F1 Fanatic

So F1 drivers are (mostly) men. Tough guys with a sense of humour or some diva attitude behaviour. But in the end, they’re men in very expensive fast cars. Every boy’s (and some girls!) childhood dream… They embody a certain ideal.

And yet, sometimes, things go wrong and even F1 drivers have a very bad day and as watchers, we can get lured into feeling their pain since this is all just a big stage. So, as a fellow human, which F1 moment made you feel deeply for a driver and share emotions you didn’t expect to find in front of the little screen (or in the stands)?
This is about “feeling with” a driver (affected by like feelings), not about how sad you were the day one died for example…

I’ll kick off this collection of emotional F1 classics with Mika Hakkinen’s “couple of crocodile tears” (as he later went on to describe the moment) behind the bushes at Italian GP in 1999. It was such a difficult weekend for him and he let himself down with that error and locking the rear tyres changing down to first rather than second gear. It looked like his chances at the WDC were over and done with. The disappointment was so great and he tried to keep his dignity by hiding, like most animals would, to let out the emotional response. The helicopter though caught him and everybody saw it. I felt terrible upon seeing those images. It felt like I had invaded someone’s privacy, stepped over the line, and yet, at the same time, it was a rare occasion during which one of F1 “steel Finns” showed emotion.
On a rather bizarre note, I could NOT find a single video of this event on YouTube. Does Finland have a special troll and gnome patrol that marches the Internet to keep any signs of weakness of their nation’s Viking-like descendants?
A picture though: http://tinyurl.com/5uguzhl

For me the most sympathy I’ve ever felt for a driver is for Massa at Interlagos 08. Whether you wanted him or Hamilton to win (and I wanted Massa to) you had to feel sorry for him because he thought he had won it. The whole Ferrari team celebrated as he crossed the line, along with the thousands of spectators cheering on their local hero. What was then even worse was that he then had to go and stand on the top step with the whole world staring at him. In fairness to him he kept it together remarkably well on the podium.

Sutil at Monaco in 2008. That was a fantastic performance in what was the slowest car on the grid, and at times he was even setting the fastest laps. It was terrible to see him lose the 4th place.

5) In 2008, during the Brazilian GP, I felt disapointed and slightly upset when Lewis lost position near the end, I sort of gave up hope, but when he got that pass on Glock it was euphoric, I was over the moon – cheering ect – then it showed Massa’s dad cheering too, but he was wrong, the pictures showing his realisation made me feet guilty.

4) Massa 2010, a year on from his crash and he’s leading a GP……

3) Hamilton 2007, the way he lost the title, twice essentially through no real fault of his own. A perfect season but for a team order keeping him out on track on China to get a win when points were good enough. And the cruel technical glitch in Brazil, seeing him fight to put it in gear was painful.

2) Mansell 1986 Adeleide – I saw it again on TV this evening, after being the best driver all season in the Williams, his tyre explodes while leading and heading to take the title on the final race of the season, it’s so unfortunate he did not win the title in this year when he deserved it most, it’s not my #1 because it comes good in the end, with a second spell at Williams in 1992 – Hollywood stuff.

1) Barichello 2009 Brazil, I actually got weepy for some reason seeing him pitting with a puncture, and not because it essentially sealed the title for Button, but because I sympathised with all the crap he’d taken in his career, all the bad luck and when he had a chance of doing good in front of his home fans, he get’s no luck once again.

Vettel at Fuji.. sure he crashed into Webber, but it was kinda depressing watching him cry in the corner of his garage.. poor kid.

now he’s world champion! :D

The first race I ever saw was Adelaide 1994. Before the race, one of my friends gave me the entire low down on the season, right from Senna’s death, to the mixed fortunes of Williams, and even the early dominance of the Bennetton team, etc.

I was cheering for Damon during that entire race, and when Schumacher went off track and damaged his suspension, I was ecstatic. Just a few moments later, we saw Schumacher shunt Damon off, and thats when the drama started. Looking at Damon limp to the pits, and seeing the Williams mechanics look regrettably at the broken wishbone was heartbreaking.

The other couple of incidents where I generally sympathised with the driver would be for Massa at Interlagos 2008, Sutil at Monaco 2008 and Alonso at Abu Dhabi 2010.

I felt sympathetic for Vettel as he was in line for a podium and the slightest of mistakes in the rain denied him that. So I agree with iamsa8.

Webber may have had his first win that day under the worst possible conditions. I have to agree with AlonsoWDC

Most of those cited here:
1999 Europe – Badoer
2003 San Marino – The Schumachers
2008 Monaco – Sutil
2008 Brazil – Massa
2009 Brazil – Barrichello
2010 Germany – Massa

I did not see Europe 1999/San Marino 2003 but only reviews, and that’s enough for me to include them here.
I honestly did not really care for Sutil at Monaco, I didn’t even know who he was. But looking back at it, he deserves to be in my list.

Bourdais in Australia when his engine went, robbed from 4th on his debut. Bourdais in Spa, went from 3rd to 7th on the last lap. Bourdais in Monza, stalled from a possible podium place. Went a lap down before the race even started. Bourdais in Fuji, finished ahead of Vettel and was penalised when Massa crashed into him.

Also this makes me feel sad for Bourdais. I had no idea he had such bad luck.