F1 Fanatic

Schumacher and Mercedes

Myself, I disliked Alonso but got over that. I can’t say I really dislike any driver on the grid, but the closest two would be Trulli and Vettel. I find Trulli a very boring driver who tends to blame others for his own mistakes (Interlagos 2009). He’s a good qualifier but that’s pretty much it. He won a race, yes, but that was years ago.

I’ve only started to have a dislike for Vettel this year, but it’s been a while in coming. Last year he was always talking about not having “the magic button” (KERS), yet it was okay that he was in the best chassis for most of the year. His attitude in Barcelona was disgusting to me, he managed to salvage a third place that looked to be lost and he had a grumpy face on the podium instead of being thankful for the lucky break, especially seeing as it was a reversal of his bad luck earlier in the race. His initial reaction after his clash with Webber was equally disappointing. And then there’s the fact that I’m a Hamilton fan, who’s had mud slung at him (sometimes deservedly, most of the time not) and then Vettel is brought into a comparison as a squeaky-clean media darling, despite being as “bad” or even “worse” than Hamilton in the qualities those who dislike him often accuse him of (arrogance, bad loser, etc.). At least Hamilton can win without leading into Turn 1 first or needing someone to break down ahead of him!

/pettiness (come on, I’m allowed one…)

I really don’t like Massa. I didn’t like how he seemed to pout like 5 year old who didn’t get dessert every time he didn’t win in 07-08. He spun 5 times in the wet 2008 British Grand Prix. From 2007-2009 whenever the Ferrari chassis was not the best, Raikkonen usually out-performed him. He’s only a race win challenger when the car is perfect. And yet many people like him – He drives me nuts!
I don’t have any problem with Barrichello other than the fact that sometimes he can be very enamored with his perception of his own skills even though it’s he’ll probably be remembered at Schumacher’s Patrese.
I feel that Nelson Piquet Jr. ratted out Renault on Singapore because they fired him so I don’t like him one little bit. However, I didn’t really like him before that either. It seems to me he only got a seat at Renault because of his father. Though, I think he only got his seat in GP2 because of his father too.

I’ve never been a fan of Button – always found him really average and boring to watch. Nowadays I think only a fool could call him ‘average’, as he’s proved he’s better than that, but I still think he’s pretty dull. Clearly a great driver, but I don’t enjoy him as a racer. Most of his skill seems to lie in strategy. Having said that, he sometimes pulls out drives like Brazil ’09, which was a great race (until that I hated the fact that he was winning the championship, but I had to concede on the day that it really was a champion’s drive). So my dislike has cooled somewhat, but I still don’t like him.
I’ve never liked Schumacher and I still don’t. I’ve watched F1 all my life except for a period in the early 2000s when I just couldn’t bear to see him winning all the time. I appreciate that he has great skill as a driver but I can’t get past the scheming and outright cheating that went on during his days at Ferrari. I can only respect racers who want to win by being the best, rather than by less-honest means.
I’m also not keen on Massa. I don’t hugely dislike him, but I just don’t see what his fans see in him. If he were to quit F1 tomorrow I wouldn’t miss him at all.

I’m not too keen on Ferrari but I like them more than I used to. I hated them during Schumacher’s era and right up until a couple of years ago, the blatant favouritism shown by the FIA made me angry. I think maybe the reason I don’t mind them so much anymore is because they haven’t really been that competitive since 2008!
I don’t really like McLaren, mainly because I can’t stand Ron Dennis. But I like Lewis and I love Martin Whitmarsh, so maybe I will warm to McLaren as the Dennis era becomes more of a distant memory.
My least favourite team these days is Mercedes, which makes me sad as I had high hopes for them. Obviously the fact that they signed Schumacher is what put me off, partly because I feel that Rosberg has been sidelined a bit. They made such a huge deal of signing Rosberg and I was really hoping they’d get Heidfeld alongside him (love him or hate him, I think Heidfeld is probably one of the most solid number-two drivers a team could hope for). Instead, they made Rosberg their de facto number two by bringing back Schumacher….then, after the old-timer was eating his teammate’s dust in the first few races, they seem to have directed their upgrades in an attempt to help Schumacher, perhaps at Rosberg’s expense. It’s probably because of my feelings about the Schumacher/Brawn combination during the Ferrari years, but I just find it really hard to trust Mercedes GP.

I find this amusing because there isn’t a driver or team on the grid at the moment that I really dislike or that I really hope don’t do well. I think the team lineup at the moment and driver lineup is the best it has been in a long long time, which has made the sport very exciting. The people I did dislike, and who were bad for F1, are now gone – mainly Flav and Mosley. For drivers, I never liked Nelson Piquet Jnr, or his dad – he seemed to have a sense of entitlement about him because of who his dad was. F1 has become more of a meritocracy recently (Jenson getting a good car, Webber et al) and it should stay that way.

The only person who is still in the sport who we could do without is Bernie. He is a hack and a relic of the past. The teams must be kicking themselves for handing ‘Formula 1′ on a platter to Bernie – a guy who is nothing more than a used car salesman who had a huge opportunity fall into his lap. He is holding the sport back by not providing first class television and web coverage, and by running a racket when it comes to rules and regulations and even simple issues such as tyre supply. F1 is supposed to be the most cutting edge sport in the world, but in too many ways – mostly because of Bernie, it is still stuck in the 80s.

Otherwise I am usually happy when any midfield team does well (such as the two Force India’s in the top 10 in Canada – the brilliant drive from Buemi). These guys are all competitive and I don’t think there are any huge ego’s out there. They all seem to appreciate where they are and the opportunity that the sport has presented them. We fans tend to bitch a lot about the state of F1 – but I believe that the sport is brilliant at the moment, it just needs to move forward and dump Bernie and his debt burden.

(btw my fav teams are Red Bull and Torro Rosso)

Used to really dislike Renault, but that was more down to my huge dislike of Flavio Briatore and I’m beginning to warm quite nicely to them. At the moment my most disliked team is Ferrari, but I don’t even really dislike them, they’re just my least favourite team (earlier special relationship, Loony Luca and the fact they are always the opposition to the team I want to win at the time!)

Driver. Hrmm, that’s a tough one. I used to intensely dislike Piquet Jr, but again, he’s gone. Villneuve was a prat. I’ve not warmed to Hulkenberg yet, he seems a bit full of himself…