F1 Fanatic

Hatred is too strong but why does he have more detractors than others, hard to say. Can’t really be that he’s a non English speaker, look at tennis, Nadal and Federer are hugely popular, more so than Murray. Or that he’s German. Boris Becker was a big favourite at Wimbledon.
And there are athletes who are popular despite being dominant, Valentino Rossi being an obvious case.
So why might he be less popular than other drivers? As others have said, his attitude when things go wrong is off putting combined with the fact he actually has very little to moan about compared to most other drivers on the grid. But it’s also down to personalities, some people you just don’t warm to, others you do.

His immaturity in the 2010 season and his dominance in 2011 is why people dont like him. Like every sport, people mostly hate the favourites. People want to see some surprises and to not see the same guy winning over and over which is understandable.

I mean, I really like Alonso. But now I dont want him to win for the next few races because he is the favourite to win the WDC this year and it would make the end of the season more exciting.

Also, the dominance of a driver can sometimes be easier to swallow. For example, I didn’t watch at the time, but Mansell won after a decade long battle of trying and coming oh so close to winning a title. I’d love to hear what the reaction to his dominance was at the time- I’m sure it made the races just as dull sometimes (although it’s worth noting that a lot of 2011′s races were great despite Vettel running away with them), but I would imagine it was more bearable than if he had won the previous season too. That season was vindication for him. It would be the same if Alonso loses this year and dominates next year, although it would also depend on how he carried himself during next year. For the record, I also dislike Alonso for a multitude of reasons. Vettel’s win was uncontested, his second in a row, and the first time a driver has won consecutive titles in 5 years- these things make people less likely to root for a driver.

Mansell’s title in 1992 was maybe the most boring in Formula 1 history.

I think there is something about the human psyche which compels us to weave an interesting narrative around things such as sporting competitions. We want there to be good guys and bad guys, people we can cheer for and people we can boo. We also love an underdog, so it’s convenient if the bad guy is the successful one. Look at virtually anyone that’s extremely successful in sport. Michael Schumacher, Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Sebastian Loeb, Ronnie O’Sullivan, and so on. All are seen as controversial characters; celebrated for their prowess, but somehow occupying the position of bad guy. Heroes in sport are those who seem to have almost no hope of beating the top guys. People like Jimmy White.

Sport has to have a bad guy, and Red Bull seem to be the most suitable candidates. They’re new, so can be seen to be waling all over the history and heritage like young upstarts. They’re very well backed, so they can be seen as having a bit of an advantage in terms of their resources. They’ve bought up a lot of top talent from other teams including Adrian Newey. They have a wonderful, almost pantomime smugness to their Team Principle. They’re almost scientifically designed to be the perfect ‘bad guy’ team. And since Vettel is their protégé, it’s only natural that he’ll be the villain on the track. This is despite the fact he’s really a very nice guy who has a great sense of humour and gives some of the best interviews on the grid. Anything to do with the way he holds his finger, it’s all just justification for the fact that we’ve collectively chosen him to be the bad guy in the narrative we’ve overlaid upon the championship.

I actually like him most of the time as a person, in interviews – I prefer him to Webber, but that might just be my Kiwi bias showing. I don’t think the language barrier is a problem in his case (although sometimes I wish someone would tell him & others to stop saying “I did a mistake”, that gets on my nerves for some reason!) However, it’s true that he has shown moments of immaturity and sulking on and off-track (but haven’t they all). I just don’t think he’s proven his abilities to race from back in the pack and until he does I won’t regard him up there with Alonso and Hamilton. Plus I think all but the uber-fans are happy not to have a repeat of last year’s dominance.

The John Cena effect comes into play. A lot of success, too much winning, and people get tired and bored of him.

I remember Hamilton getting a lot of hatred in 2008, and Alonso in 2007. That’s just how it is.

I remember Schumacher getting a lot of hatred 10 years ago, if I’m not mistaken he was nicknamed TGF (That German f*****) on the ten-tenths forum.

I however, has noticed that he gets mad very easily. He unnecessary waving his hand at Hamilton, who was obligated to unlap himself, even though he let Lewis breeze past. That seems to be a problem for him, I don’t think there’s anyone other than Pasta McDonald’s who is more short-tempered than he is on the grid.

I think it’s because people don’t want to acept that Vettel is a match for everyone else, and they are looking for excuses, such as his car is the ONLY reason for his success.