Button still your favourite but Raikkonen is gaining

2013 F1 season

Posted on

| Written by

Jenson Button has been consistently chosen as the most popular driver on F1 Fanatic since the ‘driver support’ feature was added in late 2011.

But as the 2013 begins Kimi Raikkonen has displaced Lewis Hamilton as the second favourite driver of F1 Fanatic readers.

The Lotus driver has moved quickly up the rankings since his F1 comeback last year.

Of the new drivers Valtteri Bottas is your favourite so far, having already amassed more supporters than Jean-Eric Vergne and Charles Pic.

Here’s a breakdown of how many supporters each of the drivers have at the start of the new season.

Jenson Button
1491
Kimi Raikkonen
1198
Lewis Hamilton
1195
Fernando Alonso
891
Mark Webber
733
Sebastian Vettel
601
Paul di Resta
546
Sergio Perez
412
Nico Rosberg
402
Felipe Massa
346
Nico Hulkenberg
311
Romain Grosjean
237
Daniel Ricciardo
232
Adrian Sutil
109
Pastor Maldonado
104
Valtteri Bottas
83
Jean-Eric Vergne
67
Jules Bianchi
47
Charles Pic
45
Max Chilton
32
Esteban Gutierrez
30
Giedo van der Garde
17

McLaren are still the clear favourite among the teams enjoying almost twice as many supporters as Ferrari, with Lotus not far behind.

Despite three years of considerable success Red Bull inspire comparatively little affection. They have just fallen behind Mercedes, perhaps because the popular Lewis Hamilton is driving for the Silver Arrows this year.

McLaren
1610
Ferrari
857
Lotus
832
Mercedes
644
Red Bull
619
Williams
501
Sauber
498
Force India
370
Caterham
314
Toro Rosso
135
Marussia
104

NB. Figures correct as of March 30th 2013

How to show your support

Here’s how to show which drivers and teams you are supporting:

  • Log in with your F1 Fanatic account
  • Select Edit My Profile from the top-right menu
  • Select F1 Teams and Drivers
  • Make your selection then click Save Changes

2013 F1 season


Browse all 2013 F1 season articles

Image © McLaren/Hoch Zwei

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

167 comments on “Button still your favourite but Raikkonen is gaining”

  1. sounds right jenson is a great driver and great bloke

    1. I reckon we need some clearly defined definitions for stuff like this.
      Personally I think Jenson is a good driver, one of the best of the second tier of current drivers but not quite great; which would be a superlative I’d reserve for the likes of Senna, Stewart, Schumacher & Clark.

      1. Traverse (@)
        1st April 2013, 14:47

        Senna, Stewart, Schumacher & Clark.

        And Vettel.

        1. @hellotraverse Vettel is a top class driver like Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton but for any of these gentlemen to reach LEGENDARY status they need to win a title with another team. That’s just the way I feel about it.

          1. Like Clark, Senna and Stewart?

          2. @matt90 They drove in years when f1 was very deadly. To become legendary in the 21st century you need to win a title with different teams. That’s just the way I feel about it. Perhaps it is different for you?

          3. Traverse (@)
            1st April 2013, 18:42

            So if Button were to win the WDC with McLaren, he’d be more deserving of the title legend than Alonso, Vettel or indeed Senna?

          4. @hellotraverse

            Well yes, actually!

          5. although maybe not Senna.

          6. @hellotraverse Yes he would but both you and I know that the chances of Button winning a second title are not that big. Don’t get me wrong he’s a great driver but I feel he is not consistent enough.

            About Senna, like I said Arayton raced in a different era. Back then the difference between cars and drivers were bigger then now. There were more opportunities to stick out of the pack. Nowadays there are 5 champions on the grid!

          7. but for any of these gentlemen to reach LEGENDARY status they need to win a title with another team.

            I agree with that statement.

          8. jimscreechy (@)
            2nd April 2013, 7:08

            Entirely agree.

      2. Chris (@tophercheese21)
        1st April 2013, 15:27

        I’m going to disagree, respectfully.

        I think that anyone who gets a seat in F1 is a good, if not great driver. Their strength, mental focus, and reactions are off the charts.

        Those names you listed (Senna, Stuart, Schumacher and Clarke), are all LEGENDARY drivers.

        Jenson is a GREAT driver. But not a Legendary driver.

        1. Traverse (@)
          1st April 2013, 15:34

          So karthikeyan is a great driver…okaaaay XD

          1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
            1st April 2013, 15:35

            I said “good, if not great”.

            And I’ll bet you anything he’s 100 times the driver you are.

          2. Chris (@tophercheese21)
            1st April 2013, 15:44

            Never really appreciated people’s complete disregard for Karthikeyan.

            Sure, he’s not the best driver in Formula 1, and to be fair, he was in a complete failure of a team. They weren’t there to try and score points, their only objective was to simply exist.

            Of course he’s a good driver! If he weren’t then I’m sure HRT would’ve dropped him in favour of Ma Qing Hua.

        2. That’s why I said I think we need some clearly defined definitions for stuff like this, by normal, everyday standards any driver in F1 is a great driver but in the context of F1 there are some rubbish drivers, a lot of average drivers, some good drivers and a very small number of great drivers and in my opinion Jenson is not a great driver (even if I agree that he’s a great bloke), he’s good and possible one of the best of the good drivers but I think there is a massive gap between him and the drivers I mentioned above.

          1. Traverse (@)
            1st April 2013, 17:50

            +1!

        3. I think everyone needs to chill a little bit and just take this casual comment a bit lighter…

        4. Of course he’s not legendary, there is probably only ONE living F1 legend and that is MS. How ridiculous to say he’s not worthy of being a legend. No one is!

      3. petebaldwin (@)
        2nd April 2013, 15:17

        I think the 2nd tier is probably about right. He’s in a group with other “decent” drivers such as Coulthard, Webber, Ralf Schumacher etc. All good drivers who, given the chance, could win races but are never going to consistantly deliver strong results.

        In fairness, Button would probably be at the top of that group of drivers but when faced with a top driver as a team mate, will ultimately lose out. I would be willing to bet a large amount of money on Perez beating Button over 2 seasons.

        1. Yep, not bad drivers but a bit of happy-go-lucky, aren’t they? Gerard Berger, Ricardo Patrese, Eddie Irvine, Rubens Barrichelo, Mark Webber, Jenson Button – all decent drivers who ended up in top teams but not as #1. The last two in the list are a bit of an exception for they were not quite elevated to a top team but, instead, one day found out that the dog team they used to drive for suddenly became a top dog. In the case of Jenson, with the added blessing of being paired with Rubens who, besides being far from great, was about 10 years past his best – bad luck Mark, had Coultard stayed put and you’d probably be double champion by now. But the truth is that neither of the two would have been hired by a top team if they knew they would be top. (yeah JB is at Mclaren now, but only after he won his title – a little less luck in 2009 and he would have exited F1 and would have been largely forgotten by now).

  2. Kimi has brought many happiness to F1 since his comeback.

    Hope he stay for 2014…..

    1. I like the fact he doesn’t follow the instructions of his team PR department. It’s rare this days. Personally I hate to hear “Vodafone McLaren Mercedes-Benz F1 Team” speaking.

      1. It seems that Kimi is the most effective on PR stuff.

  3. He’s such a cool guy, no-brainer. We all like him, whatever the team we support, he’s a pure sportsman.

    1. I like his wife more.

      1. @ivano Jenni is not his wife anymore soooo don’t miss your chance ;)

    2. I don’t really like him. Sure I respect him as a driver and he does seem to be one of the fairest when it comes to racing wheel to wheel but I’ve never really warmed to him.

      1. Kimi keeps it real. I love his attitude, especially during interviews.

  4. Well, it would be surprising if Jenson and McLaren aren’t favorites on a British site.

    1. by that logic, Hamilton should be #1 because he’s a good deal more famous than Jenson and gets far more press.

      And as has been discussed, all the f1 teams apart from Ferrari and Sauber are British.

      1. I’ve noticed with most British sites, Jenson is more liked than Lewis, especially after Lewis left for Merc.

        Press means little diffirence when both are world champions.

        And nope, Caterham is Malaysian, Toro Rosso is Italian based in Italy, Mercedes is German, and Redbull is Austrian, according to their flags and anthems when they win races.

        1. Oops, and Force India races for India. ;)

          1. JP (@jonathanproc)
            1st April 2013, 12:58

            I can’t tell if this comment is serious or not…

          2. Why wouldn’t it be serious?
            I don’t know for sure, but isn’t Marussia russian?

          3. My apologies, Torro Rosso is indeed based in Italy.

            All the others are based in the UK, in a very small part of the UK in fact.

        2. All teams are based in Britain except Ferrari, Sauber and Toro Rosso. The podium flags merely signify the country they got their licence from.

          1. Yes, they’re based in Britain, but that’s not the country they’re racing for, thus they’re not British.

            It’s like saying Mercedes road cars (Example) manufactured in Poland are Polish. No, they’re German, regardless of the Polish work force bolting them together on Polish soil.

          2. There’s a big difference, as Mercedes road cars are still engineered largely in Germany. If a Formula 1 team did the design work in another country and just did assembly in the UK you might be right. It probably rankles with the workers actually when a seemingly random national anthem is played.

          3. @ivano

            They are not racing for any country, they are racing for money and a place in sporting history. Ownership is complex and nothing to do with podium flags and anthems. I could buy shares in any public foreign company that doesn’t make it British.

            The teams in question use British infrastructure, most of the employees are British, the entities themselves are registered with companies house in the UK and they pay UK taxes, that makes them British in any reasonable sense.

            McLaren has 50% Bahraini, 25% Luxembourgian and 25% Ron Dennis ownership, what flag do they use? I could go on but I think I’ve made my point.

          4. The fact is, regardless of where they’re built, who builds them, and to who they pay their taxes to… they’re officially not British as they’re not registered as British. Or else, they’d have a British flag.

          5. JP (@jonathanproc)
            1st April 2013, 23:42

            Most people aren’t that ignorant though (I hope). We know the Red Bull or Lotus are based in Britain and are a British team. Just because the bosses that are supplying money from want their flag on the car doesn’t mean I’ll believe the team aren’t British.

            Therefore I wouldn’t question somebody if they told me that they support Red Bull because they are British!

          6. JP (@jonathanproc)
            1st April 2013, 23:43

            My previous comment is directed at @ivano

          7. @jonathanproc

            They may be based on British turf, they may have British staff, but when they win, they’re not recorded in history with a British flag. So, they’re not British, and all those British staff members are working to have a non-British flag win. It’s fact, it’s ignorant to who is denying it.

        3. Traverse (@)
          1st April 2013, 14:57

          I’ve noticed with most British sites, Jenson is more liked than Lewis, especially after Lewis left for Merc.

          That’s because people envy success, hence why people dislike Ham and Vet. Both drivers (Ham and Vet) were successful pretty much from day one, so people give them less credit; Button on the other hand had to struggle blah blah blah etc…*YAWN*

          LOL, Ham and Vet sounds like a Deli sandwich. :-)

          1. Personally, if I have to pick one and as I like my drivers on what they do on the track, I’m for Ham, eventhough I do recognize Jenson as a class driver.

          2. I disagree with your comment of ‘people envy success and that’s why they dislike Lewis and Vet’. It may be the case for you but I don’t like either and it ‘s got NOTHING to do with them being successful and I would say that would be the same for a lot of other people

        4. @Ivano

          I think people misread Keith’s objective of the poll. He’s telling you statistics for “their favorite” driver not for who’s the “better driver”. Just because Massa’s is my favorite, doesn’t mean he’s the best. And in all honesty far from it. Meanwhile, it’s easy to see why people like Button. He always comes on the camera with a smiling face, no matter the outcome of the qualifying/race. He shows great restraint even when criticizing other drivers and the self-deprecating humor does him no harm. Bottomline, many people would vote for Button even though deep down they know Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton are better drivers.

          1. @sankalp88

            I think people misread Keith’s objective of the poll. He’s telling you statistics for “their favorite” driver not for who’s the “better driver”.

            Well, from what I can read, @ivano said:

            Well, it would be surprising if Jenson and McLaren aren’t favorites on a British site.

            And I agree with him/her. Even though I myself like Button’s personality the most.

        5. petebaldwin (@)
          2nd April 2013, 15:26

          @ivano I think you misunderstood him – he meant that the factory is based in Britain and the staff are British.

          Using your argument, Chelsea are a Russian football team and Man Utd are American!

          1. @petebaldwin

            No, that’s not my arguement, because when Chelsea and Man United win, the history books records them with a British flag. Which doesn’t happen with Red Bull and etc…

        6. Unfortunately, non of the teams race for any nationality, they race for private owners or for manufacturers.

          Ferrari are based in Italy and race for an Italian based auto manufacturer, but don’t race for Italy.

          I think what the poster was saying was that many teams including Mercedes and Force India are infact all based in England and a huge proportion of F1 employees are infact British. That would include employees at Ferrari too.

    2. This may be a British website but people from all over the world visit it because it’s the best F1 site on the net, Keith will be able to give us more accurate figures but according to Statscrop.com only 20.5% of visitors to this site are from Britain.

      1. Visitors are not members. To be sure we need repartition pie for this kind of poll. I bet more than 50% are britain in This case, but i Can be wrong. Should the website french in french language, grosjean would be far more higher, and if it was german, Mercedes and vettel would be first. It is normal otherwise country means nothing.

      2. And they’re are no British people outside the UK?

        1. Oops, tired, meant *there* not *they’re*.

      3. You can get a sense of the degree of British influence here by looking at the support for Paul di Resta. Here’s a driver who’s done nothing in his brief time in F1 and who will be lucky if he’s still in F1 next year – and he draws considerably more support than drivers of greater skill, potential, and/or pedigree, such as Massa, Hulkenberg, or Bottas. The same thing is shown in Webber having more support than Vettel, members of the Commonwealth being “honorary Brits” for the purposes of sporting competition.

        1. You can get a sense of the degree of British influence here by looking at the support for Paul di Resta.

          Not the mention the hate for “Vettel”.

        2. petebaldwin (@)
          2nd April 2013, 15:52

          Support for Webber over Vettel isn’t just a British thing. I’d have thought other than Germany, Webber is the more popular Red Bull driver!

          Also, regarding Di Resta, I agree that he gets a decent following simply because he’s Scottish and isn’t a particularly great driver. Having said that, I’m amazed anyone supports Massa! It’s like supporting the Man Utd reserve team – you only exist to aid the first team/driver.

        3. @jonsan That’s a good point about DiResta. I wonder though, how much of that support is because people clicked on his name when he first arrived, and whether people would change their minds now?

          He certainly hasn’t had a lot of supporters in the comments of late. I think whatever boost in support he got from the BBC’s attentions early on is waning quickly.

    3. @cristian Look at your calendar and ask again. :P

    4. Well any Italian site, the majority is Red. On the German forums, it’s split between Vettel and Merc support, before it use to be between the Schumacher brothers and BMW as well. Autosport UK, is vastly McLaren and pro British, very understandably, while Autosprit in Italy is mainly Ferrari. So I do feel that a site that is co.uk does attrack British support. Got nothing against it, I enjoy my stay here, and eventhough I disagreed with Kieth in the past, he does a nice daily dose of articles, probably better than the mainstream sites.

      1. and eventhough I disagreed with Kieth in the past, he does a nice daily dose of articles, probably better than the mainstream sites.

        I feel the same.

      2. McLaren has usually gotten a lot of attention in Germany since they ran Mercedes engines.
        Also, in the mid to late 90’s there has always been an anti-Schumacher camp, who jumped ship to whoever was up there for the championchip crown.
        The praise Villeneuve got from some members of the press in 1997, then of course Häkkinen and later Montoya… Pretty much like the people who support Alonso because of their shared hatred for Hamilton.

    5. Unfortunately this doesn’t make Jenson any faster :)

      1. Or help in reducing his whining

        @klaas

        For sure there are no more WDCs in Jenson’s future .. but there are definitely a lot of British favourite driver awards.

    6. This clearly explains why Max Chilton is on 32 then. *Sarcasm*

      1. @craig-o Let us see in how many races has Chilton driven???? Oh I know…..2 races!!!

        1. @akshay So? Bottas has driven the same amount, yet has more than JEV or Pic, who have driven in more races.

          1. Bottas is racing for Williams and he’s Finnish, so probably the Finnish/Kimi fans have added him?

    7. @ivano @beneboy For those interested in the nationality thing, here’s the last breakdown of where site visitors are from. The top five are:

      1. United Kingdom – 32.46%
      2. United States – 13.84%
      3. Australia – 6.46%
      4. Canada – 3.66%
      5. India – 2.54%

      https://www.racefans.net/groups/f1/forum/topic/where-f1-fanatic-readers-are-from/?topic_page=5&num=15#post-72133

      That is from seven months ago so there may have been a bit of movement in some of the figures.

      Those who view this as a “British site” – whatever that is supposed to mean – should note that over two-thirds of visits are from regions outside the UK.

      1. Traverse (@)
        1st April 2013, 21:56

        People put too much emphasis on the .co.uk domain name. It’s like saying YouTube is an American website.

      2. Thanks and true, but it doesn’t fully mean that the regions is a reflection of where people originally come from. I’m half French, half Italian, and typing this from South Africa. ;)

        1. Also in the many English speaking company’s I’ve worked for around the world, the majority of the F1 support has been for McLaren and Williams, as most of the people there were British.

          1. (@hellotraverse)

            People put too much emphasis on the .co.uk domain name. It’s like saying YouTube is an American website.

            +1 I don’t understand how people forget the internet can be accessed from anywhere on the planet.

            Also, when it comes to F1 I feel that people quite so driven by which country a driver originates when choosing who they support – they more tend to analyse likeableness/driving skill etc, rather than simply saying ‘I’m British, I support the British drivers etc etc.’ I’m sure nationality still plays a role in it, but I feel it’s diminished compared to other sports.

      3. @keithcollantine

        In a slightly different way of saying it, there’s almost a third of your visitors from the UK. And while I’m usually a fan of your round-up, you can’t deny it’s (wild guess) at least 50 if not more percent news from british media, some of that even from the yellow/rainbow press over there.
        Yesterday it was The Guardian, The Daily Mail and even The Sun… Therefore, you should understand why people think that this is a page very heavily influenced by the UK media.

        auto-motor-sport and “Spiegel” usually after races feature an international round-up with press voices from several countries, including the UK, Italy, Spain and France. Sometimes others, depending on importance.

        http://www.spiegel.de/sport/formel1/formel-1-internationale-pressestimmen-zum-gp-von-malaysia-a-890764.html

        1. @dennis

          you can’t deny it’s (wild guess) at least 50 if not more percent news from British media

          I can easily deny it because by your own admission it’s a “wild guess”!

          But for the sake of argument let’s assume that is the case. If so, this is a reflection of the fact that most English language coverage of F1 is British. I still keep a close eye on many non-British F1 news sites and publications and they often appear in the round-up: the Austin-American Statesman, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, ESPN, Speed, NBC (who I also write for) – and these are just the first-half dozen that spring to mind. If I spoke other languages fluently I’d read more foreign language coverage but I don’t so it’s not a productive use of my time at the moment.

          But I don’t see what connection you’re making between what percentage of links in the round-up come from British media and how many British people visit the website, and to what extent their nationality might affect which drivers they support? It all seems rather tenuous to me.

          1. @keithcollantine

            Regarding your denial:

            https://www.racefans.net/2013/03/31/malaysian-grand-prix-has-put-map-pm/
            2 of 4

            https://www.racefans.net/2013/03/30/f1-fanatic-roundup-3003/
            5 of 5

            https://www.racefans.net/2013/03/29/f1-fanatic-roundup-2903/
            5 of 11

            https://www.racefans.net/2013/03/28/f1-fanatic-roundup-2803/
            6 of 10

            https://www.racefans.net/2013/03/27/f1-fanatic-roundup-2703/
            6 of 11

            https://www.racefans.net/2013/03/26/f1-fanatic-roundup-2603/
            5 of 9

            I think it was a rather accurate “wild guess.”

            Anyway, I was aiming at “british site.”
            When people believe this is a british site, they obviously see a connection between your users and what kind of drivers they prefer.

          2. @dennis I’m at a loss to understand why someone would spend time counting that up when I said in my previous comment I’d assumed it was the case. Kudos on the accuracy of your “wild guess” but I think you may have missed the point of my reply. I’m certainly none the wiser about what connection you perceive between the links, users and which drivers they support.

            Look, I realise some people have this fixation with nationality – it’s come up enough times in the past – but it is no interest of mine. Frankly it bores me: this area of discussion amounts to little more than narrow-minded, parochial whingeing.

            I created this site for all F1 and motor sport fans regardless of their nationality. I don’t know what people mean when they say it’s a “British site” and it’s not as if I haven’t asked for a definition more than once.

            If they mean it’s written in the English language, that is correct. If they mean it is hosted on a British domain, that is correct too. If they mean it is primarily intended to cater for British F1 fans, that is incorrect. And being the person who created it and writes 99% of it, I should know.

          3. @keithcollantine
            @dennis

            One way to solve this argument to a near solution, is by adding a feature to the members profile where they add nationality and present country, and remind them on one of your updates, then do a stat? :p

  5. Who says nice guys finish last? JB’s killing to! Kimi wasn’t driving F1 at the time I did my peferences, so I’ve just added him. Tipping Vettel might lose a few followers after recent events. Mclaren used to be my fav team decades ago, but as much as it pains me to say it, “Without Ron, it’s as good as gone”.

  6. So much love for Red Bull and Vettel!

    1. He got a lot of love from me after Malaysia, and I’m being serious, I still feel what he did was awesome.

    2. I’m a Vettel fan, but I still don’t support Red Bull Racing! Ferrari is still my favourite team, as it has been since the late 90’s.

      1. I’m more “driver-centric”. I was a huge Ferrari fans when Schumacher was there.

      2. @david-a – I can fully understand why people dislike Red Bull as well actually: they aren’t the greatest team in the world when it comes to PR, and also they don’t have the nostalgia surrounding them that Ferrari or McLaren do.

        I just am not a Ferrari or McLaren fan though: there’s just something about the two of them that irritates me (perhaps it’s the fact Hamilton and Alonso drove/are driving for them, neither of whom I particularly like)!

        @flig +1

    3. I’m not that surprised Red Bull are short on supporters here; for a company that specialises in PR and media relations they have done a very poor job of presenting themselves to F1 fans and I’m finding it hard to think of anyone from an F1 team that’s less likeable than Christian Horner or Helmut Marko.

      1. (@beneboy)

        I’m finding it hard to think of anyone from an F1 team that’s less likeable than Christian Horner or Helmut Marko.

        Vettel himself?

      2. Indeed, I liked them a bit better when they did stuff like Stormtroopers changing tires, or Superman at the podium.

      3. @beneboy I agree with you. As a racing team RedBull have been the best in the last 3 years, one can say ‘the definition of succes’. They have everything – the best car, a young and talented driver, the status of the underdog who got to beat the BIG GUNS (Ferrari and McLaren), all the ingredients necessary in order to be at the top of F1 fans’ preferences. Unfortunately their on-track succeses and merits are shadowed by their hypocrisy and classless attitude. I can’t understand why do they allow Marko to speak publicly, that man is so delusional, it makes Luca di M look like a naive child compared to him. And Horner is ‘good’ too, he can’t speak about his team without having a go at other drivers. I think RBR should get rid of these 2 characters, they only spoil the team’s image and unfortunately it seems they spoiled Vettel too.

        1. @klaas – I’m in agreeance with you: although I do like Red Bull, I do feel they let their mouths get the better of them too often. Horner is a very good team principal no doubt, but he does occasionally tar his team’s image (but not too badly I don’t think) – Marko however is just ridiculous!

          I don’t quite understand what Vettel has done so wrongly though in his career to have gathered such a huge number of anti-fans: perhaps it’s merely just his assoscaiation with Red Bull that has done so, or his rivalry with Alonso (or Hamilton’s comments)?

    4. Traverse (@)
      1st April 2013, 15:00

      I’ve got love for Vettel, but not Red Bull…It tastes awful!!!

  7. Hardly a suprise here – Kimi’s epically talented, and Jensen’s a true gentleman of F1.

    Really hoping Kimi takes the championship this year, a man of his talent really deserves more than one.

    1. To say Kimi is epically talented would be stretching it a bit, for sure he’s the real deal but he’s not amazing. He can drive a good race or season but his car-control leaves much to be desired. In slippery conditions and when the car isn’t exactly to his liking he is very average; we saw that last weekend, and don’t you remember Spa 2008?.. I would say he’s better than Button but Alonso and Hamilton are some way ahead.

      1. if you read the team report, you would knew that there’s some bugs on kimi’s car, team found it on Sat evening. Watch onboard and you will realize the car was ready to snap away from the track with massive oversteer as reported by autosport as well. Without sublime car control, i doubt he could bring the car back with handy of points.

      2. you’d realize his car had some issues dont you at Mal gp??

        i seems to remember kimi hardly touch any cars on most of his epic outside overtakes on the corner. Same thing couldn’t be said about Alonso and Lewis.

        When it comes to talent, few can match him. If only he could work harder with the team, well you cant get everything in life…

      3. @Mash27 I’m aware he’s slightly weaker in the wet, all drivers have at least one weakness (i.e Vettel’s clumsy wheel to wheel, Hamilton will fight for positions he doesn’t have to and lose patience, Webber’s atrocious starts, Alonso’s Quali) but I feel Kimi is one of the most underrated drivers on the grid, and doesn’t really get enough credit, particularly when people refer to the ‘top three’ of Ham/Alo/Vet. Kimi’s epic wheel to wheel and quick, although I’ll admit I do love his utter indifference and rejection of the F1 PR machine.

    2. Remember Brazil 2003??

      Fuji 2007?? (alonso crash btw on extreme wet condition)

      Shanghai 2007?? (setting string of competitive lap time on intermediate tyre on a drying track in which lewis suffer leading to kimi overtook him for the lead)

      The F2008 was very bad on wet condition, anyone watch that season knew about it.
      Lotus ‘s technical director said the E21 like its predecessor E20 was not paritcularly good on wet condition due to its gentleness on tyre that failed to heat up the wet tyre.

      Kimi is the most naturally gifted driver. Guy doesn’t do track walk, no simulator practice (he hates it), and he was asleep most of the time prior to the races.

  8. I thought Van Der Garde had 1 fan for a while!

    1. A lot of Dutch F1 fans I know don’t even like him that much, they prefer Frijns. I’ve also seen a lot of disregard for him, perhaps even more so than Chilton in some comments.

      1. I’m Dutch myself, but I’m not a fan of vd Garde. This is mainly due to his low ambition: his goal over the past few years was to drive in Formula 1 – and he has done that now. Imo, he just doesn’t have the mindset of a champion: if you’re not in F1 with the ultimate goal to win races or become champion… then what are you doing in F1?

    2. @david-a, heh, that was me :-)

      I think his first two race weekends have been fine. He had a reasonable qualifying result in Australia, and was running high initially in Malaysia, though he will need better race results if he is to make this season a success (and indeed continue in Formula 1). I’ve also been impressed by is positive attitude, and from interviews it becomes clear that he’s really enjoying his time in Formula 1.

  9. Drop Valencia!
    1st April 2013, 13:23

    One thing I would say about RBR, they used to have an awesome online community, with a large, growing number of passionate and intelligent fans, then Turkey 2010 happened, and after about 4 months of RBR deleting every 2nd post, they shut their forum down due to “technical difficulties”, so far they have apparently unable to solve said problems, I think this has put alot of the online community that did follow them offside, I know it did for me.

    1. I am pretty sure that that train of events did a lot to make Red Bull less popular indeed

  10. Sad to see that Marussia are the least supported team, I always felt that they were a lot more likeable than Caterham who strike me as quiet arrogant.

    1. @davef1 Yeah…I think a lot of that percieved arrogance is down to the amount of hot air Tony Fernandes and Mike Gascoyne were blowing at the start. Now Gascoyne, who was a real technical asset to them, is focussing on their involvement with Renault/Alpine rather than the F1 team itself and Fernandes, well – he’s quietly backed out as well.

      I as a bit down on Marussia to begin with as I was amazed at how they could, somehow, do worse than HRT – but I’ve really warmed to them in the last year or so. They were gracious as they could be with the dropping of Glock and they’ve never hammered home unrealistic targets in the public eye unlike Caterham.

      Like @arijitmaniac says below however, a few choices might change now…

      1. I’m disappointed with both teams. Forth year in, and still that gap from the midfield. I know it’s difficult for young teams to get established, and it has been a while since a whole new team like Jordan came in, and managed to score points right away.

        1. Stewart were probably the last team that started from scratch and achieved something.

          And just look at them now 3x world champions.

          1. True, but a lot changed in personal from Stewart, to Jaguar, to then Red Bull. So ithey are three diffirent teams aside from their mailbox.

          2. Toyota started from scratch with a budget 10x bigger then Marussia’s and caterham’s. They never won a grand prix.

          3. yes but they won a race in 3 years! JYS says there is lots of original team there but no idea how true that is.

            Yes totally forgot about toyota!

  11. With his act in Malaysia, Vettel for me is certainly looking more like a champion!!! I know it was unethical but so was the strategy to preserve the tyres and race till the end!! A driver should be ruthless and although u should follow the team orders but the orders should have certain sense to it!! Webber letting Vettel pass in Brazil to let him win the championship is a sensible call!!! Team management will forever cry about the team first policy but for me Formula 1 is about the drivers more than the teams!

    1. Vettel for me is certainly looking more like a champion

      I agree with you. On-track he definetly looked like a champion. During the press-conference he looked more like a b**** to me. Why should a champion apologize for winning a race? How can he say his overtaking wasn’t intentional? As I said driving skills – true champ, attitude – still a long way to go.

      1. He probably apologised because of PR and sponsorship pressure.

        1. Was the grim face on the podium meant to promote his sponsors?

          1. Well, for Sponsorship sake, of what little was left, he had to apologise because the majority of fans, witch hunted him for it, and that didn’t look for RedBull and co if he didn’t. He knew if smiled on the podium there would be longer threads on a site like this, and most likely back in his trailer, he had his widest smile.

      2. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
        1st April 2013, 17:47

        @akshay and @klaas

        What?????? On track he looked like a driver with no honour whatsoever. He looked desperate, irrational, almost as if it was his only chance of winning a race. He was a Didier Pironi, not a champion. You think that by being the triple world champion it somehow justifies his blatant two-fingers to the Red Bull team management? Apologizing was the very least if he wants anything in the way of support for the rest of the season, which he’s gonna need if he’s going to take on Alonso and Ferrari. Had Red Bull allowed Vettel and Webber to fight it out properly in the final stint, and had Hamilton been fueled properly, I’d have fully expected Hamilton or maybe even Rosberg to have won. Neutralizing the race and attempting to avert from the awful tyre wear Red Bull had been suffering that weekend, whilst fully exploiting the Mercedes’ fueling issue, was the only sensible call. Being a world champion does not in any way allow for frankly idiotic action. What was Vettel thinking? That his outright defiance would somehow be excused by the team just because he’s their champion? You are both arguing along the same lines as Gerhard Berger and Bernie Ecclestone, saying that Vettel is rather like Senna in that he is ruthless and that champions require this ruthless nature. Senna was a great driver, the very best, but even what some called “ruthlessness” in Imola ’89 came across to me at the time as nothing more than plain idiocy, idiocy that arguably lost him the championship that year, but that’s a story for another day. All that matters is the fact that this is not the murky days of the early 2000s when everyone would swerve out of the way when the “heroic champion” came through in a flash of red, because now the team really does know best. OK, it would have been a duller race, but Vettel’s actions diluted the championship excitement (he is now several points clear) and has given an insight into a rather unpleasant dynamic of his demeanor. On track he drove like a fool and off track he did the bare minimum to cover himself and retain any support whatsoever. At no point did he drive like a champion, and that’s why he is, and will remain, a comparably unpopular driver.

        1. He was a Didier Pironi, not a champion.

          Why do people keep acting as if the last time a driver ignored team orders was a quarter-century ago?

          Set aside for a moment Mark Webber’s routine flouting of team orders – Keith looked at how common team orders were in just the one race at Sepang and how often they were complied with on that one day. Not very often, was the answer.

          https://www.racefans.net/2013/03/25/red-bull-mercedes-resorting-team-orders/

          So I repeat: Why do people keep acting as if the last time a driver ignored team orders was a quarter-century ago? Even if we confine ourselves to just the Red Bull team, the last time a driver at RB ignored team orders was Brazil 2012. That’s a whole two races ago in F1 time.

        2. Senna when going the win wasn’t much of a sportsman as well. And yeah, in 1989 he also lost it by taking out Mansel in Portugal with one of the dumbest moves in F1 history. Then in 1990 he took out Prost, and didn’t even try to make it look like a Schumacher accident, which he admitted the following year.

          Also from your perspective about everyone swerving out of the way for a red car, that’s sounds like the view of non-Ferrari fan (?), because the Ferrari fans feel the same about everyone car swerving out of the way for certain Rothmans and West cars when they were champions.

          Regardless, Vettel did well. He’s 3 times world champion, and shouldn’t be told to hold position which would have made the race duller.

          1. Yes ignoring blackflags and then taking out another driver does make it one of the dumbest moves in F1 history. But we all know he was a stupid blockhead (and I heard his wife was ugly too).

        3. There will always be two different lobbies!! Well all I said was they should have let them race, if Webber wants to come first let him earn it!!!

      3. @klaas – agreed, although sadly I think that’s a consequence of the current PR machine more than anything :(

  12. Arijit (@arijitmaniac)
    1st April 2013, 13:31

    Keith, do the graphs update themselves? Because many F1Fanatics would want to update their profiles with their supported driver after reading this article because many (myself included) would have forgotten about the supported driver section in our profiles and this article reminds us to update them??

    1. @arijitmaniac It says in the article at which point the data was taken from.

    2. Yeah this graph has just reminded me to finally update my profile. Thanks to Hamilton’s move, my allegiance is now split between Mercedes and McLaren. I did think to myself that supporting two frontmarker teams might be cheating somewhat, but McLaren’s recent performance has done a lot to alleviate that concern…

  13. Di Resta the 7th most popular? That really, really surprises me…

  14. @keithcollantine how do you change your selection on android phone? The mobile version doesnt seem to have good access to your own profile, be that messages or this.

    1. Traverse (@)
      1st April 2013, 15:40

      Better yet, when’s the F1Fanatic app coming out. I’d pay £23.99 for that!

  15. Does nationality of a driver matter ? For me its not. Coz neither Force India is my fav team nor Karun Chndok / Narain Kar. was my fav driver. If I apply the same logic to every F1 fanatic, how could jenson be the no 1 liked driver in the world today, I fail to see the logic…………..

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      2nd April 2013, 15:22

      I guess it depends where you’re from… Germans supported Schumacher, Spanish support Alonso, Italians support Ferrari and the Polish supported Kubica…. If I had Karthikeyan or Chandhok as my choices, I’d not care about nationality either!!!

  16. weird because lewis related threads and storys always get the most views and comments on every forum ive been on.
    jenson probably only is popular because ppl who didnt like lewis decided to support jenson.
    i mean all these jenson supporters,wernt supporting him until he joined mclaren.
    i am personally not a fan,many con men seem like nice guys too.
    he is a good driver tho.

    1. I completely disagree with this statement. Myself and my group of friends that have been going to GP’s since the early 2000’s have supported Jenson since he came into the sport with Williams! Him and Mark Webber are the most genuine people on the grid! Nuff said

  17. Keith, what happened to your chart showing the amount of Twitter followers each driver had?

    1. Not a good idea as Kimi won’t feature on the list then.

      1. He, he. Good one :)

  18. Traverse (@)
    1st April 2013, 15:08

    Joke: Why should Paul Di Resta be the most popular driver?
    Answer: Because he’s better than Di Resta!

    1. Traverse (@)
      1st April 2013, 15:11

      *Read the answer with an Italian accent

  19. This article should not be based on the supported driver feature. I set mine up when it was first available but havent touched it since. Im sure thats the way with many fanatics here.

    There needs to be a poll. Nice and simple, -which current driver do you suppirt the most

    1. @sato113 Exactly my point. This poll is bogus and outdated.

    2. @sato113 @aish The effort you expended in complaining could just as easily have been spent on updating your selections. But then you wouldn’t be able to blame me and where’s the fun in that?

      At any rate I’m in a rather better position that you are to judge how often people update their selections. The option is regularly promoted across the usual social networks and via the notice panel on the site.

      In future I may look into filtering out the opinions of those who aren’t interested in participating. Or, to go by your example, those whose interest in participating only extends to complaining.

      1. @keithcollantine I’m sorry, im not complaining I’m just stating my opinion. Im not demanding you do a poll, i just think it would be more accurate. In a way I’m replying to all the people who are surprised Button is on top or another driver is way lower than expected. Im making them aware that the results could be based on when the supported driver sections of member’s profile were updated.

        i apologise if it looks like im criticising the website’s accuracy. thats not my intention. keep up the excellent work!

      2. Not complaining Keith, I support Button too, but ahead of Kimi and Seb is a little unrealistic in 2013.

        @bascb: You know what’s funny?

        Not surprised Vettel ranks so low after the stunt he pulled at Sepang.

        just a few comments below.

    3. @sato113, @aish, I am pretty sure many people update the drivers they support at least once per year, and some do it during the year when they see drivers (especially rookies) do something exceptional.

      Keith runs this kind of article each year at the start of the new season and there’s always a lot of people who take it as an opportunity to update theirs, if they haven’t done so after the drivers are announced. And it also gets used regularly in articles about drivers or teams, but off course there’s nothing that bars you from not filling in any drivers, if you think your choice is irrelevant.

      1. @bascb yes but what im saying is that i dont think many people do update their profiles. i’d guess that around half of the users here havent updated their supported drivers section since they originally did it. many probably know about it but haven’t gone to change it.
        take me for example, I see this site as focused on discussion within the comments section rather than a site were people browse other’s profiles (like facebook etc.). Does anyone go on my profile to ‘check me out’ so to say? i doubt it. they read my comments instead as a default action.

        but as @keithcollantine says, he knows more than I do of course. so maybe the majority of users here do browse other people’s profiles and keep their own up to date as a kind of ‘shop window’ for their f1 personality. I dont do this, and I dont think many others see this as an important part of the site either. thus, I believe it undermines the results of this article. just saying…

  20. Well, tbh I’m, still waiting for the Mika Salo option :P

  21. Vettel might gain more likes after Sepang 2013 instead of losing?

    Now that is something new.

  22. So Vettel is the least supported champion on the grid. At last finally something he doesn’t finish first LOL :-)

  23. Not surprised Vettel ranks so low after the stunt he pulled at Sepang.

  24. Ben (@scuderia29)
    1st April 2013, 18:33

    i support the team (ferrari) more than the drivers themselves, i mean…i was a huge schumacher fan, but when he started racing for mercedes i wasnt, i supported Alonso & Massa. I dont follow a driver from team to team, before Alonso joined ferrari i respected him but i wasnt his fan as he wasnt driving a ferrari…now that he is i love him :D

    1. Antonio (@antoniocorleone)
      2nd April 2013, 0:04

      Exactly how I feel.
      I didn’t suport Schumacher at Mercedes but I loved him at Ferrari, just as I didn’t like Alonso at Renault but love him now at Ferrari. Strangely, I somehow didn’t like Raikkonen even when he drove a Ferrari.

      1. But Kimi was the last champion of Ferrari! You shouldn’t forget this…

    2. It’s going to be very funny when Vettel joins Ferrari (which is just a matter of time IMO) and many Vettel haters start supporting him due to this. Granted, many will ‘wait it out’ to see if he’s good enough to win races, but at least to me, anyone who didn’t see that he is a great racer until now is just blind. The fact he is beating Alonso for titles now is playing a HUGE role on how the Ferrari execs perceive him (especially when Alonso makes stupid mistakes like he did in Sepang). I believe if he beats Alonso this year as well, his move to Ferrari will come sooner then 2016.

      Although this won’t do anything to better the opinion about him of many McLaren fans (or maybe it will?).

  25. Make a new poll.

  26. I’m surprised that Esteban Gutierrez is that far down the order. At the very least, I expected him to be ahead of Bianchi, Chilton and Pic.

    1. Well, maybe not Bianchi, since he’s pretty impressive, but definitely Chilton and probably Van Der Garde and Pic too…

    2. @prisoner-monkeys I think a lot of people perhaps him as one of the bad guys simply because many were so fond of last year’s Sauber line up – obviously Hulkenberg’s there too, but on talent alone. Not saying I see him that way, but he’s definitely yet to win me over.

  27. I think people get too wrapped up in supporting legendary drivers, fans can support any driver in the field, regardless if they are a 7 times WDC or a 1 time race winner.

    I think that’s the beauty of motorsport, any driver on their given day with a given package could be a race winner…

    Some drivers end up with the car package to do the job on regular occasion, and others, well, we all have a story to share on drivers that didn’t make it in F1..

    1. +1
      My favourite ever was Jean Alesi. Pure fighter.
      If he hadn’t broke his contract with Williams to sign for Ferrari, I think the history of the sport could have been different today.

  28. Ah, thank you for reminding me this feature existed Keith. I have to add Bianchi. And remove Lotus.

  29. Button? For real? He cant grab an under performing car by the scruff of its neck and get a result like Hamilton, Alonso and few others can. He’s clearly a good driver and makes good decisions in changing conditions but he must surely only be up there because he’s an English driver in a British team.

  30. Why would anyone have Jenson Button as their favourite driver is beyond me to be honest. Says a lot about the crowd here in the website.
    Jeez…

  31. Kimi the phenom,, love to see him clinch 20013 dwc… From sauber, mclaren, ferrari and now lotus, nothing have changed, always a pure racer and number one driver..
    Full respect

Comments are closed.