F1 Fanatic

Yes this thread is probably more appropriate for me than the favourites one. Many of you may have detected I have a significant dislike of Ferrari. This is due to a combination of reasons:

o Schumacher drove for them, and he was always pretty unpopular here in the UK
o I got sick of how they dominated so much in the early 00′s
o I hate their special relationship with the FIA and FOM (although this seems to be changing)
o I find their holier than thou attitude pretty disrespectful and arrogant
o Some of their actions over the years have been pretty dubious (Schumi at Jerez, Racasse etc)
o As the sole competitive Italian team on a predominantly English grid, there’s a patriotic element to it
o etc etc

Although saying all that, I do of course have a lot of respect for Ferrari, and I recognise they are unquestionably the greatest team in F1 history.

When it comes to drivers, I have my issues with Fernando Alonso, because:

o he always seems to ignore yellow flags (Interlagos 03, Monaco 06, Suzuka 09)
o his behaviour at his season at McLaren was petulant in the extreme
o he can be majorly selfish, and tends to spit the dummy when his team mate beats him
o I’m fairly confident he must have been invloved in some way in crashgate
o His dedication of his podium at Singapore 09 was quite simply a disgrace
o And, of course, he drives for my least favourite team!

I dislike Hamilton, but don’t hate him like I did back in 2007 and 2008 as I think the things I disliked about him were just amplified by ITV’s obsessive coverage. Obviously I was never going to be a fan of his after how the 07 season unfolded but lets not get into that, other reasons why I don’t like him,

- Attempting to maintain a squeeky clean image, which irks me about any sportsman instead of just being himself. Every press conference of his seems so contrived
- at so many press conferences he’ll critices the team for haivng a bad car, but think its ok because he thanked them for all their hard work in the previous sentence
- blaming Dave Ryan for ‘Liegate’ when instead of taking responsibility for lying to the stewards he blamed the team for misleading him
- his whiny radio transmissions this year like in Australia, although these have been pretty funny

But I recognise he’s one of the best drivers on the grid, and I think I’ve learned to not pay too much attention to his annoying side which is easier now the BBC coverage isn’t obsessively partisan like ITV. As for teams I dont really have a particular dislike for any, apart from McLaren but they’re not so bad since Ron Dennis left. But don’t get me started on Ron Dennis…

Ferrari. I really don’t like Ferrari. And I’m rather indifferent to Force India and Toro Rosso.

I don’t think Villeneuve drove a bad F1 car before he won his WDC, but certainly almost all drivers have had to ‘pay their dues’ in some form.

As for me, my distaste for Hamilton has mellowed somewhat. Probably something to do with my growing dislike for Vettel.
I’ve never been the biggest Schumacher fan, but that was as a result more of his success from ’00-04 than anything else – it was pretty boring to know that he would inevitably win almost every time you turned on…

Can’t understand the love in with Lotus. they have nothing to do with the original team outwith the name.
Ned I may be a daft old Italian but by my counting(we have to do it by hand as we don’t yet have electricity to power calculators) there are 3 British teams(note I said British and not English)on the grid and 8 dodgy ones.

I don’t know about unfavourites. I generally don’t care about anyone other than those I’m supporting/have a soft spot for.

I will admit to liking the Mclaren rivalry being a Ferrari fan and talking that up but that’s just when I’m feeling particularly competitive and to be honest I love it when they’re at the front as it’s kind of a new bench mark.

I can’t really judge personality wise as I don’t know the drivers plus I’m fickle. I never liked Kubica but now I sort of don’t mind him, I don’t really like Hamilton but respect his racing, I don’t get the Sutil hype and I started to go off Vettel this year but I change my mind rewally quickly. As I say, I never really dislike any of them just I go off them so don’t care as much. Nationality means nothing to me either. I like who excites me not whoevever I was born in the same bit of land as.

Go by the anthems that are played if and when they win. 3 British teams. Nearly all teams are based in the UK. Even Ferrari were moved there when John Barnard and Harvey Postlethwaite were in charge and to suggest Reanult and Force India are nearly British will get 1.3 billion people rather annoyed if you survive that 80 million French will be your next task :)