Tag: f1

Like A Community, But Not…

~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

I haven’t been mentally great the last few months, and have been burying myself in my interests. Or, the ones I have focus for. Formula 1 is one of the things I throughly enjoy, I have done since I was little. Like, one of my favourite computer games from my childhood was Nigel Mansell’s World Championship Racing for the Game Boy. I remember watching Nigel Mansell on the TV, and thought he was so cool. I have been a fan of formula 1 since then. As, I got older, I went from being a general fan, to supporting all the drivers, but liking McLaren as a team. And, after watching some of the feeder series in the mid-to-late 2010s, I started following Lando Norris. And was thrilled when he joined the McLaren junior driver program. Never really thought I’d be here in October 2025, where McLaren have won the F1 championship, and Lando, and his team-mate Oscar Piastri, are close to winning the driver’s championship.

I am from an era where social media was MySpace and Bebo. Where special interests were discussed at great lengths on web forums, with deep dives of particular tracks, teams or drivers. Yes, there were arguments, but if things became too intense, members would get warnings off admins. If a user got repeat warnings, they would end up banned from the forum. The admins were just forum users who had shown good behaviour towards other members, and showed good behaviour. A bit like mods on twitch streams. It was basically the members keeping each other in-line, and making sure that there was no abusive behaviour. It worked really well, mostly. There were always people who would cry about the FIA favouring certain drivers, and teams. But, usually these chats would be argumentative, but nothing too severe.

Now, it feels like every fan space is the same. They exist on pre-existing social media services. Stuff like TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitter (X), there is quite a few. The big issue, I find, is that there has been a big shift in how content is moderated. There is has been a shift away from community self-moderation, towards the social media companies doing it instead, relying on AI to enforce the rules. What this has lead to is something rather inefficient. Where social media companies remove posts, and even accounts, because of something like improper word use (e.g. the word ‘gross’), whereas actual threatening behaviour is reported, and nothing is done.

It is like any existing rules are not enforced fairly, which I think leads to quite horrific behaviour. Where fans are sending co-ordinated threats to drivers, family members, team members, and even other fans. And, these threats seem to be over nothing. Someone shares their opinion, abuse. Someone tries to share facts that they know of, which can help understanding of a particular rule or event, abuse. It’s all a bit odd. And every little incident that happens on track, or in the paddock, can be ammunition to hate other drivers and their fans. Sites like TikTok have lots of deepfakes, some with drivers dancing, but others have AI generated videos of a driver hugging and kissing them, the fan. It is beyond disturbing.

There are also ‘news sites’, where people (and AI) create articles based on nothing. Not even rumours. A lot of the time they are opinion pieces, often based on rumours they start themselves. They are often based on whatever conspiracy theories are gaining traction on social media, and often just spread the lies out to a wider audience. The fans, who are already agitated over conspiracy theories, get even more angry. And, they take it out on other people who are often just calling out the bullshit.

I am finding that it is tearing the heart out of whatever community is trying to exist. Where people are attacked for saying anything. There isn’t a sense of enjoyment brought from a joint experience of something great. It becomes stressful. It has left me wondering, recently, is it worth it? Probably not. I have found friends, who I value, and love chatting to every race weekend. And, I don’t want to leave that. But, as the 2025 season drifts along towards the latter stages, I am left wondering if reconnecting with the F1 community that I had been missing for years, is something worth the worry? Is it still something worth stressing over?

Book Review: Incredible

~ Sue ~ 1 Comment

Murray Walker: Incredible by Maurice Hamilton

When I think of Formula 1 commentators, I think of Murray Walker. Between 1976 and 2001, Walker, commentated live tv broadcasts of F1 races, and pioneered how motorsport was covered in the media. He started doing radio broadcasts of Isle of Man TT commentary with his father, progressing to other motorsports. Murray was known for his energetic style of commentary, which was informative, enthusiastic, but also contained some blunders. Which, is something that still happens when doing live commentary currently.

The book is a collection of anecdotes from people that Murray worked with throughout his career, sorted out chronologically. From life in the army, to working in advertising, to commentating with ex-McLaren driver, James Hunt, and then finding his stride with current commentator Martin Brundle. It shows insight to the kind of person Murray was, passionate about motorsport, and kind to those people around him. He made such in impact, that he commented live on BBC, and when the rights moved over to ITV in 1997, he was the sole commentator who moved over to continue broadcasting.

Contributions in this tribute to Murray Walker include: Martin Brundle, James Allen, Louise Goodman, Sir Jackie Stewart, Sir Lewis Hamilton, Damon Hill, Suzi Perry, Steve Ryder, Jim Rosenthal, and many more parts of the motorsport industry. Author, Maurice Hamilton, was a journalist for The Observer, Independent, and The Guardian, and covered Grand Prix races for radio station BBC Radio 5 Live. In fact, Maurice Hamilton covered over 500 Grand Prix races, and was a staple of the pit lane for over 30 years. He is extremely highly qualified to write about the impact that Murray Walker made on the Formula 1 world.

The book was a very insightful look at a Formula 1 legend. It takes the reader into the commentary box, to understand how Murray worked during a race. I like books that shed a different perspective of things, a different side of something that I feel so familiar with. I’ve loved Formula 1 for years, and as mentioned before, Murray Walker is still iconic in my mind, and I enjoyed reading what he was actually like.

And of course, this review wouldn’t be complete without some Murrayisms. Quotes from Murray Walker, which were fumbles during live commentary, but helped make things so entertaining. The sad thing is, that Martin Brundle mentions in the book that Murray had a thin skin. When newspapers like The Sun or Daily Mail mentioned Murray being ‘passed it’ for his fumbles, he took it too hard. In fact Martin mentioned that Murray would really struggle these days, with the increased social media comments. Which is sad. Murray’s Murrayisms are what made Formula 1 races interesting. There was no-one before or after Murray who came close to him, in my opinion.

Murrayisms:-

‘Either that car was stationary, or it’s on the move’.

‘The young Ralf Schumacher has been upstaged by the teenager Jenson Button, who is twenty’.

‘Prost can see Mansell in his headphones’.

‘Unless I am very much mistaken- yes. I am mistaken’.

Murray: ‘What’s that? There’s a body on the track’. James Hunt: ‘Um, I think that’s a piece of bodywork from someone’s car’.

Book: Murray Walker: Incredible by Maurice Hamilton, Penguin Publishing, 2022

Problems with fandom

~ Sue ~ 1 Comment

Ever since I first got access to the internet, way back in the High School library, I would look up the bands I loved. A lot of band sites, would have their own forums, where you could speak to fans from all over the world. Disecting albums, and lyrics, comparing collections of scrapbooks and merchandise. It was so much fun. Then MySpace, where you became ‘friends’ with bands, and even learned coding to make your profile look cool.

Over the years, social media has become such a huge part of most of our lives. Musicians, actors, tv presenters, politicians, you can be ‘friends’ with them all. Doesn’t even need to be a person, companies send messages to followers, and build up a familiarity. So, people feel connected with people they’ll never meet, and companies feel like friends. Sometimes people need a reminder that they don’t actually know these people they may chat to on social media, as they begin to feel personally involved.

My time on social media at the moment, seems to circle around Formula 1. It is a sport I have loved since I was a child, where the only contact you had with the teams and drivers was through magazines and the TV show around the race. The content we had to consume, then, was nothing compared to what we have these days. And social media is a massive part of that. As said before, connections are forged between fans and their favourite drivers and teams, and these connections can feel very personal. Which is all great, fantastic for advertising, and often creates great promotion for the sport. The communities are filled with people disecting races, and press conferences, talking about livery releases. It can be a lot of fun. Until it is not.

Because people feel so personally connected and affected by the goings ons and offs around the track, things can get a little tense. People can take it upon themselves to ‘defend’ their hero, and do so by attacking other fans and drivers. Doesn’t sound too bad, folk say, ‘just click off social media’, ‘go outside’. But it can escalate very fast. It becomes less about a person defending their favourite driver, and more attacking the drivers they don’t like. Which starts creating whole other problems.

Lance Stroll from Aston Martin, is a driver which attracts a lot of negativity. His father owns the team, and helps keep his son’s position in Formula 1. And whilst drivers have maintained positions on teams in similar circumstances, some fans have taken to heavily dislike Lance. The issue isn’t people throwing comments into the obyss of the internet, it is people sending Lance fans abuse. Sending death threats. Inundating people with abuse. Last season, a Lance Stroll fan I was friends with over on Twitter, attempted to take their life, because people were sending so much abuse. I don’t know on what planet that is okay. Ever.

It’s like, whilst the lines have blurred, and people are closer to their heroes than ever before, they are also so close it’s become abstract. We are so close that nothing seems real, and people have no attachment with what they say and who they are saying it to. It is not just fan on other fan crimes, either. Earlier this season, French driver, Esteban Ocon, had to release a statement about abuse that was sent to him, his team, and his family. It got so bad, that the hashtag of his name, has been banned from TikTok, due to risk of abuse. There has been racist abuse angled at Yuki Tsunoda and Zhou Guanyu. Lando Norris has had abuse sent to him and his team, including his esports team Quadrant. Last season Max Verstappen and his partner recieved a lot of abuse. Sky sports presenter, Karun Chandhok, has had racist abuse sent to his social media, as well as sent to Sky Sports socials.

Criticism about driving and opinions is one thing, abuse is another. It is not just restricted to formula 1. K-pop bands, movie franchises, boybands, tv series, there are fandoms for almost anything. Situations like the ones I have mention above happen others. Actors and actresses leaving TV shows due to abuse, because the fandom didn’t like their character. Someone speaks poorly about a certain band member, they’d better not sign online.

The point I want to make is that behind every account, whether it be a famous personality or a business, there is a person. A person with feelings and a life. A few years ago someone told me that if I was angry, write down the negativity, if on social media write the comment and save it to drafts. Then, go do something else. Come back in at least 30 minute, 95% of the time, you will simply delete whatever you have written. I find that it stops any angry over-reactions.