[Yelnats]

Jackie Stewart impressed me by signing autographs before qualifying at Mosport in the seventies. He was besieged by a mob of fans behind the pits and spent 20 precious min before qualifying with the fans. Never saw any other drivers outside the pit compound in all my years at F1 races.

Best wishes for your son's recovery Jackie, your a credit to your sport!

[selena]

Thanks for the info, all of you. I will go to one or two F1 promotions where fans have the chance to meet the drivers before the Sepang race this year and check out for myself.

[JayWay]

Well hes not an F1 driver by I think the story is worthy

I went down on Thursday to the track before the Molson Indy when the teams were just setting up. I was standing outside the paddock without my pass so the guard wouldnt let me in. A forsythe mechanic came out and I asked him if the drivers were here yet and he sad Carpentier was but he was in a meeting. The mechanic went into the trailor and a few minutes later Pat walks out and tells the guards to let us in. He talks me for like 10 minutes and when I asked him if I could take a picture with him not only did he say yes but just before we were gonna take it he stops, looks around and says that he thinks the picture would look alot better if we took it infront of the cars so he directs the mechanics out of the way and takes it with me standing in front of the cars.

It turns out that he post poned a team meeting to say hi to me and my friend.

[JayWay]

I also met Adrian Fernendez later that day, he was cool cause when I ran up to him he seemed to cheerfull. I had a bunch of photos to get signed and i was rushing to get them out and I was really unorganised, I thought he was gonna get pissed cause I was holding him up but he just kept smiling and told me to take my time and that its no problem.

[Ripples]

Some excellent stories people have here. Reading this makes me reconsider my belief that racing drivers of nowadays have grown distant from their fans. It's seems most of us have experienced the opposite.

[Ellen UK]

I get the passes through my dad, an old time F1 fan like Don Capps. He has been following F1 since the late 50s. He doesn't use money, as some have suggested, but contacts. He's an investment banker, a Ferrari client for 20 years, and knows the right people. I plan my GP trips months in advance, so I give him plenty of time to organize things. I used to go to GPs with him, although in the past 4-5 years he hardly ever goes.

PS. I don't know about F1 more than most of you.

[yucca]

I've met all finish f1 drivers and the most interested chat about F1 I had with JJ Lehto. He was quite polite and took his time in our table in a bar in Helsinki. MH was also very polite and didn't look disturbed at all when we knocked his car window for signatures(he pulled over right in front of us to answer his cellphone). He asked if we vere going to wake up 4.00 a.m. to watch the suzuka gp and listen Kyllonen's colourful commentary.
We promised to do that and he looked quite amused. This happened 10 days prior suzuka 98
Keke and Salo were both too busy at the time I met them to make any special impression.

[Mat]

Ripples- Out of all the times i've been to the GP's. I have only seen Damon Hill sign one autograph. And that was in '99 after a women nagged and nagged him all weekend. He eventually did it on her home-knitted replica Jordan jumper. There is a photo of the woman in this months F1 Racing magazine. In the section about Melbourne night life, she's wearing her 2000 version (Jaguar jumper) in the photo.


Doohan- yep, Jarno was great. I was standing next to him when he said it. It was so hilarious. The guard has come running up (with his ego close behind) and said, "Don't worry Sir, follow me." But Trulli just replied with a, "No No, I will stay here" He said it quite aggressively and the security guard was speechless.

[doohanOK]

Hehe, still a great story, Mat.

Hill never signed anything in 1999!

And that f++king woman with those bloody knitted jumpers, gets everything signed!

Mind you, the effort put into those jumpers was still very good.

Oh well, until next year. By the way, I'm in the midst of making a website dedicated to getting autographs, including comments on each driver's/team boss' autograph habits, and some general tips whilst getting autographs. I have left out the secrets, though; Some people need to learn to use initiative.....

regards,
doohanOK.

[Cinquecento]

I took my older brother to Ari Vatanen's
rally track for his birthday. I think it was
1990, anyway post season. JJ Lehto happened
to be there with some friends, we drive by
his car in the parking area and my brother
stops, rolls down the window and out of the
blue, without introductions starts
questioning his career moves in a really
rude way. He went:

"What the **** are you doing with that
diapam (=prozac?) running ****ing Belgian
hippie? Get the **** outta there while you
can." and so on. JJ laughed at first, but
after a moment he really reflected whether
this was a fan genuinely worried about his
hero's future or some asshole venting it
off. He replied that the fat Belgian just
might get him Honda power. "He'll get you
down the toilet he will." And with this
thought we left him.

I was so shocked I couldn't get a word in
edgeways. Guess my brother was right (Onyx),
but I think JJ was shocked and confused
about this onslaught. Needless to say I
punched my bro in the mug later. "I can
never shake his hand if he remembers me in
that car, you ****ing mistake!" Never seen
JJ up close since.