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Do you support a driver or a team? (24 posts)

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JenniKate said 7 months, 2 weeks ago:

I’ve always had a team and a driver that I support – occasionally the stars have aligned and my favourite driver is in my favourite team!

Team wise, it’s Lotus nee Renault nee Benetton, I stuck by them during the insanity of Briatore’s last seasons simply because they were my team! I’ve been an Alonso fan pretty much since he started in F1, I’m still a fan but I think he’s now lost his ‘most favourite driver’ spot to Grosjean!

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vinicius.jlantunes said 7 months, 2 weeks ago:

I am a bit like @prisoner-monkeys. But I do have a soft spot for a couple teams: Williams and Sauber. It is actually a soft spot for “underdogs”, which Williams and Sauber were as I started following the sport more closely (having just watched with my father before that but not really “understanding” it). They maybe do not fit that definition any longer, but I still like them.
As for drivers, I like Alonso, Koba and Kimi – as you see, not very much aligned with the teams. Maybe teams is what I really support, while drivers I kind of admire and recognize.

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Magnificent Geoffrey said 7 months, 2 weeks ago:

For the vast majority of my F1 following life (which is virtually as long as my whole life), I’ve been neutral.

After 2009 when BMW pulled out of the sport and Peter Sauber retook control of his former outfit, I liked the idea that a former privateer team had become one once more. As the 2010 season went by, I find myself gradually more and more taken by the Sauber team. They were underdogs, they had little sponsorship, they had a respectable history and they only existed to race – not to sell cars or an energy drink or anything like that. Plus, it helped that they had a likeable and exciting Japanese driver in the team (I love Japan, desu ka).

By the time that the F1 2010 game had come out, I find myself racing online every single night, and the Sauber was my car of choice. Everyone else went for the marquee teams like Ferrari and McLaren and Red Bull, so I liked the fact that I was reppin’ the woefully under-appreciated (in my eyes) Sauber squad.

After the 2011 season started and I saw how exciting young Perez was and saw the team struggle at times, I decided that for the first time in my F1 following career, I’d found a team who pretty much encapsulated all that I like and admire most in F1 teams and so I decided that I would adopt the team as my own.

I play up to the fanboy persona for amusement, but I have genuinely enjoyed seeing the team have such a good season this year in Mecha Frieza (C31). I’m sad to see Perez go, but I’m very happy for him and I think he’s a very likeable guy who I will be very pleased to see fighting for the championship next year. Kobayashi-san is still my favourite driver on the grid and I really do hope that the team stick with him and don’t just discard him in favour of someone like Gutierrez, who may have a lot of cash but hasn’t stood out in a GP2 field full of n00b drivers.

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Bassplayer said 7 months, 2 weeks ago:

My first post here, so go easy on me.

I’m 52 and first started watching F1 during the Jackie Stewart / Tyrrell years and I supported Team Tyrrell, regardless of drivers, all the way through until 1998/99 when they became BAR – which eventually became Honda – which eventually became Brawn (all of whom I continued to support) – which eventually became Mercedes. And that’s where it stopped for me. Mercedes. I loathe Mercedes as a brand and always have – can’t give you a rational explanation for it so I won’t even try – but I cannot support Mercedes.

It was made easier for me to turn aside by them signing Schumi – who I also dislike because of his total disregard for fairplay when the stakes are high. So I’ve recently found myself supporting Caterham. It’s not been easy… but then I feel right at home; back in the wilderness years of 1984 to 1998 as a Tyrrell fan.

So, for me, always the team and not the driver.

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Alan McLaren said 7 months, 2 weeks ago:

I’m proudly a McLaren supporter since 1996.
I was Senna supporter as almost every brazilian were, but after 1st May 1994, the majority of spectators here just decided not to follow F1 anymore. I was 6 then and my parents convinced me to do the same, and I did. But at the end of 1996 Season, it was a Saturday night and due to Time Zone differences, it is Saturday here in Brazil when the race starts in Australia. I was changing repeatedly the TV channels when I saw a white and red car just like those Ayrton Senna used to drive. I don’t know exactly why, although that car had brought me great memories, I had not a clear reason to support them. There were no Brazilian driver there nor a superstar driver. Still, I felt like It was a kind of gratitude to support the team which delivered great cars to the man I learnt to admire and support so intensively.

I hope someday I can see a Brazilian driving for McLaren again, except Felipe Massa. He’s always complaining and rarely recognises his mistakes. Felipe Nasr and Luiz Razia are good names for the future though but Bruno Senna would hardly be considered, unfortunately.

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Estesark said 7 months, 2 weeks ago:

I’m sure I posted something to this effect quite recently, but no harm in writing it again.

I support drivers who share a nationality with me. I have two, Finnish and English, so that gives me lots of drivers to cheer for. Of course, that doesn’t mean that all drivers are equal. I don’t yet feel the same enthusiasm towards Paul di Resta as I have done for both Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton for a number of years, but maybe it will come later. Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Räikkönen are both great in their own ways. Heikki is an all-around good guy, while Kimi has an ability to suddenly find extra speed seemingly out of nowhere which makes his captivating to watch. I’m also hoping that Valtteri Bottas will get a seat for next year, because he seems like he’s got the right combination of speed and personality to interest me.

I like plenty of other drivers as well, regardless of nationality, but they have to have something special. Jean Alesi was one of my favourite drivers when I was younger, and I was a big fan of Robert Kubica before his accident. Sergio Pérez is probably the closest to joining that group out of the sport’s current drivers.

As for teams, the only one I feel any real affinity towards is McLaren, but that’s almost entirely because of the drivers they have employed since I started watching the sport. For starters, my all-time favourite driver, Mikä Häkkinen, won two world championships with them. Räikkönen also had some great moments there, and they have recently employed Kovalainen, Hamilton and Button, all of whom I have mentioned already. Not forgetting that Pérez is going there for next year :) I do get very frustrated by McLaren’s endless tactical and operational mistakes, though, and I wouldn’t automatically want them to do well if they employed a couple of drivers I didn’t like.

Above all else, though, I like exciting races and close-fought seasons, no matter who wins! I’d rather see Alonso win the title by one point than Hamilton win it by 100, for example. I think it’s important to keep at least that level of objectivity when following the sport.

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James Brickles said 7 months, 2 weeks ago:

It’s drivers for me – Mainly Raikkonen, Kobayashi, Perez and Kubica. I like those guys because they stood out for me more than the others plus they are all likeable.

As for teams, I have a soft spot for Sauber, not because all the above drivers have driven for that team (I started watching F1 in 2003 and Raikkonen had already done his stint with the team.) For some reason it always makes me happy whenever they do well in races.

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vinicius.jlantunes said 7 months, 2 weeks ago:

Seems I’m not alone in my liking for Sauber!

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mclarentastic said 7 months, 2 weeks ago:

Team first, but also any British drivers whoever they drive for. Good luck to Lewis but welcome to Sergio……. and I also have a “soft spot” for Sauber :-)

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