84 replies to this topic

[armchair expert]

In the "Blunder from Down Under" thread, Heathcliff mentioned that Webber was called "the Hippo". While I don't think anyone on the F1 grid could justifiably be called Hippo, certainly not for being huge, I was wondering if anyone had heard of any other nicknames, or slang terms for the drivers. I'd certainly never heard of Webber the Hippo.
Not the usual like the Red Baron for Schumi, or the Ice Man for Kimi, but maybe something a bit different like "The Staypuff Marshmallow Man" for JPM (although now a historical term only). Please exclude cliches like "fiery latin/italian". There was a thread a while back for Takuma Sato which had some good ones, (Takuma ma tata) as well as some cliches like samurai sato.
Any funny ones out there?

[pusko]

Samurai Sato
Banzai or Kamikaze Sato, that describes him.

[Barty]

Kamikaze Katayama

Crazy Schuey/Baby Schuey (Ralf)

[d_view7]

"Kerpenin rehtori" for MS
"Oviedon ihmisohjus" for Alonso

Im so tired of hearing those two nicknames. Our commentator in F1 GP's likes to use them ALOT.

[jokuvaan]

rehtori = principal
ihmisohjus = human missile

[cheesy poofs]

Newtown...guess who ?!?!?

[riffola]

Fred Alonso for Fernando Alonso (courtesy of David Hobbs on SPEED)

[HBoss]

Ukyo Katagrama.
lol, I used to love that.

[wawawa]

My favourite was "King Hiro"

[fisssssi]

Originally posted by riffola
Fred Alonso for Fernando Alonso (courtesy of David Hobbs on SPEED)

Is that why they sometimes called him Fred on ITV?

[Piif]

How could anyone call Fernando Fred?

Well, anyway... Kimi Räikkönen is sometimes called "Räkä" which means "snot" in english.

[kismet]

Back in the days when Alex Wurz was still a regular race driver our dimwit du jour (read: commentator) used to lovingly refer to him as Wurst. Way too often. Unintentionally. Oh well, maybe he was just hungry.

[Jason]

Didn't Rosset's own crew rearrange the letters in his name to spell "TOSSER"? OUCH!

[MONTOYASPEED]

Jos Vergraveltrappen.

[senna da silva]

Schumel
Half

[karlth]

Those I remember:

M. Schumacher: Red Baron.
F. Alonso: Matador.
Raikkonen: Iceman.

Surely there are more?

PS. Negative nicknames not counted, e.g. Squarehead, The Dwarf, BurgerBoy, Crashmaker, Poofter, Rolex Ralf, etc.

[Zoe]

Nigel Mansell: Il Leone
Alain Prost: The Professor

Zoe

[HP]

Magic Senna
Quick Nick (Heidfeld)
Jos the Boss

[HP]

Graham Hill Mr. Monaco

[karlth]

Damon Hill?
David Coulthard?
Juan Pablo Montoya?
Ralf Schumacher?
Rubens Barrichello?
Giancarlo Fisichella?
Mika Hakkinen? Flying finn perhaps like every fast finn?

[HP]

Carlos Reutemann: Lole

[rodlamas]

JPM: "El Gordito" (little fat man)

[Twin Window]

Jean Christophe Boullion's nickname at Williams was 'Digger'.

(JCB...)

[HP]

David Coulthard: DC (seriously! )
Rubens Barrichello: Rubinho
Giancarlo Fisichella: Fisico
Ralf Schumacher: Schumi II (Schumi is another Nick for his older brother of course)
Mika Häkkinen: The Flying Finn is his signature at times.

[WHITE]

Emerson Fittipaldi = O rato ( the mouse )

Denny Hulme = the bear

Lella Lombardi = the tyger

Vitorio Brambilla = the gorilla

Jose Carlos Pace = O moco

Mario Andretti = Piedone

Ronnie Peterson = Flying swede

James Hunt = Hunt the shunt

[santori]

Ronnie Petersen - SuperSwede

Alberto Ascari - Ciccio (Chubby)

Fangio - El Chueco (Bandy Legs)

Pierluigi Martini - Puffo (Smurf)

Tazio Nuvolari - The Flying Mantuan

Rudolf Carraciola - Der Regenmeister or Caratsch

Froilan Gonzalez - The Pampas Bull

Manfred Von Brauschitsch - Der Pechvogel (Pitch Bird; Unlucky Bird)

Louis Chiron - Le Vieux Renard (The Old Fox)

Raymon Sommer - Coeur de Lion

[HP]

Eddie Irvine: The Swerve

[mmmcurry]

Giancarlo Fisichella - Fizzy Cola.

Steve.

[WHITE]

Originally posted by HP
Rubens Barrichello: Rubinho

Rubinho is not really a nickname, is a diminutive. Diminutives are very common in Brazil: Wilson Fittipaldi was Wilsinho, Nelson Piquet Jr. is Nelsinho, Helio CastroNeves is Helinho, etc.
Barrichelo was nicknamed in Brazil by his detractors as " Capacho " = the door mat.

[taran]

Keke Rosberg: Keke "kerbstone" Rosberg
I never could find out if it was just a play on his first name or because he liked to ride the kerbstones in particular.

[HP]

Juan Pablo Montoya: Monty (the nicest nickname IMO, monster is close second as it refers to his 'monster' laps)

[HP]

Originally posted by WHITE



Rubinho is not really a nickname, is a diminutive. Diminutives are very common in Brazil: Wilson Fittipaldi was Wilsinho, Nelson Piquet Jr. is Nelsinho, Helio CastroNeves is Helinho, etc.
Barrichelo was nicknemed in Brazil by his detractors as " Capacho " = the door mat.

His fans call him Rubinho, and I think Karlth looks for the nice names.

[Sean McC]

Originally posted by mmmcurry
Giancarlo Fisichella - Fizzy Cola.

Steve.

And 'Fisi'.

[karlth]

Originally posted by HP
Juan Pablo Montoya: Monty (the nicest nickname IMO, monster is close second as it refers to his 'monster' laps)

Yes Monster. That was the one.

It was given to him by the Williams mechanics in 2001.

[lukywill]

niki lauda: the rat
jarier: le godasse de plomb

[ensign14]

The first Flying Finn was Leo Kinnunen, last GP racer to wear an open face helmet.

Mike Beuttler = Blocker

Jody Scheckter = Baby Bear (in homage to Hulme), Fletcher (James Hunt's name for him after the crashing bird in Jonathan Livingstone Seagull)

Bernd Rosemeyer = Nebelmeister (Fog-master, after he barely slowed in a misty Eifelrennen one year)

Camille Jenatzy = the Red Devil (from his russet facial hair, shot dead when impersonating a wild boar, it was too good an impression)

Horace Gould = the Gonzalez of the West Country

Raymond Sommer was also the Wild Boar of the Ardennes

Stirling Moss = the Boy (in his earlier years, of course)

Leon Thery = the Chronometer (from his metronomic consistency)

Andrea de Cesaris = de Crasheris (which was almost a compliment)

Jean-Pierre Jarier = Jumper (Robin Herd's 2 year old son had problems pronouncing first name)

Antonio Pizzonia = Jungle Boy (from birthplace rather than driving style)

David Purley = Purls, the Rabbit (given by Niki Lauda after having problems passing him in the Belgian GP 1977 - Purley called Lauda a rat and so both had their respective animals on their cars come the next race)

Maurice Trintignant = Petoulet (rat-****, from the cause of his retirement in a post-WW2 race, he had not cleaned his car from storage properly, later the name of a wine from his vineyard)

The States has a good few - Herk (Jim Hurtubise from his Herculean strength), the Clown Prince (Eddie Sachs, from his japery), Tough Tony (AJ Foyt - there are dozens for him), the King (Richard Petty), the Last American Hero (Junior Johnson, at least according to Tom Wolfe), Pops (Curtis Turner - what he called everyone), the Turtle (Herman Beam, from his lack of pace), Silver Fox (David Pearson), the Intimidator/Darth Vader (Dale Earnhardt), the Iceman (Alan Kulwicki), Awesome Bill from Dawsonville (Bill Elliott), Mr Excitement (Jimmy Spencer, which I assume is ironic)...

[Dragonfly]

Ralf Schumacher - Half Schumacher

A bit harsh but some people (not his fans of course) call Montoya 'Marijuan'.

[Rafaga]

Originally posted by Dragonfly
A bit harsh but some people (not his fans of course) call Montoya 'Marijuan'.

You can't possibly begin to imagine how offensive such a nickname is for us colombians....I'm really sad to find out about it...

[Jhope]

Rubens Barrichello - Gimp

[WACKO]

Make Alonso "El Toro"

[WHITE]

Originally posted by ensign14
The States has a good few - Herk (Jim Hurtubise from his Herculean strength), the Clown Prince (Eddie Sachs, from his japery), Tough Tony (AJ Foyt - there are dozens for him), the King (Richard Petty), the Last American Hero (Junior Johnson, at least according to Tom Wolfe), Pops (Curtis Turner - what he called everyone), the Turtle (Herman Beam, from his lack of pace), Silver Fox (David Pearson), the Intimidator/Darth Vader (Dale Earnhardt), the Iceman (Alan Kulwicki), Awesome Bill from Dawsonville (Bill Elliott), Mr Excitement (Jimmy Spencer, which I assume is ironic)...

Good Ensign14

Do you know who was "Swede Savage" ?

[Keffo]

Originally posted by Sean McC


And 'Fisi'.

or 'Fisico'

[karlth]

Originally posted by Dragonfly

A bit harsh but some people (not his fans of course) call Montoya 'Marijuan'.

I have never heard that one before.

What about Jacques Villeneuve or Damon Hill?

[A Wheel Nut]

Originally posted by karlth


I have never heard that one before.

What about Jacques Villeneuve or Damon Hill?

They share one.

"Adopted".

[Jhope]

Originally posted by karlth




What about Jacques Villeneuve...

Wako Jako?

[Henri Greuter]

Originally posted by WHITE



Good Ensign14

Do you know who was "Swede Savage" ?

That was his real name.

Was Danny òn the gas` Ongais mentioned already?

And I 've heard QuickRick and RocketRick for Rick Mears

Henri

[ensign14]

Danny Ongais was also the Flyin Hawaiian.

I'm desperately trying to get Flyin Ryan as a nickname for Briscoe following his megashunt recently.
And Flyin Phil Caliva (who once qualified a mere 60mph or so off the pace at Indy, thankfully he was bumped) was also probably ironically named.

Salt Walther was one of my favourite nicknames, for a former hydroplaner.

Larry Crockett = Crash

Bob Christie = Caveman (from his day-job as a speleological guide)

Billy Coy = Cannonball

Travis Webb = Spider

Nigel Smith = Sideways

Jo Siffert = Last of the Late Breakers

Barrie Williams = Whizzo

Mike Hawthorn = Papillon (in France, scene of his greatest victory when he beat Fangio mano a mano, from his butterfly bow tie)

Colin Chapman = Chunky (from his Ascari-esque physique)

"Iron" Mike Nazaruk - there are lots of Iron Mikes, such as Tyson, DiBiase and Sharpe, no idea who the first one was

"Cactus" Jack Turner - managed to cartwheel down the Indy front straight in 3 consecutive years; he took the hint and retired after the last one

Frank Mundy = Rebel (a Southerner who won the AAA/USAC Stock Car title with a Confederate-decorated flag)

Neil Castles = Soapy (either from his soap box cart activities or from his grease monkey days)

Curtis Crider = Crawfish (after he landed in a lake on one occasion)

Derek Warwick = Del Boy (from wheeler-dealer character in Only Fools And Horses)

Giovanni Lavaggi = Johnny Carwash (translation of his name)

Hiro Matsushita = King Hiro (what drivers lapping him used to call him, minus the first syllable)

[A Wheel Nut]

Originally posted by ensign14
Barrie Williams = Whizzo

Funny, I seem to remember a certain driver was given that nickname after qualifying for Monaco '02.

[Chubby_Deuce]

Originally posted by WHITE
Vitorio Brambilla = the gorilla

Wasn't the full name "The Monza Gorilla"?

[A Wheel Nut]

Originally posted by Chubby_Deuce


Wasn't the full name "The Monza Gorilla"?

I believe so.