Raikkonen closing on Button in popularity stakes

2013 F1 season

Posted on

| Written by

Jenson Button remains the favourite driver of most F1 Fanatic readers but Kimi Raikkonen is gaining rapidly.

Here’s who F1 Fanatic readers are supporting at the mid-point of the 2013 season.

Favourite drivers

Button has been on top of the F1 Fanatic driver popularity chart since we started compiling this data in 2011. There’s been no change in the order among the seven most popular drivers since we last looked at this data four months ago.

Since then Nico Rosberg has moved up a place to eighth (having won two races in the meantime).

[chartboot version= ‘2.3’ code= ‘E1F6’ border= ‘0’ width= ‘600’ height= ‘500’ attribution= ‘0’ jsondesc= ‘{“containerId”:”visualizationE1F6″,”dataTable”:{“cols”:^{“id”:””,”label”:”Drivers”,”pattern”:””,”type”:”string”},{“id”:””,”label”:”Supporters”,”pattern”:””,”type”:”number”}|,”rows”:^{“c”:^{“v”:”Jenson Button”,”f”:null},{“v”:1529,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Kimi Raikkonen”,”f”:null},{“v”:1431,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Lewis Hamilton”,”f”:null},{“v”:1378,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Fernando Alonso”,”f”:null},{“v”:1040,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Mark Webber”,”f”:null},{“v”:836,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Sebastian Vettel”,”f”:null},{“v”:663,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Paul di Resta”,”f”:null},{“v”:590,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Nico Rosberg”,”f”:null},{“v”:473,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Sergio Perez”,”f”:null},{“v”:446,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Felipe Massa”,”f”:null},{“v”:416,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Nico Hulkenberg”,”f”:null},{“v”:368,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Daniel Ricciardo”,”f”:null},{“v”:284,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Romain Grosjean”,”f”:null},{“v”:269,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Adrian Sutil”,”f”:null},{“v”:148,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Jules Bianchi”,”f”:null},{“v”:145,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Valtteri Bottas”,”f”:null},{“v”:136,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Pastor Maldonado”,”f”:null},{“v”:109,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Jean-Eric Vergne”,”f”:null},{“v”:86,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Charles Pic”,”f”:null},{“v”:52,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Esteban Gutierrez”,”f”:null},{“v”:44,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Max Chilton”,”f”:null},{“v”:43,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Giedo van der Garde”,”f”:null},{“v”:34,”f”:null}|}|,”p”:null},”options”:{“isStacked”:false,”animation”:{“duration”:500},”booleanRole”:”certainty”,”hAxis”:{“useFormatFromData”:true,”viewWindow”:{“max”:1600,”min”:0},”minValue”:0,”maxValue”:1600,”titleTextStyle”:{“color”:”#222″,”fontSize”:”10″,”italic”:false,”bold”:true},”title”:”Supporters”,”viewWindowMode”:”explicit”},”vAxes”:^{“useFormatFromData”:true,”minValue”:null,”maxValue”:null,”viewWindow”:null,”viewWindowMode”:null,”textStyle”:{“color”:”#222″,”fontSize”:”10″,”bold”:true}},{“useFormatFromData”:true}|,”legend”:”none”,”title”:”F1 Fanatic Driver Supporters – 9th August 2013″,”fontName”:”Tahoma”},”state”:{},”isDefaultVisualization”:true,”chartType”:”BarChart”}’ ]

Among the new drivers Jules Bianchi is the most popular followed closely by Valtteri Bottas, who already has more fans than team mate Pastor Maldonado.

Favourite teams

McLaren remain far and away the most popular team on F1 Fanatic at present. However Mercedes are picking up fans at a rapid rate this year having won three races and hired Lewis Hamilton.

[chartboot version= ‘2.3’ code= ‘7037’ border= ‘0’ width= ‘600’ height= ‘300’ attribution= ‘0’ jsondesc= ‘{“containerId”:”visualization7037″,”dataTable”:{“cols”:^{“id”:””,”label”:”Team”,”pattern”:””,”type”:”string”},{“id”:””,”label”:”Supporters”,”pattern”:””,”type”:”number”}|,”rows”:^{“c”:^{“v”:”McLaren”,”f”:null},{“v”:1743,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Ferrari”,”f”:null},{“v”:996,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Lotus”,”f”:null},{“v”:992,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Mercedes”,”f”:null},{“v”:832,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Red Bull”,”f”:null},{“v”:694,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Williams”,”f”:null},{“v”:544,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Sauber”,”f”:null},{“v”:537,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Force India”,”f”:null},{“v”:423,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Caterham”,”f”:null},{“v”:335,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Toro Rosso”,”f”:null},{“v”:157,”f”:null}|},{“c”:^{“v”:”Marussia”,”f”:null},{“v”:154,”f”:null}|}|,”p”:null},”options”:{“isStacked”:false,”animation”:{“duration”:500},”booleanRole”:”certainty”,”hAxis”:{“useFormatFromData”:true,”viewWindow”:{“max”:null,”min”:null},”minValue”:null,”maxValue”:null,”title”:”Supporters”,”titleTextStyle”:{“color”:”#222″,”fontSize”:”10″,”italic”:false,”bold”:true}},”vAxes”:^{“useFormatFromData”:true,”minValue”:null,”maxValue”:null,”viewWindow”:null,”viewWindowMode”:null,”textStyle”:{“color”:”#222″,”fontSize”:”10″,”bold”:true}},{“useFormatFromData”:true}|,”legend”:”none”,”title”:”F1 Fanatic Team Supporters – 9th August 2013″,”fontName”:”Tahoma”,”series”:{“0”:{“color”:”#38761d”}}},”state”:{},”view”:{},”isDefaultVisualization”:true,”chartType”:”BarChart”}’ ]

The ranking of the teams remains exactly the same as it was four months ago. But Lotus have drawn even closer to Ferrari.

Which drivers and teams do you support?

Here’s how to show who you’re supporting on F1 Fanatic:

  • Log in with your F1 Fanatic account (sign up here if you don’t have one)
  • Select Edit My Profile from the top-right menu
  • Select F1 Teams and Drivers
  • Make your selections then click Save Changes

Where are F1 Fanatic readers from?

See the latest breakdown of F1 Fanatic readers by region.

2013 F1 season


Browse all 2013 F1 season articles

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

134 comments on “Raikkonen closing on Button in popularity stakes”

  1. Valtteri Bottas, who already has more fans than team mate Pastor Maldonado.

    Money doesn’t buy fans, I guess…(though I believe Pastor is pretty talented among pay drivers)..

    1. It doesn’t help that Maldonado is a commie. He was buds with Hugo Chavez… wonder if Mugabe will ever sponsor an F1 driver

      1. I’d say that helps more.

      2. The Mugabe bit… Seriously funny.

    2. But being a real racer (calling for more powerful engines, displaying blistering intermediate pace) and giving us regular helmet cams will do ;)

    3. Driving into your fellow drivers on purpose doesn’t win over most fans I guess.

      1. @john-h Yeah, but that was some time ago…

  2. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    9th August 2013, 10:56

    That’s it!
    I’m hopping on the Giedo Van der Garde bandwagon!

    1. lol, I want him to beat Max Chilton, he does not deserve to be below him xD

  3. wow… so here’s a tip: To become popular, say nothing :-) OR when your tried to be interview by a BBC Presenter say “Nice Shirt”

    1. I was more surprised to see MacLaren with such a huge margin over every other team. Their blunders have cost them championships especially 2007 and 2012 and their sponsorship adverts becoming even more ridiculous. Whitmarsh has got to be the most inept Team Principal on the grid considering his resources. And the drivers? Well, let’s just say they are not mopping the floor with everybody.

      1. It depends whether you let winning or not affect who you see as “favourite”. McLaren is my favourite team at the moment, but I was a staunch Honda fan, even through 07 and 08. So a McLaren Honda is a match made in heaven!

        That said, when I say McLaren is my “favourite”, really, I’m a fan of the sport over being a fan of any one team or driver.

  4. Well done Keith you’ve found a pic of Kimi smiling… or was that added on later using photoshop?

    1. He’s smiling because a grid girl has kneeled down in front of him to…

      1. …tie his shoelaces…*cough*

  5. Any way to edit this from a phone? I think my stats are probably incorrect by now.

  6. Among the new drivers Jules Bianchi is the most popular followed closely by Valtteri Bottas, who already has more fans than team mate Pastor Maldonado.

    I feel sorry for Maldonado! I’m one of his few fans it seems! :/

    1. I was a fan last year :-)

      1. …the year before that I was a kettle xD

        1. @full-throttle-f1 I just randomly change: now I’m a fan, before I was a toilet roll and before then a shoe ;)

          1. lool

          2. @full-throttle-f1 that was the most random discussion I’ve had on this site! :’) Thank you for the entertainment ;)

    2. The graph reminds me of an upside down population demographic for a developing country! There’s a slight trend towards experience and popularity (only very slight though) and world championships seem to do you no disservice (unless you’ve won too many!) but above all you have to either be on the radio a lot or make controversial comments ;)

      1. @vettel1

        Your welcome, we’ve got to do something to pass the time until Spa :-)

  7. you can clearly see that the majority of the members are british, i guess around the world kimi is the most popular

    1. @rigi he doesn’t have to say anything and becomes hugely popular – it’s an interesting concept!

      1. people corelate with him, he’s a regular person and acts like it, others follow PR and stuff

        1. No he is not. He is obnoxious. People like him because they relate his behavior to action heroes on TV. Like when the hero says and does what he wants. In real life, that is quite silly.

          1. Silly? I think it’s what everybody strives for. I think I’m close by the way.

        2. This. If he was truly obnoxious he would have called Ferrari out over sabotaging his 2008 title bid, after taking the 2010 salary pay-off as ‘compensation’. As it is, he would rather partake in the sport as it was in the 1970s – all about the driving. I don’t know about you, but I find PR speak incredibly boring to listen to, and kimi’s version of that is to be disinterested and get out of the interview quicker.

        3. Exactly. A significant chunk of what most drivers say these days is PR hot air. It’s nice to not be blasted with that from time to time.

      2. Kimi lets his driving do the talking for him.

        1. Yes but it’s almost as if he has no personality – I cannot connect to that as a fan (or a shoe).

          1. Stephanie Timmermann
            9th August 2013, 13:33

            That’s such a ********. Kimi is the most interesting and best personality in f1. He also speaks a lot. Kimi is the most popular driver in the world because he is funny, cool, honest and has a strong character. No one can influence him and he doesn’t talk bad about others.

          2. If by “best personality” you mean “most unique ‘personality'”, then yes you are correct. However, if you are implying he has a golden personality then I simpy cannot agree with you – the man is as flat as a floor. His responses are dull and not funny and he’s a hot-head in the car.

          3. I just don’t get that! Someone who actually acts as he wants for himself rather than everybody else does or how everybody expects him to do, has no personality? The person that accounts for more funny stories and comments than the rest of the field put together is “flat”?

            What personality does Vettel really have except for showing some aggravation when playing nice boy doesn’t get him what he wants? I don’t particularly dislike Seb but the first word that comes to mind as far as personality is “sneaky”. In that regard I kinda prefer the “rock solid – you can’t shake me – no BS” personality of Kimi.

            Totally agree with Stephanie :-)

      3. People likes unique stuff, people.

        When all drivers became PR robot, the one that refuse to do so stand out among his peers.

    2. @rigi As the link in the article shows, no one nationality of users accounts for more than 50% of readers. The largest single group os from the UK, at 30%, with the next largest the USA, at 15%.

      1. @keithcollantine And having 30% Brits does explain perfectly the 2 Brits in top3. I’ll bet 10 quids it wouldn’t be like this if we’d swap the percentages with Italians or Spanish for example.

      2. The next largest being a country with no drivers in the field if I may….

  8. Red Bull & Vettel ‘the misunderstood’.

    Further back Romain Grosjean has moved ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.

    Riccardo still lies ahead with 284 supporters vs 269 for Grosjean @keith

  9. Vettel isn’t as unpopular as I first thought

    1. By my reckoning still half as popular as the top 3 and still a good 300 behind Alonso though ;)

      1. Nice to see Hamilton up there as well.

        1. Oh don’t worry… Lewis Hamilton is the N°1 in the Top Ten of Most Talked Auto Racing Drivers List (F1 & Nascar) I read somewhere on Facebook and Twitter that he has more fans and followers combined than J. Johnson, Barrichello, Alonso, Button! Which is really telling because Mercedes AMG has become the 2nd best Team for fans right now!
          Thta’s said Kimi and Vettel don’t use social media…

      2. @vettel1
        But after Canada and Britain in particurlar, I thought he was immensely unpopular amongst the public

        1. @xjr15jaaag no I agree but you can still tell he isn’t the most popular out there (he’s easily the least popular world champion)! Perhaps there’s quite a few German members (I’m British myself but don’t support Hamilton or Button, I do support Di Resta though – I think I’m probably quite unsual in actually preferring the Germans in a lot sports! I’ve never really had faith in Scotland’s football team but I do support Scotland’s rugby team and Britain and Germany’s Olympic teams!

          The main point of that is I think I’m fairly unusual in that respect ;)

          1. lol

          2. Michael Brown (@)
            9th August 2013, 18:20

            @vettel1 Don’t worry, I was cheering for Sabine Lisicki at Whimbledon

          3. I think I’m probably quite unsual in actually preferring the Germans in a lot sports!

            We have a traitor among us! Arrest him! ;)

    2. I think its just us in the UK who are biased about Vettel.

      1. @full-throttle-f1 most likely, he’s been beating our man Hamilton (who incidentally I don’t like)!

        As was I @lite992 but I have to admit I was cheering on Andy (although I admire Djokovic hugely – he is a brilliant tennis player)!

      2. The British (I think) do have quite a sense of fair play, it’s why we like queuing. Hence the Malaysian lies after the race made people turn against Vettel for the first time even though he was probably quite well liked before then (although the weirdo gesture after the Turkey crash also didn’t do him any favours). It just wasn’t cricket, so to speak.

        It has nothing to do with Hamilton.

  10. I am honestly surprised Red Bull are ahead of the likes of Williams and Caterham – I thought the latter two were more popular that it so appears!

    1. Where’s the love for Williams?

      1. I’d have said Williams were the team nobody dislikes! Maybe it’s the drivers (or driver I should say)…

        1. Williams + Sauber, how can you not like them? :-)

          1. Exactly! Everybody loves the underdog :)

        2. As you say nobody dislike them, but they are not first choice either thus they appear quite low on this ranking …

          1. True, although I have them as my B-team (along with my C-team Caterham) ;)

        3. To be fair @vettel1, I don’t think people dislike Williams. The poll only shows teams you support, you don’t have to support a team to like them in the same way that you don’t have to dislike a team if you don’t support them.

          1. @vettel1

            All your A,B and C teams have Renualt engines, any relation? :-)

          2. @full-throttle-f1 no actually, what a weird coincidence! That’ll change next year of course when Williams go to Mercedes engines ;)

          3. I’ll still dislike Toro Rosso next year as I hate the fact they seem to be Red Bull’s b**** – they don’t really seem to have their own real aspirations. I like the fact they introduce young drivers into the sport but the team itself just seems like they lack the passion…

          4. @vettel1
            I really like Toro Rosso (and Vergne in particurlar), probably because Buemi and Vettel drove for them

          5. @xjr15jaaag that’s about the only reason I like them – they introduced Vettel into the sport and I like Ricciardo! As a racing team I cannot support them because I feel they lack the ambition of normal racing teams – they are like Red Bull’s play doll with the way they jumped out of Vettel’s path in Brazil and Abu Dhabi last year.

  11. Quite surprised to see Paul Di Resta so high up, as all everyone usually does is express dislike for him!

    1. Probably a lot to do with him being British. But nonetheless I do like him: he comes across as a very professional driver who simply isn’t bothered to do anything that doesn’t make him go faster around a race track. Unfortunately this is often confused with ‘being dull’.

      1. What about…well the…ocassional moodiness?

      2. @andae23 I totally agree with that.

        Some might not like di Resta’s “attitude” because of some of his team radio messages. That doesn’t matter much to me as I believe that every driver complains (or simply gives negative feedback) on the radio now and then and we never get to hear all the messages anyway, which means we don’t see the full picture.

        Some fans think that di Resta is too arrogant, given that he hasn’t won any races and titles in F1 so far. That said, I can also understand if he doesn’t want to be seen as less worthy than Vettel or Button just because his car hasn’t been good enough for race wins or even podiums.

        As for his “dullness”, I simply disagree with that. When Hamilton talks about God, love and Roscoe, some find it annoying. When di Resta repeats standard phrases (which isn’t always the case, by the way), some find it dull. But drivers are, who they are.

        I personally support di Resta, I like his focused approach and I hope that some day he gets the chance to prove his quality in a top car.

        1. Every reporter that i read or talk to hate Di Resta atittude.
          Usually is said that Perez and Di Resta are the most arrogant drivers on the grid.
          If my memory isn’t failling me, i think Keith said something like that also.

        2. I really hate Di Restas sense of entitlement

  12. Still think it’s a shame that there are only current drivers and teams (plus those of 1 or 2 seasons ago) available to vote for. Otherwise it would be very clear that Mika Salo is the most popular driver :P (him or Senna I guess ;) )

    1. @gerdoner

      I was thinking that!

      Mika Salo, Aryton Senna, Nigel Mansell

      1. Maybe have a “Who is you current favorite driver” and “who is / was your favorite driver overall” to differenciate a bit? Plus you could see how the current drivers compare to the old guard

    2. @gerdoner I’d have to re-jig the layout of the menu to accommodate well over 700 names and as the level of interest in most of them is likely to be very low I can’t justify spending my time on it.

      1. I am sure George Eaton would rank high….

        1. Or Chris Irwin ;) good old gpl era brm drivers!

          1. I know a gal who works for George now, lol

      2. @keithcollantine yeah, i thought it would be unrealistic ;) oh well, now we’ll never know how popular Salo is… my guess is very popular ;P

      3. @keithcollantine
        How about most popular world champions poll?

  13. I know these results are heavily influenced by British voters, but find it hard to believe that so many people would support a moaning 2nd tier driver over the sports finest

    1. He’s a cheerful guy I suppose and it’s not necessarily success that gains you fans but yes I somewhat agree – I only kind of like him now for the rivalry with Perez (I think it’s brilliant)! I’m also somewhat surprised by Räikkönen’s popularity: he’s really rather dull I think…

    2. @todfod You know? Please, tell me more about the statistics of the site’s visitors.

      1. @pielighter

        I believe Keith posted that stats that said 35% of the visitors are birtish, and the % of active British users (who blog,post, vote) is even higher

        The nationality with the 2nd highest number of visitors was 10%. Which is less than 1/3rd of the Bristish viewers

        Didn’t you get the memo?

        1. @todfod As the link in the article shows the figures on site viewership you’re looking for are 30% and 15% respectively. I have never given any figures indicating the corresponding proportions for ‘active’ users by your definition.

          1. Sorry .. got a couple of digits confused.

            The active users is quite a valid assumption made by me.

          2. @todfod I have no idea how accurate that assumption is and I have access to far more data about the site than you do!

      2. The graph itself reveals it as well. Two Brits in top three and they are not exactly the most successful. Three Brits in top seven, huge support for McLaren.

        Take away the British lob-siding and Kimi is by far the most popular. I know; I have argued about this too many times and people who find him annoying will always refuse to believe it but it’s just a fact, so accept it and move on.

        Thanks for proving me right @keithcollantine

        1. @pouo I don’t know anybody who denies Kimi’s popularity? There are plenty of people who don’t like him though!

          1. @vettel – trust me, some of the haters try to deny his popularity as well, reasoning that if they hate him, everybody else probably does too.

            Nobody ever gathered great popularity without a lot of haters. Doesn’t really matter if your name is Jackson, Mandela or Jesus….

    3. I know what you mean Todfod. I can’t believe it either that Fernando “Always leave the space!!” Alonso is more popular than Webber nor can I understand how Hulkenberg scores so low.

  14. Quite logical for a UK site to have englishmen on the top row and a UK team in first place. But it may not be really representative.

    1. … so it is even more interresting to see kimi at that place :)

      1. you see kimi up there in any nation poll…….guy is the most famous f1 driver throughout the globe. Especially in Asia. China gp for example, Kimi needs 10 mechanics to scout him throughout the paddock area.

        1. +1 Where were you? :-)

    2. @spoutnik Again, F1 Fanatic is not “a UK site”. It exists for all F1 fans regardless of their nationality.

      1. I think having a UK based (.co.uk address) site with British moderator and by far the biggest userbase from the UK would justify to be labelled as “UK site”, even if it’s open for any nationality, has users from many different countries and is not “directed” straight to british people.

        1. @lari I am always surprised by how much people read into a mere domain suffix. It means nothing. Does it stop people from outside the UK visiting the site? Of course not.

          A glance at the comment policy (link below) should be enough to prove that also has no bearing on the nationality of the site’s user base.

          And I think you’re exaggerating the importance of the use nationality breakdown posted above. At the moment non-British users outnumber British users by more than two to one.

          But as I’ve said many times before, this fixation some people have with nationally leaves me cold. It’s not something I give much consideration to in my own life. I’m sure it matters more to some people than it does to me but you seem to believe it’s the only determining factor that comes into play at all. I’d like to believe most people are more interesting than that.

      2. of course this is UK site.. 30 % on words population is not living in Uk

        1. But 30% of the world belongs to UK :-P

      3. @keithcollantine I did not meant to be polemical, just noticing that it could play a bit? Having a .co.uk tld does not mean much indeed. The community here comes from everywhere of course. One have to understand english but many do.
        If 1 in 3-4 is British here it plays in the results a bit, like other factors (some older people who watch f1 only on tv,..) I don’t see any problem or importance with that. In fact I find it great to read well-written uk english articles, harder to read and more subtile than other sites – a good learning :)

  15. Of the 43 people that voted for Chiltern, I reckon at least 42 of those work for AON.

    1. Or their patriotism has reached new levels.

      I’m guessing it’s the same people that vote for Chilton in the DOTW polls (I calculated that at least 9 people and as many as 14 voted him DOTW in Hungary: for what‽).

    2. @joshgeake
      Naw, that’s probably the entire Marussia staff voting for him :p

    3. So who’s the last person, his mum? Or himself? :D

    4. @fastiesty, I have a vote for max; not the guy I expect the most from, but in general I support all drivers and wish them well. Some I might feel more affinity with, some less, but that doesn’t make me respect a good drive by anyone less.

      Except that weird stuff from top drivers dissapoints me more than vd Garde having trouble keeping track of blue flags (or is that only because I am Dutch?I am sure those that dislike seeing button, hamilton and McLaren so high and attributing that to UK-sitedness think so; personally nationality of drivers little concerns me, I believe ;)

      1. Fair enough, I think most would agree in wishing drivers well. I’m struggling to understand Van der Garde – former World Karting Champion, but his single seater career seems way more Max Chilton – he’s taken his time to get up to F1 and had the odd success along the way (FR 3.5 championship). It almost seems to be like he was at his best at a young age, but has taken time to mature to F1? Unless he had an advantange in karts (it’s still costly to compete at that level, so you can’t rule it out). Max is a ‘potential’ driver – given enough time (say 3 seasons) to perfect himself in a car after stepping up a level, he then develops his outright speed. Bianchi is the total opposite – raw talent will bring him to his best immediately, but then he will find it harder to get any more speed out. Similar to other drivers like Frijns, Vandoorne, Trulli I am thinking (another World Karting Champion?), although with Trulli I think it was just race fitness that stopped him having more success in the long run. So we should really judge Max’s F1 career after 3 seasons, VDG/Gutierrez their second season, Bianchi we can see was definitely ready after 1 season. When there was testing I guess that would help these guys out more, giving them mileage to get to their best level. I think those with raw talent are usually liked more by the fans for showing that immense speed straight off the bat (also Alonso, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Bottas etc.).

        And even to be a backmarker in F1 you must still be very good – so there is always respect in just making it to the grid. The current situation though is exacerbated by the fact that there are a few drivers that deserve a chance but can only get a handful of laps in a YDT (I’m thinking Mortara in 2012, Wickens, Juncadella needs some more time..) and probably will not get another showing (Alguersuari, done at age 21! Razia – career ended by sponsor failure. Valsecchi – ready but no cigar), while drivers with significant backing are easily assured of a drive. These lost drivers in the past would always have had a shot with Minardi (I’m sure they would have ran Liuzzi, Maldonado, Filippi, Valsecchi, Mortara…).

  16. I love the silly season!! It’s actually welcomed break from discussions about tyres, DRS etc. Oh yeah, who won the caption competition for the picture of Alonso?

    1. I’ll have to agree with you this time!

  17. I don’t understand why people become fans of Button. He’s boring as a loaf of bread.

    1. +1
      To be fair, it depends what kind of bread. Hard dough bread is delish!! :)

    2. Chris (@tophercheese21)
      9th August 2013, 16:25

      I’m not British and I love Button.

      Don’t see why people don’t like him, he’s a quick and incredibly intelligent racer and on top of that he seems like a genuinely nice guy and very approachable.

      1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
        9th August 2013, 16:26

        I’m a fan of Lewis and I think that JB is far and away the most down to earth driver on the grid.

        1. I’ve met both Lewis and Jenson and have to say Jenson was by far the nicer of the two. he took time too talk and answer any questions and was so funny. Lewis just didn’t seem so friendly just sulky

    3. +2 (Soggy rye bread)

    4. I don’t know if he’s boring but I definitely wasn’t a fan of him after Turkey 2010 and Canada 2011…

      1. Were you a fan of his before Turkey 2010 and Canada 2011?

    5. I’ve mentioned this before, but I believe Button is a lot of people’s ‘second favourite driver’ and hence because there is no order of preference on your selection, he kind of rises to the top like croûtons and those small pasta rings in a cup-a-soup.

  18. I don’t like Button. Always complaining.

  19. Michael Brown (@)
    9th August 2013, 18:13

    Di Resta: “I was once more popular than Vettel.”

  20. Why is selecting favourite drivers and teams so hard ?? i couldn’t do it.

    1. Yeah, it was easier back when we had real men competing in a real sport. Back in Senna’s day he would have punched you on the nose if you wasn’t a fan of him….

      1. @poul I don’t agree with that: a real sport doesn’t kill it’s competitors. Not that I don’t like reflecting on the 80’s, but F1 has definitely improved in that respect. Also, I don’t agree that today’s drivers aren’t “real men” – driving a Grand Prix car is still a very difficult task and it’d scare the crap out of an ordinary mortal I’m sure being a passenger at the speeds they go at! I would prefer if they spoke their mind more though – it’s not good to see them “keeping the sponsors happy”, so I agree with that much.

        What I really think we need now is an openly gay driver to remove this needless stereotype of what defines a man in motor racing – I’d say that person would be the biggest man of them all.

        1. Actually that was a joke comment! I love Senna for his die hard perfectionist sporting approach and his totally contradicting charismatic, caring personality. I didn’t love him for punching people on the nose for disagreeing with him but I do love him for agreeing with me that it wasn’t the way he wished to behave or be remembered.

          When all that is said and done I did have some intention with the “real men” comment as I find a lot of the drivers today to be overpaid, overprotected, spoiled little brats. As much as I am against violence I would almost prefer getting punched on the nose now from reading on Twitter tomorrow that I am a prick!

      2. Ouch…. that was poor grammar!

  21. I wish to state that I have not, and likely will not ever, declare any support of loyalty towards a specific driver or constructor.

  22. Having a disproportionately large number of British people here (In comparison to the world population anyway), it’s not surprising that the 2 British drivers are in the top 3 but what is surprising is that Button tops the list instead of Hamilton. Maybe it’s just me but really, all I ever hear Button do is moan and whine at the radio over every little thing; it’s so annoying >_> And although the points don’t reflect it, last year Hamilton completely demolished Button and would have probably fought for the WDC were it not for horrendous luck (Car breaking down in the lead twice, pit-stop blunders and getting taken out by Grosjean, Maldonado and Hulkenburg on 3 separate occasions, with 2 of them occurring while he was within the top 3). What do people see in him, because whatever it is I don’t see it… sure there was Montreal 2011 but I don’t see him driving like that as often as Hamilton does.

  23. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    10th August 2013, 15:54

    It’s sad to see Sutil so low – from the interviews I have seen the guy seems really nice and polite. I think the “accident” and subsequent conviction have really hurt him. I’m not sure what happened there but the claim that Sutil broke the glass and then tried to stab the guy in the neck in front of Lewis and an entire club without any gain or reason makes no sense whatsoever.

    I hope this is not the last season for him because he’s a very good F1 racer. Anyone who can pass 2 WDCs, Button and Alonso, at Monaco in the tight Mirabeau hairpin corner deserves to be in F1!

  24. Actually, everyone, except for the ones who make many mistakes constantly, is great in F1 ‘including’ the rookies. And everyone should start realising that F1 isn’t just driving in a car. Cause F1 is 1 of the toughest sports of the world. Everyone should know how hard it truelly is. And not only for the drivers, also for the whole team…

Comments are closed.